275 Tout va Bien

[ellipsis7]

Godard opens the film with the cheques been written for various aspects of the cost of production - cast and crew etc... Sets the stage for what follows - I'm really looking forward to this, having a so so VHS dubb of it...

[GringoTex]

And as someone who was at their New York press screening of 'Tout va bien' told me, at the Q&A afterward, legendary prick John Simon asked the French and Franco-Swiss pricks, "Has it occurred to either of you that these things you see don't exist outside of your own sick minds?"

Classic! I once read one of Simon's books on Bergman which contained an interview between the two. Simon seemed more interested in getting Bergman to say that Godard sucked than anything else.

[BWilson]

Q. "I wanted to ask you, do you feel that the whole ecology issue is unfair competition?"

A. "As a French militant, I'm for the pollution of American air."

This one's priceless: The first session with Godard and Gorin took place...at the time the astronauts were circling back around the moon with the air running out. "I hope they die," said Godard.

What a nice guy.

[ellipsis7]

The significance of this film is that one of cinema's major artists made a radical turn (foreshadowed in PIERROT LE FOU and WEEKEND) away from his first period of filmmaking, to a more hard edged questioning of materialism, commercialism etc, and exploration of Marxism, that was to last the best part of decade... And to do this he used an Hollywood star - Jane Fonda - attempting to invert her fame in the service of the film...

It's a wildly enjoyable and provoking piece, and the disc includes LETTER TO JANE, nearly a second feature in itself...

[vertovfan]

I recall reading somewhere that Tout Va Bien was more like Godard's return to the "mainstream" (if such a term could ever be used to describe Godard!) after his thoroughly radical experiments with the Dziga Vertov Group in the late sixties (Wind from the East, Struggle in Italy, Vladimir and Rosa, etc.). Tout Va Bien offers more conventional story and characters than these films (many consider the more radical Godard films practically unwatchable, though I disagree) - that, plus Fonda and Montand, make the film more accessible and make it easier for Godard's ideas to reach a wider audience. Which I'd say is a good thing.

[ellipsis7]

True - see Colin MacCabe's book - following the Dziga Vertov films you mention, the attraction of making a semi mainstream political film, post May 1968, with an Hollywood star and a budget, albeit inverting her fame, seemed irresistible.... It however was an unhappy film to make, and a commercial and critical disaster on release, and Godard followed with LETTER TO JANE, a vicious attack on his erstwhile 'star'...

Of maybe greater significance is that he apparently met Anne Marie Mieville, stills photographer on the film, on the set. She was to become his personal and professional partner from then onwards...

[evillights]

Of maybe greater significance is that he apparently met Anne Marie Mieville, stills photographer on the film, on the set. She was to become his personal and professional partner from then onwards...

Yes -- following the motorcycle crash, which retrospectively marks the end of his Dziga-Vertov/Gorin collaborations, Mi�ville helped him get back to health, and he and she have intermittently collaborated ever since -- and are also, of course, life-partners or, as Godard puts it, "friends."

A post above mentions Godard's Marxist period lasting "the better part of a decade," but this really isn't true -- even if you start counting the Godard films of '68 as belonging to this period, 'Tout va bien' and 'Lettre � Jane' effectively mark the end of this period -- although as was noted above, 'Tout va bien' is more in line with that certain 'essence' of the "Godard feature-film" that can also be found in 'Week-end.'

Following the motorcycle crash, he and Mi�ville rethought the idea for the film on Palestine that he and Gorin had been formulating (as 'Jusqu'� la victoire' -- 'Until Victory'), and this became 'Ici et ailleurs' ['Here and Elsewhere']. Throughout the rest of the decade, we get 'Num�ro deux,' 'Comment �a va?' (co-directed with Mi�ville), and Godard's two epic essay/documentary series for French TV, also made in collaboration with Mi�ville -- 'Six fois deux, sur et sous la communication' ['Six Times Two: On and Beneath Comunication'] and 'France/tour/d�tour/deux/enfants' -- which constitute two of the most important works in the Godard oeuvre and modern cinema. Well, the body of work is so rich anyway, it barely figures even to proclaim such...

Anyway, Mi�ville herself is all but unknown in the United States, except as common-law-wife / sometime-collaborator of Godard, but she is a magnificent artist in her own right, and her work really ought to be seen in the States and the English-speaking world (there was a retrospective in New York earlier this year, or late last year, I believe) -- not to mention released on DVD, but I won't hold my breath. I believe 'Apr�s la reconciliation' from 2000, which stars Godard in the lead, was released on DVD in Japan, but nowhere else to date.

[iangj]

Article on Tout va Bien

This is Sequence as in "Wellington Film Soc"? Surely a fellow Kiwi, Cinephrenic...?

Those who have seen it, just tell me if it`s in the vein of Notre Musique, so that I can skip it.

No good asking me as I think NOTRE MUSIQUE is far and away the best film of the year... Still, as you must have gathered, TOUT VA BIEN is hardly in its vein and has far more in common with the likes of WEEKEND (that's the sense of it marking, at the time, Godard's "return to cinema").

Anyway, Mi�ville herself is all but unknown in the United States, except as common-law-wife / sometime-collaborator of Godard, but she is a magnificent artist in her own right, and her work really ought to be seen in the States and the English-speaking world (there was a retrospective in New York earlier this year, or late last year, I believe) -- not to mention released on DVD, but I won't hold my breath. I believe 'Apr�s la reconciliation' from 2000, which stars Godard in the lead, was released on DVD in Japan, but nowhere else to date.

I'd love to see more of her work. Her "prologue" to JE VOUS SALUE, MARIE really impressed me at the time -- quite equal to the main body of the film itself.

[evillights]

IMO, it is easily the most exciting Criterion release in the past year. I just recently saw Moments Choisis des Histoire(s) du Cinema when I went to MOMA a few weeks ago. It was amazing. The most shocking thing had to be the Tom Waitts song in the soundtrack. I hope Tout va Bien is more like Pierrot le Fou (the great Godard film) than In Praise of Love (the most bitter and unrewarding Godard film).

I wouldn't exactly agree with that assessment of '�loge de l'amour' -- it's one of my favorites -- but I can tell you for what it's worth that the American Region 1 DVD from New Yorker is travestied. It's cropped to 1.85:1, when the film is very much 1.33:1 like virtually all of Godard's post-'Tout va bien' works. The British disc from Optimum is the one to have for this film.

The Tom Waits song, "Ruby's Arms," comes from a passage in Godard's 1983 feature 'Pr�nom Carmen,' when Jacques Bonnaff� and Maruschka Detmers are desultorily caressing following (and preceding) a rupture in their relationship. It's during this passage that the famous "silhouetted hand over the blue TV-screen static" shot appears, capping the majestically beautiful sequence in the hotel suite (like a rhapsody in yellow and blue).

Godard reuses the Waits song for that section in 'Moments choisis,' in addition to a visual extract from the same scene in the earlier feature -- all of which, of course, is being re-incorporated in 'Moments choisis' from an episode in the longer 'Histoire(s) du cin�ma.'

[In Heaven]

I've seen little Godard- I loved Breathless, as well as Sympathy for the Devil, but didn't so much care for Alphaville. I do, however, love political films, espessially radical 60's and 70's politics. Is this blind-buy material for me?

[Nihonophile]

I've seen little Godard- I loved Breathless, as well as Sympathy for the Devil, but didn't so much care for Alphaville. I do, however, love political films, espessially radical 60's and 70's politics. Is this blind-buy material for me?

If you loved "Sympathy for the Devil" then I'm sure this is going to be worthy of owning.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Is the movie anything like Two Or Three Things I Know About Her?

[evillights]

Is the movie anything like Two Or Three Things I Know About Her?

It is in that it's a Godard film, and all of his work is obviously of a piece, but it's not in that its methods, concerns, and the stars aren't the same as in 'Two or Three Things.' It's also more ideologically aggressive, which is to say more rhetorically aggressive, and so aesthetically even more of a live-wire than the mid-'60s films -- it's one way of getting at something of a left-wing political cinema, but 'Letter to Jane,' also included on the disc, is the film about which one say that Godard and Gorin express an idea of all-out militant cinema. They're not exactly "casual viewing."

For anyone who hasn't seen any Godard since 'Week-end,' I'd definitely suggest leaving your expectations at the door. Both films are more redolent of battered cans containing 16mm dupes and underground screenings than most of the films getting excellent digital transfers today. With regard to other films in the Criterion Collection, the only titles with which these two have something in common would be.. probably, the Brakhage collection, 'The Blood of a Poet,' 'F for Fake,' and maybe 'Shadows' or 'Faces.' But more flagrantly didactic than any of the aforementioned.

[jorencain]

So, this comes out in a couple days, but criteriondvd.com doesn't have the back cover yet, and I can't find any reviews online. I thought those things usually happen by the time the release date is less than a week away. Has anyone come across any reviews of this disc? Thanks.

[What A Disgrace]

So, this comes out in a couple days, but criteriondvd.com doesn't have the back cover yet, and I can't find any reviews online. I thought those things usually happen by the time the release date is less than a week away. Has anyone come across any reviews of this disc?

I don't know about reviews, but DigitalEyes.net has the back cover.

My mind slipped. I meant DVDEmpire, not DigitalEyes.

[oldsheperd]

DVDempire has had the back up for close to a week.

[drpauligari]

For those sitting on the fence about this release until they have information on the transfer quality, the disc looks beautiful. I happened to find a copy at Reel here in the East Bay for $19.99 and snagged it. The print used for the transfer is pristine, and the extras: Letter to Jane, Godard interview from 1972, the 2004 Gorin interview, plus a 40-page booklet, make it well worth the price. Also, a mini-review.

[Michael Kerpan]

Another yes vote -- for this quirky but interesting film. (And what a lovely young woman Jane Fonda was back then).

[DDillaman]

Could someone clarify if the "sausage factory" setting means that there's plenty of nice gory meat packing shots in this or not? Considering a blind buy, and that's probably the factor that will sway me one way or another.

Okay, that sounds funny. Let me rephrase: I tend not to like slaughterhouse footage, and I can definitely see Godard using plenty for political purposes, and if that's what this film is (obv. partially) about then I'm in no hurry to watch it.

[Michael Kerpan]

The meatpacking sequences were not horrific -- I'm squeamish -- and they didn't particularly bother me.

MEK

[jorencain]

Could someone clarify if the "sausage factory" setting means that there's plenty of nice gory meat packing shots in this or not? Considering a blind buy, and that's probably the factor that will sway me one way or another.

Okay, that sounds funny. Let me rephrase: I tend not to like slaughterhouse footage, and I can definitely see Godard using plenty for political purposes, and if that's what this film is (obv. partially) about then I'm in no hurry to watch it.

You never see a whole animal; it's pretty much just ground meat. It's no "In a Year of 13 Moons" or "Maitresse." Don't let that fear stop you from seeing this.

I really liked this film a lot. The long tracking shots of the cutaway factory and the supermarket were great. I just wish I knew more about European politics at that time.

[oldsheperd]

Since Godard was somewhat incapacitated during shooting due to an accident, I wonder how much Gorin shot. I give this film a definite thumbs up. The shots of Jane Fonda making sausage are classics.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Since Godard was somewhat incapacitated during shooting due to an accident, I wonder how much Gorin shot. I give this film a definite thumbs up. The shots of Jane Fonda making sausage are classics.

Both Godard and Gorin have said that Gorin was mostly responsible for the script and that Godard's contributions were mainly "technical," which I take to mean that Godard did the actual shooting. Most of Godard's recuperation took place before shooting began (there's a sorta funny-sad story in McCabe's biography about Gorin flying to Los Angeles in a last-ditch effort to persuade Jane Fonda to stay with the film because Godard would've lost his medical coverage if the project collapsed).

[Donald Trampoline]

Hoorah to Criterion for releasing this. The disc is beautiful.
Letter to Jane is perhaps the antidote if you find Tout va bien dissatisfying at all. It's brilliant Godard and definitely a complete second film on this disc (52 mins or so). A new 27-minute Gorin interview is also quite interesting.

There is one small problem, which I will mention. The sound mix is problematic. Something went wrong. One example is in the supermarket tracking back and forth shot, towards the end. A woman (Jane Fonda's character I'm pretty sure) says something in voiceover like "Change everything!" "But where do we start?" "Change everything all at once!" The sound is totally buried on this Criterion DVD so that you can barely make out the audio, although you can see the subtitles. It happens at a few other points in the film, where you can see subtitles and just barely make out the audio. (Not too often, just in a few places. It could have been worse.)

I compared it to a Tartan Pal VHS copy I have, and on the "Change everything!" lines I mentioned, the sound of the supermarket bustle and hubbub noise is dialed down almost to nonexistence and the spoken lines are then loud and clear. Then the sounds of the supermarket and the people comes back up. The same is true of a couple of other points in the movie.

One other subtlety is that when I watched the Tartan VHS, just recently before watching the Criterion DVD, the sound mix seemed purposely to get uncomfortably loud in certain parts. Given Godard's extreme care in developing his soundtracks, it seems likely that this was by design. I did not have this same experience with the Criterion DVD. It seemed to have been "evened out" a bit.

I still think it's a brilliant DVD, but I believe the small handful of barely audible lines are a mistake that should be brought to Criterion's attention.

I'll end by still applauding Criterion for this wonderful DVD and beautiful image of the film (which puts to shame my Tartan Pal VHS) and for including the incredible Letter to Jane, which if it hadn't been included on this disc, probably would never have appeared on video or DVD in any form. Bravo despite my small complaint, which I hope they can correct.

[javelin]

But wasn't Godard a huge fan of the ambient sound? Cinematic realism, et cetera...You think maybe this is more in line with what he would want?