Merry-Go-Round (1981) review

Élisabeth (Danièle Gégauff) asks her American lover Ben (Joe Dallesandro) and sister Léo (Maria Schneider) to fly to France where she's planning on selling her late father's property - initially, they have a tough time locating her, but when they do she tells them that her dad (who might have faked his death) stole millions of francs ... and then she's kidnapped, so Ben and Léo have to not only rescue her but find the missing loot.  This playful Rivette feature wasn't well-received upon release in '81 (it was shot in 1977) because it does tend to meander and not come to a fully satisfying conclusion - in an interview with Serge Daney and Jean Narboni, the auteur admitted that it's "a film with a first half-hour that's quite coherent, and then it searches for itself three times" - although there is something amusing about seeing two societal outcasts rummaging through run-down houses and searching for "clues."  The footage of jazz musicians Barre Phillips and John Surman jamming throughout the movie provides an easy hint the project was mostly improvised, but sometimes you can improvise so much - like having Ben sprint around in the woods while chased by a knight on horseback - you aren't sure how to stop.