Godard's "Contempt" -- widescreen jewel of the New Wave

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Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on April 14, 2008 at 11:24:20

And Godard's first film in color. I saw it at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, where long ago I had once attended my first "foreign movie" (Wild Strawberries).

We have Jack Palance (in the Alec Baldwin role, and a far sperior actor), Brigitte Bardot (a petulant, high-maintenance wife) and Fritz Lang (as himself and the Greek chorus) -- a motley crew indeed. The unknown-to-me Michel Piccoli is the protagonist (a reluctant screenwriter) and a superb method/improvisational actor, believable in every line he utters.

There is a Criterion edition of this and I hope it's in better shape that the "new 35mm print" offered for viewing at the Brattle. Plus the sound was screechy in the digital way, although the staff claimed it was an optical track. On the other hand they also thought it was in stereo!

The film is more-or-less a ruse, a meta-commentary on its own action, not unlike Truffaut's "Day for Night" (La Nuit amÃ©ricaine). The opening shot, just for instance, shows us a camera making a tracking shot of a walking actress, and at the end it turns full on us. And on the screen appears this quotation (?), as best I can recall it: "The purpose of cinema is to divert our regular gaze and redirect it through the window of our desires." Whew!

The first half hour is filmed in a movie studio (well of course it is!), but the buildings and grounds of Rome's Cinecitta act as another player here. The rest of the film is set in the two estates of the Hollywood producer played with exquisitely boorish tone (and in English) by Jack Palance -- one house in Rome, the other in Capri. The central and defining scene takes place between Paul and Penelope (Piccoli and Bardot) in a cramped apartment; for twenty minutes in the French manner she wants to talk about what love means and he, I have to say, seems a la Antonioni equally interested in the conversation.

But is the talk serious, or meta-serious? (Again, in the Italo/French manner.)

A word on Cambridge cinema audiences, of whom there were a heartening couple hundred at the early Sunday matinee: They are an earnest group. I caught on before anyone that we were watching a comedy and began chuckling, then laughing. Were people staring at me? Eventually however they got the clue, but when the scene referenced above began they were still laughing, because love is funny too, right? But again I caught on to the change of tone and adjusted my reaction, and soon they calmed down too.

The rest was a tossup whether comedy or drama. A fine balancing act.

A word on Cinemascope (actually "Franscope"). Early on, the director of the film-within-a-film ("The Unhappiness of Hercules"), Fritz Lang, avers that he hates widescreen, it's only good for showing rivers and mountain ranges, and he wouldn't be using it here if his Hollywood bosses hadn't made him. TrÃ¨s amusant, yes? But then... then!... Godard proceeds to offer us some of the most ravishing Cinemascope photography you'll ever see. For instance, Bardot's body. The Isle of Capri. And then... then!... he fields some vertical compositions that occupy only the center of the screen, in the old 4:3 frame, but the wings... the wings!... outside that array are crammed with color.

A word on the color: Color by Technicolor. Several of the cameramen whom we see are wearing that logo on their jackets. TrÃ¨s amusant, yes?

Lang alone seems truly interested in the film they're making. But, "It's a fight against the gods," he sagely observes.

And the last shot in this director-detested widescreen production? A pan from Hercules standing on the ramparts to a river emptying into the wide blue sea.

clark

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Topic - Godard's "Contempt" -- widescreen jewel of the New Wave - clarkjohnsen 11:24:20 04/14/08 (14)

This is the film - sjb 12:18:22 04/15/08 (5)

Whereas I saw him generous and responsive to a fault. Look how he... - clarkjohnsen 09:00:35 04/16/08 (4)

I saw her as messing with him in that regard but doing so consciously as a way to try and point - sjb 09:17:04 04/16/08 (3)

Trouble is, as afilado so sagely pointed out in his message below... - clarkjohnsen 09:45:34 04/16/08 (2)

Be that as it may (and it was certainly a very good and well said observation) - sjb 17:58:47 04/16/08 (1)

All that, and more, I'm sure. nt - clarkjohnsen 10:08:49 04/17/08 (0)

RE: " Les Cahiers du Cinema "are dying.... - patrickU 09:38:29 04/15/08 (0)

RE: Godard's "Contempt" -- widescreen jewel of the New Wave - Rod H. 16:11:50 04/14/08 (0)

RE: Godard's "Contempt" -- widescreen jewel of the New Wave - afilado 15:26:19 04/14/08 (3)

You, sir, are a very perceptive man... nt - clarkjohnsen 08:53:31 04/15/08 (2)

RE: You, sir, are a very perceptive man... nt - afilado 10:25:48 04/15/08 (1)

Oh well said, well said! nt - clarkjohnsen 11:45:14 04/15/08 (0)

Agreed, and would add... - semuta 13:05:36 04/14/08 (1)

Good observation! nt - clarkjohnsen 08:52:15 04/15/08 (0)

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