Love on the Ground

This overlooked jewel in the filmography of French New Wave titan Jacques Rivette is a beguiling haunted-house mystery about the riddles of love and art. Jane Birkin and Geraldine Chaplin star as actresses recruited by an enigmatic playwright (Jean-Pierre Kalfon) to star in a new work that will take place in his outrageously decorated mansion. But as life imitates art and vice versa, the two women find themselves drawn into a bizarre love quadrangle in a house haunted by the specter of a mystery woman. Rivette’s pet themes—acting, magic, the friendships between women—are all explored in one of his most engaging, emotionally complex films.