Out 1, also referred to as Out 1: Noli Me Tangere, is a 1971 French experimental mystery film written and directed by Jacques Rivette and Suzanne Schiffman. It is indebted to Honoré de Balzac's La Comédie humaine, particularly the History of the Thirteen collection (1833–35). Known for its length of nearly 13 hours, the film is divided into eight parts of approximately 90–100 minutes each.
The vast length of Out 1 allows Rivette and Schiffman, like Balzac, to construct multiple loosely connected characters with independent stories whose subplots weave amongst each other and continually uncover new characters with their own subplots. A truncated 4½-hour version exists, and its Spectre subtitle was chosen for the name's ambiguous and various indistinct meanings, while the Noli me tangere ("touch me not") subtitle for the original cut is a reference to it being the full-length film as intended by Rivette.
The film's experimentation with parallel subplots was influenced by André Cayatte's two-part Anatomy of a Marriage (1964), while the use of expansive screen time was first toyed with by Rivette in L'amour fou (1969). The parallel narrative structure has since been used in many other notable films, including Krzysztof Kieślowski's Dekalog and Lucas Belvaux's Trilogie, which includes Un couple épatant, Cavale and Après la vie, to name a few. Each part begins with a title in the form of "from person to person" (usually indicating the first and last characters seen in each episode), followed by a handful of black and white still photos recapitulating the scenes of the prior episode, then concluded by showing the final minute or so (in black and white) of the last episode before cutting into the new episode itself (which is entirely in color).
Out 1 has won consistent critical acclaim since its release, and further received 13 votes in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the greatest films ever made, resulting in a final ranking of 127th, and 17 votes in the 2022 critics' poll, resulting in a final ranking of 169th.
Title Out 1 is known by many titles. Out 1: Noli Me Tangere, the frequently-cited longer title of the film, has its origins as a phrase written on the film canister of an early workprint. This longer title was commonly understood as the film's actual title until a finished print was made in 1989 for exhibition at the Rotterdam Film Festival and as a telecine transfer for TV broadcast. At that point Rivette asserted the title on-screen as simply Out 1.
When asked why the film is called Out 1, Rivette responded, "I chose 'Out' as the opposite of the vogue word 'in', which had caught on in France and which I thought was silly. The action of the film is rather like a serial which could continue through several episodes, so I gave it the number 'One'."
Out 1: Spectre is the proper title of the shorter, four-hour version, which is nonetheless a completely separate and distinctive work rather than simply a shortened form of the longer feature and includes scenes omitted from that version.
Plot and themes Rivette in the film focuses on theatrical rehearsals, a motif present in both L'amour fou and his debut feature Paris nous appartient (1960); he extends L'amour fous relentless reportage-style examination of the development of a play (in that case Jean Racine's Andromaque) and its effects on the director and his wife. In the case of Out 1, its anchors are two theater groups, each rehearsing Aeschylus plays (Seven Against Thebes and Prometheus Bound); no character is made the lead. There are also two outsiders: Colin, who believes there may be a real-life Thirteen group, and Frédérique, a swindler who steals letters which may be the group's communications. Other characters include Emilie, who runs a hangout under the name Pauline and whose husband, Igor, has been missing.
The film initially alternates between documentary-style scenes observing rehearsals, Colin soliciting money from café patrons as a deaf man by playing irritating harmonica tunes, and Frédérique stealing money through deceptions. Colin receives three mysterious messages referencing "the Thirteen" and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark. He connects this to Balzac and begins a quixotic quest to uncover their meaning and the Thirteen. Later, Frédérique interrupts Etienne, playing chess against himself at home; when she is left alone, she looks for a stash of money but instead steals letters. Sensing they refer to a secret society, she attempts to sell them to their correspondents for money or information, but fails. Only Emilie buys the letters, because they reference her husband.
The Seven Against Thebes production employs a newcomer, Renaud, to assist, but he quickly seizes creative direction from Lili, who recedes in disgust. Quentin wins a million francs betting, but during the ensemble's celebration, Renaud steals it; the production is cancelled, and the members search Paris for Renaud. Thomas brings in old friend Sarah to help with a creative block on Prometheus Bound, but she causes a rift and the play is abandoned when another player leaves for unrelated reasons. Thomas's block was due to the break-up of his longterm personal and professional relationship with Lili.
Thomas is revealed to be in the Thirteen, although the group was inactive and had agreed to become dormant. An encounter between Colin and Thomas motivates Thomas to suggest to Etienne reviving it, but Etienne is reluctant because of the group's inactivity. A correspondent, Pierre, discussed but not seen, is described as sinister and childlike. After reading the letters, Emilie prepares photocopies of them for newspapers and asserts a scandal involving Pierre setting up Igor. Since they are both Thirteen members, the group reconstitutes to prevent this, and Thomas, Etienne and ruthless lawyer de Graffe meet to discuss it.
Frédérique meets the man that her gay friend Honey Moon is infatuated with, who turns out to be Renaud; they marry in a blood ritual, but she suspects that he may be in another more sinister secret society and, after seeing him associate with a gang, draws a gun on him, but warns him – causing him to turn and shoot her dead.
Colin gives up on the Thirteen, while it is suggested by two other Thirteen members, Lucie de Graffe and cynical professor Warok, that Pierre wrote the messages to Colin and has been behind developments, because he misses the Thirteen and wants to restore it or replace it with young blood like Colin. Several characters retreat to Emilie's Normandy house, "the Obade" (another Balzacian reference, see "Ferragus"), where she breaks down in front of Sarah, confessing her love for both Colin (who had been courting her) and Igor. Her dilemma is solved when Igor phones to ask her to meet him in Paris. She and Lili set off to see him.
Thomas remains on the beach with two actors and has a drunken hysterical episode, when he pretends to collapse. They try to revive him but, when he reveals his jest, walk away in disgust and leave. Thomas is left, crying and laughing, stranded, and part of no group. The film then cuts to Marie, an actress from the Thebes group, still searching for Renaud and the money. A statue of a goddess, perhaps Athena, towers above her.