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Celine and Julie Go Boating

Play trailer Poster for Celine and Julie Go Boating 1978 3h 10m Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 54 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
When Celine (Juliet Berto) goes traipsing across a Parisian park, unwittingly dropping first a scarf, then other objects, Julie (Dominique Labourier) cannot help but follow her, picking up each item. So begins a fanciful relationship between the two, which soon sees Celine sharing Julie's apartment and each of them playfully switching identities in their daily lives. As they increasingly indulge their fantasies, they find themselves trying to rescue a young girl from a supposedly haunted house.
Celine and Julie Go Boating

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Critics Consensus

If its flights of fancy can grow wearisome over its lengthy runtime, Céline and Julie Go Boating often justifies its indulgence with wildly imaginative charm.

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Critics Reviews

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Louise Sweet Financial Times Celine and Julie Go Boating casts several interweaving spells. Mar 9, 2023 Full Review Eric Shorter Daily Telegraph (UK) An elaborately cumbersome and self-indulgent exercise in highbrow fooling. Mar 2, 2023 Full Review Michael Blowen Boston Globe A cauldron of magic, symbol, humor, dreams, and skits, that is ultimately defeated by its inordinate length. Mar 2, 2023 Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film A super collaboration where no idea is discarded and lets the imagination run wild. Mar 6, 2023 Full Review Michael Billington Birmingham Post Even is the film's charm is a bit narcissistic, it is undeniable. And the girls themselves are delightful. Mar 2, 2023 Full Review Stanley Eichelbaum San Francisco Examiner The film has strong moments, but it's stretched too thin, and would have been far more effective if it were half as long. Mar 2, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dani G I didn't knew a thing about this film, just that it was some kind of classic... Now that I've watched it, I really don't know what to say about the series of nonsense images and illogical plot that I witnessed Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/25/25 Full Review Leaburn O Creative, jaunty, silly and at times intriguing. I can see why it’s highly rated but it felt very long and at times a bit too irreverently irritating. Final film I had to watch to complete BBC list of best foreign language films. Watched on DVD. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/25/25 Full Review Audience Member As far as 3 hour-long arthouse French movies go, you could do a lot worse than 'Celine and Julie Go Boating', an intersection of Alice in Wonderland and Remembrance of Things Past that effectively manages to mix the carefree with the strange. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Film within a film within a film. It's extraordinarily indulgent of an auteur director yet to be acquainted with an editing suite. The cinematography is magical, the actors cute and accessible, the world alluring but after 2 hours 45 minutes we had to call time and they hadn't even gone boating yet. There's a great 2 hour film in here somewhere but that wouldn't have got the reverence. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review dustin d A hard movie to track down, but worth the effort. It is something of a Groundhog Day story about a couple women who keep entering the same haunted house on the same day to rescue a child who is about to be poisoned. It is trippy and engrossing and deserves wider appreciation. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This is one of my favorite movies, ever. I first saw it around 30 years ago in film school, and it was like a small acid trip. I bought the film a few years ago and watched it again, and it's just as sweet and charming and fun. To get caught up in this film, for me, is like becoming a child again. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Celine and Julie Go Boating

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Cast & Crew

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Jacques Rivette

Director

Juliet Berto

Celine

Dominique Labourier

Julie

Bulle Ogier

Camille

Marie-France Pisier

Sophie

Barbet Schroeder

Olivier

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Celine and Julie Go Boating

Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis When Celine (Juliet Berto) goes traipsing across a Parisian park, unwittingly dropping first a scarf, then other objects, Julie (Dominique Labourier) cannot help but follow her, picking up each item. So begins a fanciful relationship between the two, which soon sees Celine sharing Julie's apartment and each of them playfully switching identities in their daily lives. As they increasingly indulge their fantasies, they find themselves trying to rescue a young girl from a supposedly haunted house.
Director
Jacques Rivette
Producer
Barbet Schroeder
Distributor
New Yorker Films
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 24, 1978, Limited
Runtime
3h 10m