Jean-Luc Goddard began pushing cinematic boundaries with his very first feature, Breathless. Even into his 80s, he’s keeping up with the times, using 3D to create arresting visuals, usually with at least one element seeming almost to touch the viewer. Whether abandoning any notion of traditional narrative can be considered boundary-pushing is another story. But “story” is not a word one would associate with this collection of philosophy, classical music, occasional screeching car noises, and ever-changing images. There are recurring characters, but they do not have anything resembling normal conversation. Or, not for more than a few lines, anyway. Most of the time they, or a narrator, are saying things like, “Animals are not naked, because they are naked.” In one of the more straightforward scenes, a man sitting on the toilet explains to his lover how everyone is equal when they poop. They are both naked. (Or, perhaps, not naked.) In another, the man says that zero and infinity are humankind’s greatest discoveries. No, she says, sex and death are. Hitler is discussed as well as the French Revolution. Several scenes feature a dog, hence the above quote. Others feature blood. Sometimes Godard is clearly being playful, as when he blends two shots so that by closing one or the other eye I saw a completely different image. In other shots he’s used filters to distort the image or the colors.
Beyond the lack of a plot, having all of the dialogue be quotes (from Satre, etc.) and non sequiturs, plus the car noises, made this a seriously annoying movie to watch. It’s slightly redeemed by some truly innovative 3D images and by not also being glacially paced. Quite possibly I am a philistine missing Godard’s genius. I definitely missed whatever he was trying to achieve.
IMDb link
viewed 10/22/14 6:45 p.m. at Prince Music Theater [Philadelphia Film Festival]
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