Celine and Julie Go Boating
I really wanted to get into this because I usually love French cinema, including older, slower, and experimental films, but Céline and Julie Go Boating just didn’t work for me at all. This is one of the most exhausting and unrewarding viewing experiences I’ve ever had.
From the start, the character behavior feels confusing and unnatural in a way that makes it hard to follow who is who or why anything is happening. Instead of developing momentum or emotional connection, it drifts through interactions that feel random and repetitive, with no clear sense of direction or payoff. I kept waiting for something to ‘click’ or lock into place narratively, but it never really did for me.
The dialogue and performances create constant distance rather than immersion, and even when interesting ideas seem to be present, they’re buried under long stretches where nothing seems to progress or connect in a way I could emotionally latch onto. What might be intended as playfulness or experimentation comes across instead as disjointed and dull, with no narrative structure strong enough to hold attention.
By the end, there is no sense of progression or meaning that justifies the runtime or style. It feels less like a story or even a successful experiment, and more like a series of loosely connected scenes that never cohere into anything satisfying.
I understand this is a highly regarded film for its experimental approach, and I can see why it works for some people, but for me it removed any sense of momentum or engagement rather than adding to it. I spent most of the runtime feeling detached and bored rather than curious.
This is also one of the only French films I actively dislike, alongside Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, which I found even more insufferable and boring, but Céline and Julie Go Boating still lands firmly in that same category for me.
From the start, the character behavior feels confusing and unnatural in a way that makes it hard to follow who is who or why anything is happening. Instead of developing momentum or emotional connection, it drifts through interactions that feel random and repetitive, with no clear sense of direction or payoff. I kept waiting for something to ‘click’ or lock into place narratively, but it never really did for me.
The dialogue and performances create constant distance rather than immersion, and even when interesting ideas seem to be present, they’re buried under long stretches where nothing seems to progress or connect in a way I could emotionally latch onto. What might be intended as playfulness or experimentation comes across instead as disjointed and dull, with no narrative structure strong enough to hold attention.
By the end, there is no sense of progression or meaning that justifies the runtime or style. It feels less like a story or even a successful experiment, and more like a series of loosely connected scenes that never cohere into anything satisfying.
I understand this is a highly regarded film for its experimental approach, and I can see why it works for some people, but for me it removed any sense of momentum or engagement rather than adding to it. I spent most of the runtime feeling detached and bored rather than curious.
This is also one of the only French films I actively dislike, alongside Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, which I found even more insufferable and boring, but Céline and Julie Go Boating still lands firmly in that same category for me.
Mini Review: I usually love French cinema, including slower and experimental films, but Céline and Julie Go Boating completely missed me. The characters felt confusing and unnatural, the scenes random and repetitive, and I kept waiting for something to click that never did. What seems playful to others felt aimless and dull to me, leaving me detached and bored. One of the only French films I actively dislike, alongside Jeanne Dielman, though that one is even more insufferable.