Le Coup du berger (1956)
Directed by Jacques Rivette

Film Review

Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge (1958) probably has the greatest claim to being the first film of the French New Wave, but a few years prior to this Chabrol and fellow critic-turned-filmmaker Jacques Rivette collaborated on a short film that has many of the elements that we associate with the Nouvelle Vague.  Le Coup du berger (a.k.a. Fool's Mate) was the last of four shorts that Rivette made (all on a shoestring budget) before he was able to make his feature debut with Paris nous appartient (1961).  Although Rivette co-scripted the film with Chabrol, Le Coup du berger has far more in common with Chabrol's subsequent work and feels like a preliminary sketch for Les Cousins (1960) - an impression that is certainly helped by the presence of Jean-Claude Brialy in a similar fey, Don Juan-like role.  Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, one of the founders of the Cahiers du cinéma on which Rivette and his New Wave chums worked before becoming film directors, takes the other male role, credited as Etienne Loinod (so nearly an anagram of Antoine Doinel, Truffaut's alter ego).

The plot looks like something we might find in Michel Deville's early films, a seemingly harmless game of deception with slightly sinister undertones.  The darkness beneath the surface is made apparent by some none-to-subtle appropriation of the familiar film noir tropes - noticeably skewed camera angles.  The deception involves smuggling a fur coat into an apartment but you'd think it was an attempt to cover up a murder.  In any event, the supposed 'perfect crime' goes horribly awry with a surprise twist, in the best tradition of film noir.  The film has fun with its somewhat forced chess analogy, even if it is applied with a certain lack of logic.  The script looks as if it should have gone through at least another three redrafts before being put in front of the camera.

Rivette's direction may be slick and confident but it lacks the personal touch, and indeed his very distinctive signature seems to be lacking from the entire production.  With Chabrol stumping up a fair share of the money to make the film, which was incidentally filmed entirely in his apartment, it's a fair bet that he called more of the shots than the man who nominally directed the film.  (At least Chabrol accorded Rivette the privilege of narrator, which, given that Rivette's voice has a more mellifluous quality, is certainly to the film's advantage.)  Le Coup du berger has its charms but, in common with all of the early shorts made by the Nouvelle Vague crowd, it is only a tepid appetiser for the great works that were to come.  The presence of Godard, Truffaut and Chabrol together in a party scene makes this feel like a launch event for the French New Wave.

Film Synopsis

Claire is a Parisian woman in her early twenties who shares a stylishly furnished apartment with her older husband Jean.  The latter does not know it, but his wife has been having an affair with a man of her own age, Claude, and meets up with him regularly whilst pretending to see her sister Solange.  One day, Claude presents Claire with an expensive fur coat.  Naturally, Claire is delighted with this gift, but how can she possibly take it home with her without her husband suspecting it was given to her by an amorous admirer?  Claude has the answer.  He will deposit the coat, in a suitcase, at a left-luggage office and give Claire the ticket.  She can than tell Jean she found the ticket and innocently claim the suitcase and its contents as her own.  At first, when Claire shows him the left-luggage ticket, Jean appears suspicious, but reluctantly he agrees to go and collect the mysterious item.  Claire's delight instantly turns to disappointment when she opens the suitcase and finds a manky old coat instead of the one that Claude gave her.  Naturally, she thinks that her lover has deceived her...