First it was Jean-Luc Godard's surprisingly affecting "Eloge de l'Amour," now it's his former Cahiers du Cinema colleague Jacques Rivette's turn to get uncharacteristically accessible with the practically mainstream "Who Knows" (Va Savoir).

There must be something in the Evian.

An amusing sexual roundelay involving members of a touring Italian theater company who have brought their staging of Pirandello's "Come tu Mi Vuoi" to Paris, the film, buoyed by a superb cast, manages to overcome an awfully slow start and sprint spryly to a highly satisfying finale.

The marvelous Jeanne Balibar brings an infectious, pert ennui to the role of Camille, an actress who has been going through a bit of a crisis since returning to the city she left three years earlier.

Although she's currently involved with Ugo (Sergio Castellitto), the company's director and Camille's co-star, she had left some unfinished business behind with her ex, the rather stifling Pierre (Jacques Bonnaffe), who's now living with Sonia (Marianne Basler), a children's ballet teacher with a murky past.

Ugo, meanwhile, has been on a fruitless quest in search of a lost, unpublished Goldoni but picks up a valuable lead upon meeting the young, energetic Do (Helene de Fougerolles), who would seem to be more than close to her shady half-brother, Arthur (Bruno Todeschini).

Needless to say, the offstage developments prove to be far more intriguing than that lifeless, stuffy Pirandello production, with the entertaining final act fittingly played out on the actual theater set.

While the two-and-a-half-hour running time is a drop in the bucket compared to Rivette's usual, extended standards, the intriguingly woven material (penned by the director along with frequent collaborators Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent), really says nothing that it couldn't have said with 30 fewer minutes at its disposal.

Still, despite the required personal investment, the picture leaves you with a big smile on your face, and, given this year's less stellar Cannes track record, it's a rare and very pleasant sensation.

WHO KNOWS (VA SAVOIR)
(In Competition)
Les Films du Losange
CREDITS:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Christine Laurent, Pascal Bonitzer, Jacques Rivette
Director of photography: William Lubtschansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
CAST:
Camille: Jeanne Balibar
Ugo: Sergio Castellitto
Pierre: Jacques Bonnaffe
Sonia: Marianne Basler
Do: Helene de Fougerolles
Arthur: Bruno Todeschini
Running time: 154 minutes