Going into my 2015 director's challenge I already knew I would enjoy seeing more Godard. Breathless is a classic for a reason and Band Of Outsiders is one of my absolute favorites. Realizing how little of Godard's work I'd seen was actually part of the impetus for this whole experiment, so "thanks" you old French weirdo.
For the vast majority of these movies, Netflix discs would be the option that served me best. Being an eager beaver however, I decided to rent Contempt on my iPad and watch it on the plane ride from Chicago back to L.A. on January 4th. This was not my wisest move- Contempt has a lot of female nudity. I dimmed the screen and hoped the people sitting on either side of me weren't too nosy. The movie itself was wonderful; there was a lot to digest. It is apparently based on a book, but the characters are also meant to represent Godard, his wife, and the film's distributor (or perhaps all Hollywood types). The French New Wave directors didn't play by cinema's rules and Godard took an unsubtle jab at all executives, distributors, and producers who would dare insert themselves into the creative process. Moreover, the main characters' dilapidating marriage provides an essential emotional core to the film which might otherwise be construed as pseudo-intellectual or overtly meta. Casting Fritz Lang as the director of the in-movie movie (whose characters' drama also parallels the drama of the actors playing them) is another nice touch.
The story, the script, the casting, the locations, the color palette, the meta-narrative, the pacing, etc; everything is working here. There are so many individual elements that can elevate or detract from a movie's success that Godard just doesn't seem to worry about- he really makes it look effortless. My friend Dusty once complained that it seemed like Godard could shake his arms and classic movies would fall out of his sleeves. Contempt is a prime example of that.
Pierrot le Fou was my next favorite of the four I watched. Godard isn't the only director to work with an attractive actress, marry her, and then cast her in a bunch of stuff (looking at you Fellini) but it's hard to argue that there was a more effective pair than Jean-Luc and Anna Karina. She shines in Pierrot as the flighty, sing-songy lead, and I might describe this movie as the New Waviest of all that I watched. Karina is grand in Vivre Sa Vie as well; the movie about the rise and fall of a prostitute told in twelve chapters. She also appeared in Alphaville which was my least favorite of the four I watched, but that's not to say it's bad. Alphaville was apparently quite influential to a lot of sci-fi that followed, despite having no visual or practical effects whatsoever. Dystopian YA movies of today, take note.
Even adding these four movies to the two Godard's I'd already seen, I'm still woefully ignorant concerning most of the auteur's prolific body of work. One day I'll circle back and see Two or Three Things I Know About Her and Week End. It's also worth mentioning that Godard was making more than one movie a year for most of the 60s- like I said, putting out classics for him was like changing the linens is for me. Twice a year plus we make it look easy.
- Contempt (1963) - 8.5/10
- Vivre Sa Vie (1962) - 7.5/10
- Pierrot le Fou (1965) - 8/10
- Alphaville (1964) - 6/10
To close, here are a few more indicative Godard quotes that I enjoy:
"Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world."
"I pity the French cinema because it has no money. I pity the American cinema because it has no ideas."
"I don't think you should feel about a film. You should feel about a woman, not a movie. You can't kiss a movie."
Keep doing you, Jean-Luc. Next up, Wong Kar Wai.
