Friday 20 August 2010

Film by film: Godard's French New Wave period

Breathless (1960)

A film very iconic of its time, this is also generally seen as the manifesto film of the New Wave's aesthetic, where many of the ideas from by people by Bazin were put into practice. Its main stylistic feature was the jump cut. Scenes chaotically led onto others without any sort of continuity. This was a result of attempting to cut the film to a shorter length as a subsequent request from the producers. There are many allusions to pop American culture; the protagonist idolises Humphrey Bogart and reads William Faulkner, and falls in love with an American journalist. The film deals with how the Jean-Paul Belmondo character commits a murder and eventually gets turned in by the American. This film is a lot more light-hearted and has a lot more levity than people give it credit for; it could be essentially be seen as a love story with elements of high art in them. It the film that made Godard a household name and it was to become his only commercial success.

Le Petit Soldat (1960)

Dispensing with the unorthodox editing use of Breathless, this film used far more conventional cinematographic devices. Arguably, it could be seen as Godard's most coherent feature. It dealt with the Algerian war, with a person who works for the French intelligence to avoid getting drafted. Due to the sensitivity of the situation of the war at the time, and due to lengthy scenes depicting torture, this film was banned for three years. It also starred upcoming model Anna Karina, who became Godard's wife while filming and would become the quintessential Godardian actress, appearing in most of his subsequent New Wave films.

Un Femme Est Un Femme (1961)

Godard jokingly called this "a neo-realist musical comedy". This is perhaps Godard's only joyful film; it has an upbeat and uplifting feel to it that isn't present in the rest of his features. The Anna Karina character plays a stripper who wants to have a child, a wish that's hindered by her lover's reluctance, so she turns to his best friend instead.

Vivre Sa Vie (1962)

By far Godard's most serious and 'poetic' film to this date, this work is drenched by bleakness and despair. It is subdivided into twelve parts, which could be seen as an approach of a film essay on prostitution. Its tragic veneer is in part indebted to Godard and Karina's personal life at the time: she had just suffered a miscarriage and had been left infertile. Karina plays Nana, a woman who drifts into a life of prostitution to pay the rent. The film is characterised by an unorthodox use of camera angles: characters are filmed from their backs, there will be sustained shots of close-ups and unusual lighting. The film shows a strong affinity with film history, with Nana attending a performance of a Carl Theodor Dreyer film. Nana's eventual death seems to reach a very sombre conclusion.

Les Carabiniers (1963)

Haven't seen this one yet.

Le Mepris (1963)

This film mainly originated from been a US co-production and a to have a great deal of investment in it, after producer Carlo Ponti approached Godard. Indeed, it could be seen as the only 'properly made' Godard work. It is a meta-film, that is, a reflection of cinema within itself. An American producer hires a French playwright to rework a script which is in the process of being filmed by director Fritz Lang but quickly runs into problems and turmoil. The film is perhaps best remembered for featuring tame nudity from star Bridgette Bardot, which was mainly put into the film after the producer's insistence in the hope that it would raise the profits. Ultimately, this film is more interesting by its process and production than for its end result.

Band A Parte (1964)

A very playful and entertaining film, this is perhaps most remembered for its dance scene, which would later cast its influence on Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Karina plays a naive young girl who gets caught up amidst a couple of thugs who carry out a robbery in her own home. Filmed in the streets of Paris, this imaginatively re imagines the gangster genre in a way which is enjoyable and entertaining.

Un Femme Mariee (1964)

Haven't seen this one yet.

Alpaville (1965)

This is Godard's blend of science fiction and film noir, as well an unusual comment on the individual and totalitarianism. It is notorious for starring Eddie Constantine, an actor famed for B-movies and for generally not being a 'good' actor. He enters Alphaville, a strange alternate world that runs a totalitarian regime, where people are completely robotised and anyone speaking up is murdered in unusual and inconceivable ways. Head of Alphaville is Alpha 60, a computer system that dictates logical science. It gives long monologues which are actually quotations from Jorge Luis Borges' Refutation of Time. Anna Karina plays a resident of Alphaville who, like the rest of its inhabitants, doesn't understand the meaning of 'love' or 'conscience'. In the end she acquiesces to the Constantine character by declaring "I love you" which Godard brilliantly pulls off by not making it appear melodramatic or soppy. My favourite Godard film.

Pierrot Le Fou (1965)

This is where Godard looked back at his career to date, where he made a reworking and renewal of all his former themes. Jean-Paul Belmondo falls in love with his babysitter played by Anna Karina and they embark on an expedition to the French Riviera. The tension between the lovers present in this film strongly mirrors the state of Karina and Godard's marriage at the time, as their relationship had by now crumbled. This film is also notorious in that it increasingly breaks away from the levity embodied by the French New Wave and integrates an growing political edge which would now predominate in the rest of Godard's features. The films following Pierrot would concern themselves with an increasingly political agenda. By now Godard merely used narrative as a way to connote his ideas on politics, cinema and aesthetics. Like Le Mepris it is shot in bright primary colours by cinematographer Raoul Coutard.

Masculin Femenin (1966)

Haven't seen this one yet.

Made in USA (1966)

A farewell to Anna Karina as well as the spirit of the New Wave, this film sees Godard blending his politicised sensitivities with elements of a crime thriller. This film was done as a favour to his producer Georges de Beauregard to fund another film. Karina gets entangled in a conundrum of political fervour. Ultimately, in the final scene Godard seems to reach the conclusion that neither the left or right is the solution as Karina drives away to salvation.

Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1966)

This is a demanding theoretical discourse. It follows a French woman going into prostitution to pay her bills. Instead of the title suggesting that this is centred of a woman, the film in fact deals with Paris and the state of consumer culture and the Vietnam war. It is most famed for the coffee scene, where the camera zooms into a steaming cup of black coffee as philosophical discourse is interjected over it.

La Chinoise (1967)

Haven't seen this one yet.

Week End (1967)

A vast collage of political ideas and ruminations, this is Godard's final New Wave film and his final feature that was made commercially. Around this time he swung to Maoism and arguably lost his way. Week End is a film which showed a complete disgust and rejection of its own society, as well as a prescient document foreshadowing the 1968 student revolutions. The film portrays an anarchic world which very nearly emerged after the film's premiere. Two bourgeois characters go an outing to the countryside, where they get lost in maddening world of cannibals and philosophy-spouting eccentrics. There is a famed - and notorious - tracking shot of a traffic jam, which lasts for seven minutes. The ending intertitle of the film was 'End of cinema'. From here there was no turning back.

No comments: