Tag: French New Wave

Contempt

Contempt a.k.a. Le Mepris is a 1963 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

WHAT HAPPENS?

The marriage between a screenwriter and his wife falls apart during a trip to Italy.

ONE LINE REVIEW

Contempt is a stylish, lush, honest but bleak portrayal of damaged relationships.

THE ACTORS

Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bardot play Paul and Camille, a young couple whose relationship craters during the production of an Odysseus movie. Piccoli portrays Paul in a sort of suspended state: he takes on a writing job in lush Capri solely for financial gain, which stifles his creativity – and he learns his wife doesn’t love him anymore. Piccoli conveys a continual dread and depression about his life – which is brilliantly contrasted by the immaculate beauty surrounding him.

Bardot assumes the role of Camille, who after meeting Jack Palance’s churlish Jeremy – the producer of the movie – senses the downfall of her own relationship. Bardot’s character is interesting given her rapid emotional fluctuations – she expertly conveys a heavy sadness throughout the movie. She assumes a female role familiar in many Godard works, yet she maintains an appealing grace and power.

Palance and German director Fritz Lang round out the cast. Palance is terrific playing Jeremy – a producer who despises the artistic nature of filmmaking. He is fixated only on the erotic appeal of art, which translates to his continued pursuit of Bardot’s Camille. Lang plays himself – only here he is the director resigned to the commercial limits placed on his art. His dialogue – which he patiently delivers – serves to endorse the truths of the auteur, rather than its system of delivery.

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Le Petit Soldat

Le Petit Soldat is a 1963 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

WHAT HAPPENS?

During the Algerian War, a member of a right-wing terrorist group falls in love with a member of a left-wing terrorist group.

ONE LINE REVIEW

Le Petit Soldat sees Godard challenge the existential ideals of love and alliance.

THE ACTORS

Michel Subor plays Bruno Forestier, the oft-reluctant Frenchman under the thumb of a right-wing terrorist group. Subor is given an interesting, if not fairly limited role. He’s a suspected double agent unwilling to carry out an assassination. Subor skillfully and briefly shows the nerves of a young man pressed into such a situation – yet the remainder of his character is nondescript, much in the manner of most spies. He is given ample time to expound his political and social views during the movie’s final half hour.

Likewise, this is probably Anna Karina’s most subdued Godard role. The vibrancy of her past characters is replaced with an air of mystery. We’re never sure where her motivations lie – she feels like more of an object than person. Early in the movie, she is photographed by Forestier while asked a series of questions. The scene could represent her own interrogation – either politically or as Forestier’s love interest. Yet even in this sense, her Veronica exists almost as an allusion; Forestier seeks to compare her eyes – a “Vasquez or Renoir grey.”

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A Woman is a Woman

A Woman is a Woman is a 1961 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

WHAT HAPPENS?

A young woman wants to have a baby with her boyfriend, whose interests lie elsewhere. His friend is brought into the relationship, which only leads to complicated feelings.

ONE LINE REVIEW

A Woman is a Woman sees Godard take on the absurdity of relationships.

THE ACTORS

Anna Karina stars in her first Godard feature and it’s obvious the director is infatuated with her. Karina’s big, expressive eyes and range of emotion are continually highlighted throughout. Her character, Angela, possesses little depth beyond her main motivation, yet Godard accentuates her naivety and allows her style to emerge.

Jean-Claude Brialy and Jean-Paul Belmondo play Emile and Alfred, Angela’s potential suitors. The prolific Brialy is efficient as the cynical and often cold Emile – he continually shoots down Angela’s desire for a baby. Belmondo breezes through his performance as the cavalier Alfred.

THE DIRECTOR

A Woman is a Woman fits into a unique place in Godard’s filmography. There are few gangster references and no overt political leanings present. As such, it features a light tone. Being only his second feature, we also see the subversive experimentation that would mark his later work. Early on, Karina announces: “before acting out our little farce, let’s bow to the audience.”

Throughout the movie, Godard reminds us that we’re watching a movie. Karina makes a regular habit of winking to the camera. Meta moments abound, including Alfred mentioning that “Breathless is on TV tonight.” A police duo interrupt an argument to canvass the apartment. Emile and Angela decide not to talk to each other – instead they argue through book titles.

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Vivre Sa Vie

Vivre sa Vie is a 1962 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

WHAT HAPPENS?

A young woman in Paris struggles financially and romantically and turns to prostitution. Her story is chronicled in twelve episodes.

ONE LINE REVIEW

Vivre Sa Vie chronicles a woman whose voice is lost in a world where commerce is more valuable than thought.

THE ACTORS

Much of the history of Vivre Sa Vie details how Godard’s camera was in love with Anna Karina. Watching even a few scenes confirms this idea. Karina dominates the movie, yet conveys the emptiness of a subject that is only pursued physically. We are to pity her Nana’s plight – she’s broke, homeless, alone and turns to prostitution both to survive and form an identity.

Yet, the tragedy occurs when she tries to connect with her employers and suitors on an emotional level. There is little to discuss and no one available for such contact. Her most meaningful conversation occurs with an older man and the topic only lands on the existential nature of words.

This could be Karina’s most subtle, yet expressive Godard performance. Her acting often retreats inward – she’s initially revolted by prostitution but then emerges as a caricature of her practice. This role is defined by Karina’s expressive eyes – she alternates sadness, desperation and emptiness in such a pure sense. She’s a brilliant actor and a fascinating study for Godard.

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The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows is a 1959 movie directed by Francois Truffaut.

The 400 Blows tells the story of Antoine, a 14-year old who suddenly finds himself drifting through life. Disconnected from his family and friends, Antoine turns to lying and stealing and eventually finds himself in a juvenile detention center.

Truffaut’s first feature excels on several levels. There is immense beauty in the stark, honest environment that breeds Antoine’s angst. The look of the movie is gritty but gorgeous – even in its most confining spaces. The emotional nuances of the acting are superb – the child actors convey a rich depth of confused innocence while the adults project a vicious callousness.

Yet the lasting effect of The 400 Blows is heartbreak.

The movie’s most powerful moment is a split second reaction when Jean-Pierre Leaud’s Antoine is visited by his mother at a juvenile detention center. Antione’s mother, played by Claire Maurier, clinically reports that his father has “washed his hands of you.”

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Le Samouraï

Le Samouraï is a 1967 movie written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.

Le Samouraï tells the story of Jef Costello, an assassin who performs a contract killing but is then brought under police suspicion. Facing pressure from both detectives and his shadowy employers, Costello becomes a hunted man.

Alain Delon is a precise, quietly dynamic and occasionally intense presence throughout Le Samouraï but the greatest star is the easy, mellow sense of cool that drifts throughout the movie. Jean-Pierre Melville captures an environment that is effortlessly sophisticated, yet dreary and ominous.

The world of Le Samourai is also distinct in its loneliness. Costello inhabits a world chilled by Melville’s blue and gray hues. He is a professional assassin disconnected from the emotions of the world. His only tangible relationship is with Jane, a sometimes lover and convenient alibi.

It is Costello’s alibi – a marvel of efficiency – that proves his undoing. After executing a hit, he is seen leaving the crime and later brought in for a police lineup. He is initially cleared but his meticulous story creates suspicion for Francois Perier’s Le Comissaire, who is investigating the murder.

Costello’s isolation is striking. Because of the police involvement, he is now a threat to his underworld employers. He escapes a murder attempt, only to return home bloodied to his lonely apartment. His only companion is a chirping bird.

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Pierott le Fou

Pierott le Fou is a 1965 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

Pierott le Fou tells the story of Ferdinand, a bored man eager to escape his Bourgeois life and Marianne, a gun smuggler on the run from terrorists. Together, they escape Paris and embark on a genre-bending adventure.

Pierret le Fou exists in an interesting space of the Godard universe. In some respects, it’s the natural follow-up to Band of Outsiders, yet also could be seen as the true culmination of Breathless. Godard blends gangster films, island adventures and spy thrillers into a subversive text that ultimately reveals itself as an ironic political statement.

Godard’s movies feature a quirky, contextual innocence – his characters seem to be trying on roles in an experimental landscape. Here, we see a familiar blueprint: a couple is on the run – they’re playing existentialist gangsters – staging car wrecks and breaking the fourth wall. Ferdinand is writing a book, Marianne throws it away.

However, a shift is occurring in the Godard universe. The subversive reassembly of culture that marked his earlier movies is still vivid, but a heaviness is looming. The second half of Pierrot le Fou issues a statement regarding an increasingly militant world. Even Godard is not immune to such sweeping societal change.

Yet, Pierrot le Fou is still a masterful dissection of culture and a really fun movie.

And it looks great.

Stylistically, this may be Godard’s most appealing movie – or at least, it’s intriguing to see him experiment with color.

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Breathless and Un Flic

Breathless is Jean-Luc Godard’s first feature movie. Un Flic is Jean-Pierre Melville’s final movie. Both directors are considered essential figures in French New Wave Cinema.

Breathless is to 1960’s French culture what Pulp Fiction was to its 1990’s American counterpart – a purely original work that both reinterpreted and reinvented movies. Each work represents a complete shift in how people made, watched and thought about movies. Both Godard and Tarantino present stories about crimes and gangsters, but each movie lifts the cultural subtext around them into its own powerful narrative form. There is a linear jump from Jean-Paul Belmondo’s Michel imitating a gangster to Samuel Jackson and John Travolta discussing foot rubs.

While there were occasional surprises in the years before Breathless and Pulp Fiction, nothing represented the jolt of energy these movies produced. Even 60 and 30 years later respectively, the two works remain relevant, instantly re-watchable and endlessly copied.

Breathless tells the story of Michel, a small-time crook who impulsively kills a French policeman. He is pursued by French authorities – along the way, he tries to convince American student Patricia to run away with him to Italy. The plot is nearly superfluous, as Godard focuses on the existential roles his lead characters assume. Patricia is sent to Paris by her parents to attend the Sorbonne – she wants to be independent, Michel is a wanted criminal – he wants to be Humphrey Bogart.

At its core, Breathless is a story about youth. Michel and Patricia are vibrant and driven by pure energy: Patricia’s thoughts form a lyric stream of consciousness, Michel is always moving and laser focused on his goals – getting his money and trying to sleep with Patricia. Each is focused on the moment in front of them and the electric vibe of Paris seems to reflect this.

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The Tarantino Influences: Band of Outsiders

Band of Outsiders is a 1964 Jean Luc Godard movie that focuses on a trio of students who attempt to pull off a robbery. Its style, attention to subtext and tone may have served as inspiration for Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

The most common link between Tarantino and Band of Outsiders is the movie’s famous dance scene. According to Tarantino historians, the scene was a direct inspiration for Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace’s Jack Rabbit Slims dance in Pulp Fiction. However, the subtext floating around the story’s main plot celebrating American gangster movie culture is what makes Band of Outsiders a quintessential Tarantino influence.

The story is pretty simple. Two students, Franz and Arthur, decide to rob a house. They enlist the help of Odile, who lives in the house with her Madame Victoria. It’s a strange arrangement, as both Franz and Arthur are smitten with Odile and are competing to be with her sexually. Yet, they also need her to pull off the robbery. Odile seems to be both enraptured by and scared of Arthur and Franz’s attention towards her. The relationship is often muddled, as Odile is a pawn in the overall scheme, yet also is the fulcrum of the rampant teenage emotions permeating each encounter.

Franz and Arthur were clear Tarantino inspirations in that they are consumers and actors of American pop culture. Franz in particular dresses like a 1950’s mobster and attempts to wear the menacing scowl of a movie bad guy. Arthur reads comic books and talks about X-ray vision. Both play extended games of Billy the Kid, drawing on each other with finger guns and playing out exaggerated imaginary death scenes.

However, Arthur and Franz prove to be vastly different characters. While both are playing the roles of robbers both literally and figuratively, it’s clear Arthur is better equipped to pull it off. He’s the leader of the trio and we later learn that his family appears to have real-life criminal connections. Arthur is the realist of the duo – he’s direct, purposeful and confident in his actions, while Franz sometimes exists in a more philosophical realm of being. Each is dangerous – perhaps as a result of their criminal intentions, imagination and youthful arrogance, which can lead to accidental disaster.

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