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Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris (Contempt)

  • 08-03-2014 12:52am
    #1
    MakeEmLaugh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,356 ✭✭✭


    I watched Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris (Contempt) earlier and I have to say, despite its reputation, it didn't grab me at all.

    I watched it largely as a result of its high placing (21st) on the Director's Poll of Sight & Sound's list of the Greatest Films. However, I was baffled at why it had the reputation it had.

    Yes, I noticed the many references to Anglophone cinema - from Griffith to Chaplin and Hitchcock to Hawks - so fixated upon by the critics from Cahiers du Cinéma (as well as the opening quote from André Bazin) and Georges Delerue's musical motif was quite haunting, though it lost some of its impact after about thirty airings.

    I was reminded of film critic John Simon's quote: "Portentous without having anything to say, improvisatory without imagination, full of esoteric references without relevance and in-group allusions without interest."

    But mostly, I was reminded of the parody on The Fast Show of French art house cinema:

    　

    　

    Quite why Colin MacCabe of Sight & Sound regarded it as "the greatest work of art produced in postwar Europe" is beyond me.

    Can anyone tell me why I'm wrong?


Comments

  • #2
    Bipolar Joe
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,443 ✭✭✭Bipolar Joe


    MakeEmLaugh wrote: »
    Quite why Colin MacCabe of Sight & Sound regarded it as "the greatest work of art produced in postwar Europe" is beyond me.

    Can anyone tell me why I'm wrong?

    You are not wrong, because clearly Kevin & Perry Go Large is the greatest work of art produced in postwar Europe.


  • #3
    fiachr_a
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭fiachr_a


    It's a list of the best directors' best films. So it was either Mepris or Pierrot le fou for Godard.


  • #4
    MakeEmLaugh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,356 ✭✭✭MakeEmLaugh


    fiachr_a wrote: »
    It's a list of the best directors' best films. So it was either Mepris or Pierrot le fou for Godard.

    Actually, A bout de souffle (Breathless) was his highest-ranked film, at #13.


  • #5
    penny1500
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33 ✭penny1500


    Hey guys, I am trying to get my hands on some of Godard's movies...online or to buy...but having very little success...doing an assignment on him for my French course! Any ideas on where I could access them? Thanks a mill...:)


  • #6
    johnny_ultimate
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    Most of the key films are easily available on DVD or BluRay. You'll easily find the likes of Le Mepris, Pierrot Le Fou, Breathless, Week End, Alphaville etc... on Amazon UK, just search for Godard. iTunes have a few too (iTunes US or Hulu would also be good sources if you happen to have access to them).

    If you have the time to import, Criterion have more again. If you're in Dublin, try the IFI bookshop - I'd wager they have quite a few at a reasonable price.

    Many of his films are pretty easily available tbh, so you should have little trouble tracking enough down for an assignment :)


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  • #7
    penny1500
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33 ✭penny1500


    Thanks a mill for the help!!! Found some...just started watching Breathless...:)

    johnny_ultimate wrote: »
    Most of the key films are easily available on DVD or BluRay. You'll easily find the likes of Le Mepris, Pierrot Le Fou, Breathless, Week End, Alphaville etc... on Amazon UK, just search for Godard. iTunes have a few too (iTunes US or Hulu would also be good sources if you happen to have access to them).

    If you have the time to import, Criterion have more again. If you're in Dublin, try the IFI bookshop - I'd wager they have quite a few at a reasonable price.

    Many of his films are pretty easily available tbh, so you should have little trouble tracking enough down for an assignment :)


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