Up, Down, Fragile (1995) review

Three young ladies are out and about, doing their own thing in Paris: petty thief Ninon (Nathalie Richard) takes a job as a delivery girl (sometimes with rollerblades!), Louise (Marianne Denicourt) left the clinic she was staying at (having been in a coma) and just strolling around the city and orphan Ida (Laurence Côte) is working at a library but has a song stuck in her head and doesn't know the singer - meanwhile, Roland (André Marcon) and Lucien (Bruno Todeschini) seem to be ever-present in their lives.  Nothing remotely resembling a plot (if you can even call it that) kicks in until roughly two hours in or so - Louise comes to the realization her father is a corrupt businessman - and so it's mostly Rivette watching pretty girls dancing and singing too many songs, there's really no major revelation at the conclusion (life goes on, I suppose) and lonely Ida's narrative is poorly integrated into the mix.  In typical fashion for the auteur, there is a secret society (run by "Alfredo Garcia") and a theatrical production is being worked on in the background, but this feels especially frivolous if you compare it to his best work ... but once more he sneaks a line in that could be a self-aware nod to the audience: "I'm sorry for this bad joke.  When you find out, you might forgive me."