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Carsten Czarnecki wrote:In my opinion every single film that Godard made between BREATHLESS and WEEKEND is a complete masterpiece. He made great work afterwards as well, but as J. Hoberman correctly put it, no one has been so artisticly productive since Griffith at Biograph as Godard in the 60s.

I used to agree with you, but last year I ventured into his later works and I'm not convinced that his most important films in terms of his artistic maturity came after Weekend. Tout va bien, Numero Deux, Sauve qui peut (la vie), Prenom: Carmen, and King Lear are really just as important, if not more important than his "New Wave" period. Unfortunately King Lear is his most recent film I've seen, and I know others would claim that his work in the 90s is pretty impressive as well. The issue with many of the post-68 films is availability, and I think unless you are fortunate enough to have access to these films through a retrospective or a great library, or you are maniacal enough to track them all down through the internet, these remain unknown to most people.

Though if I were you, I would take a look at Numero Deux. I would argue that with a few exceptions, it is the most honest and genuine film he ever made. It's not as pretentious or idealistic as the Dziga Vertov Group films and it isn't just a playful (and emotionally cold) look at authorship like his 60s films. It's also formally very complex. I would even make the case for Tout va bien though I think most people might disagree with me and see that film as more of a 'means' and not quite an 'end.'

But his 15 films he made between Breathless and Weekend are all awesome, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who would have loved to see Criterion release all of these onto DVD in one massive boxset and call it:

JEAN-LUC
CINEMA
GODARD,
BIATCH!

One of the reasons I find it so hard to evaluate Godard's ouevre as a whole -- beyond the huge gaps of unavailable films -- is that his pre- and post-68 films seem like the work of such vastly different filmmakers. I love all the films I've seen from his early period, and I'd be inclined to agree that from Breathless to Weekend was his most consistent period -- there really doesn't seem to be a bad film in there. However, at this point I'd probably say that I prefer the post-68 period, even though it can be somewhat inconsistent. I'm particularly fond of his early 80s work. For me, the run from Sauve qui peut (la vie) to Hail Mary is another brilliant streak of consistent genius. Prenom: Carmen in particular is a favorite. These films are, at a formal level, just miles above any of his 60s work -- he seems to be consistently developing his knowledge of film grammar and his capacity for sound design and editing is at its peak in these films. I've only just started dipping into his 90s work, and while I wouldn't rank Nouvelle Vague or For Ever Mozart quite as high as the 80s films, they are still very good in their own right. And the 2001 short De l'origine de XXIe siecle may just be my favorite Godard piece, seemingly an outgrowth of Histoire(s) de cinema that only makes that film's continued non-existence on DVD all the more frustrating.

I think Godard is really a remarkable filmmaker in that he's continually reinvented himself anew -- there are at least 4-5 major breaks in his career in terms of style and approach, although you could also argue that there's been consistent linear development within and across each of those periods. But even now he remains incredibly relevant for me, and as much respect as I have for his 60s films, it's the later work that I think is ultimately the more important body of work.

Oh yea, and I definitely see Tout Va Bien as an "end" in itself. It's a wonderful film, the culmination of Godard's radical period and his perfect expression of the spirit of Brechtian theater. It manages to be both alienating and utterly engaging in its use of long, graceful tracking shots and speechifying dialogue. The cut-away set of the factory, shown in long shots with incredibly complex arrangements of action happening within all the different rooms, is an ingenious device. I'm not quite as convinced by the rather surface-level media commentary in Letter To Jane, but like I said, Godard was definitely less consistent, but more inventive, after '68.

justeleblanc wrote:I'm not convinced that his most important films in terms of his artistic maturity came after Weekend.

I assume you meant "now" instead of "not". Actually, I have seen many of Godard's films from his post-Weekend period. There are only a few more titles for me to catch up with to have seen his whole oeuvre. All the titles you mentioned are great and I agree with you that NUMÉRO DEUX is a masterpiece, as well as TOUT VA BIEN, SAUVE QUI PEUT (LA VIE) and PRÉNOM CARMEN and many other titles that you didn't mention, like PASSION, JE VOUS SALUE MARIE, DÉTECTIVE, PUISSANCE DE LA PAROLE, NOUVELLE VAGUE, JLG/JLG, HISTOIRE(S) DU CINÉMA, ALLEMAGNE 90 NEUF ZÉRO, ÉLOGE DE L'AMOUR and NOTRE MUSIQUE. And contrary to most people I even admire his Groupe Dziga Vertov films, particularly ICI ET AILLEURS and PRAVDA. But I still think that nothing in the Godard canon reaches the sheer perfection of my favorite, TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER. Then there's the charmingly insane PIERROT LE FOU, the tragicly (anti-)romantic LE MÉPRIS, the beautifully tender MASCULIN FÉMININ and also something as light and nice as UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME.

Godard is the cinema.

JLG/JLG and Germany Year 90 Nine Zero are my favorites from his post-80s period, if you can find them

Yes, I did mean "now" thanks. Completely different meaning.

I actually consider Ici et ailleurs a post-DVG film, since he is literally re-editing the film and giving it a new direction altogether, something he thematically does with Numero Deux. I've been emailing Criterion right and left to get them to release these two (and even throwing in his two television works and Comment ca va? along with it). It wont happen, I would be surprised if Criterion quality prints exist for these videos, and Facets owns them.

No one seems to be mentioning King Lear on this thread. If you guys can find it, I really suggest checking it out, it's pretty amazing. I found a copy off half/ebay for 20 bucks and it was worth every penny. I'd be interested to see if people love it as much as I did.

And I actually don't think every pre 68 film is a masterpiece. It seems that his more genre-oriented works (I'd hate to use "generic" there) are the weakest. I def don't want to start an uproar when I say this, but Woman is a Woman, Alphaville, and Made in U.S.A., while good in concept, fail to deliver as much. Same goes for Le Petit soldat and Les Caribiniers, though I would argue that even conceptually those films are on the weaker side.

I would love to see some of the TV-work Godard did with Anne-Marie Miéville, like FRANCE/TOUR/DETOUR/DEUX/ENFANTS and SIX FOIS DEUX/SUR ET SOUS LA COMMUNICATION. That's the most hard-to-find stuff in Godard's body of work.

Carsten Czarnecki wrote:I would love to see some of the TV-work Godard did with Anne-Marie Miéville, like FRANCE/TOUR/DETOUR/DEUX/ENFANTS and SIX FOIS DEUX/SUR ET SOUS LA COMMUNICATION. That's the most hard-to-find stuff in Godard's body of work.

There's a guy who typically sells his collection of rare Godard VHS tapes (inculding SIX FOIS DEUX) on ebay, but I bought his SOFT AND HARD, BRITISH SOUNDS, and WIND FROM THE EAST and the quality wasn't amazing.

My faves are Nouvelle Vague, Le Mepris, Une Femme est Une Femme, Pierrot le Fou, Masculine Feminine and Vivre sa Vie . Plus the videos, particularly France/Tour/Detour/Deux Enfants.

Back in the day (I'll be 60 next month) I regarded Godard as something like an Ideal Father/ Older Brother. He knew all sorts of neat stuff. I took it upon myself to read every book mentioned in a Godard film -- and they are legion. Quite a worthwhile undertaking. But time goes on and people change. His recent films (esepcially Eloge d'Amour and Notre Musique) really haven't been very good at all.

And my cinematographic interests have shifted to such figures as Patrice Chereau, Jacques Rivette, Alfonso Curaon, Manoel de Oliviera (among the living) and Bresson, Pasolini and Ozu (among the semi-retired)

I love it in interviews when he gets asked about more recent films/filmmakers... does anyone have any good links to interviews/articles where Godard gives his thoughts on some more recent (like say within the last twenty years or so) films, good or bad?

A fortiori !

It was quite prescient of Godard to dedicate Detective "To Edgar G. Ulmer, John Cassavetes and Clint Eastwood."

At the time it seemed he was just being cheeky. But today it's clear he sensed that Clint was about to flower into the great Late Classicist that he is today -- and one of the finest commercial filmmakers the U.S. has ever produced.

justeleblanc wrote:And I actually don't think every pre 68 film is a masterpiece. It seems that his more genre-oriented works (I'd hate to use "generic" there) are the weakest. I def don't want to start an uproar when I say this, but Woman is a Woman, Alphaville, and Made in U.S.A., while good in concept, fail to deliver as much. Same goes for Le Petit soldat and Les Caribiniers, though I would argue that even conceptually those films are on the weaker side.

I think you're right that Godard's more genre-oriented work in his earliest years was not his most challenging -- although films like A Woman is a Woman and Le Petit Soldat and Bande a parte have a real strong appeal for me, so I certainly wouldn't call them "weak". They also provide a very strong basis on which his later work has built -- namely, the subversion of cinematic expectations and the subtle introduction of political and social material into the skeletons of genre-derived plots and characters. I'd argue that this has remained Godard's dominant way of working virtually throughout his career (with the possible exception of the immediate post-68 years with Gorin and D-V-Gruppe), although over the years the genre components have shrunk while the politics and commentary has grown. I'd also have trouble grouping Alphaville in with those other films, since for me that is one of the strongest of his early films, a perfect use of a genre setting to tell a truly subversive story. The ideas of the film -- love and individuality in opposition to the State -- continue to drive Godard's work today.

In fact, just tonight I finally watched Eloge de l'amour as I continue to work my way through Godard's 90s ouevre. And in the film he repeats the idea (also quoted in De l'origine du XXIe siecle) that the State is the opposite of love -- thus echoing all the way back to Alphaville nearly 40 years later.

As for Eloge as a whole, it was disjointed and exceedingly episodic, and occasionally all but entirely incoherent -- but as always filled with intriguing ideas, striking images, and wonderful thought-provoking passages. There was less concern for narrative in this film than in virtually any other Godard I've encountered, and this is a director who's frequently been accused of using his characters as cardboard cutouts to deliver his philosophy and politics. Nowhere does that criticism more true than here.

Much has been made of the film's anti-Americanism, and the attacks on Spielberg do seem incredibly mean-spirited (not that I have any love for Spielberg or Schindler's List). But I also wonder if Godard isn't subtly questioning this kind of attitude at the same time as he's espousing it. In one early scene, after a woman expresses some anti-American sentiment, a man nearby asks (and I'm paraphrasing) "And what of your parents in 1944? And your grandparents in 1918?"

In another scene, Edgar makes some excellent points about the American film industry when he criticizes the coverage of Titantic, which focused on the money it made rather than its content. But when asked whether he'd seen the film to comment on it himself, he's forced to admit he hasn't. In short, I don't think the film's message about America is quite as simplistic as it sometimes seems, although it's easy to miss these nuances as compared to the more obvious criticisms of America. The questioning of America's sense of history is certainly fair, and I think an intelligent explanation for this country's seeming lack of concern for world affairs and willingness to repeat the past's mistakes. Anyway, definitely not one of Godard's strongest works, although certainly worth seeing and thinking about, as always.

Not sure where to post this, but here is the BAM page of the screenings of Godard's BREATHLESS and PIERROT LE FOU.

Not that it matters, we know PIERROT is coming, but still, notice the Janus Films print being used.

Well, this isn't really news, but I just recieved an email from Criterion (after asking if they plan to release any '80's or '90's Godard) which said:

If all goes well, 'Breathless' will be in stores this fall. We do hope to get to 'Pierrot le fou' at some point in the future, but no release date has been set. Thanks for your email!
Sincerely,
Tamara

well the loose "fall" does seem to confirm that the DVDBeaver was wrong in their assumption that Breathless already had a firm August release date

jorencain wrote:Well, this isn't really news, but I just recieved an email from Criterion (after asking if they plan to release any '80's or '90's Godard) which said:

If all goes well, 'Breathless' will be in stores this fall. We do hope to get to 'Pierrot le fou' at some point in the future, but no release date has been set. Thanks for your email!
Sincerely,
Tamara

Tamara rocks by the way.

Though she does contradict what Turrell told me about Pierrot in January, that it WILL be coming in 07.

The Janus Films site for Pierrot has a trailer posted. I'm assuming it's the original, not a new one for the re-release. Either way, I'd never seen it before & it's got me really excited to see the film again (it's been ten years or so).

Has anyone got their Optimum -Volume 1 yet ? It was released on 4th June and I pre-ordered and was told yesterday that it will be another 48 hours (at least) before despatch.

Very odd.

filmyfan wrote:Has anyone got their Optimum -Volume 1 yet ? It was released on 4th June and I pre-ordered and was told yesterday that it will be another 48 hours (at least) before despatch.

Very odd.

Got mine today from Moviemail. Not odd.

that told me.

Cheers..just thought it had been delayed possibly

a while later I finally got around to seeing more. I love Contempt, Alphaville, and most of all, Band of Outsiders. I think it's my favorite movie now. At times it feels like one of those really bare-bones CD's, my favorite example would be Ryan Adam's Heartbreaker, where every mistake or maybe mumbling after a song starts to solidify and every bit of it seems just as purposeful as the lyrics or main notes. It all starts to become familiar and beautiful. That's the way Band of Outsiders is for me, each facial expression seems completely orchestrated and like it couldn't have been otherwise Just trying to figure out which CC Godard to get next. I'm wavering between a woman is a woman and masculin feminine. Will probably just get a woman is a woman because it has anna karina in it.

blindside8zao wrote:Just trying to figure out which CC Godard to get next. I'm wavering between a woman is a woman and masculin feminine. Will probably just get a woman is a woman because it has anna karina in it.

You'll be happy with both, but I think MF is the more interesting one, and it will leave you thinking about what you just saw for a while longer.

Which is the better version of Notre Musique, Region 1 or Region 2? Or is there no difference?

Sanjuro wrote:Which is the better version of Notre Musique, Region 1 or Region 2? Or is there no difference?

R1 has a 5.1 mix, which the R2 lacks. Image-wise I think they're about the same.

Are Contempt and Week End good blind buys

Godard has been wildly hit and miss for me? For every film that I absolutely love from him (Breathless, Band of Outsiders and A Woman is a Woman), there's one where I simply don't get or feel very mixed about (Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou and La Petite Soldat).

Any thoughts?

Contempt is, for me, his best one. A masterpiece.