Jean-Luc Godard

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Production601
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1001 Post by Production601 » Tue Nov 27, 2018 5:31 pm

The documentary about the shooting of Film socialisme will be screened in Paris next week

http://www.cinematheque.fr/seance/30968.html

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1002 Post by BrianInAtlanta » Sat Jan 26, 2019 6:52 pm

Any one know a source for English subtitles for "Grandeur et décadence d'un petit commerce de cinéma"?

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1003 Post by Oedipax » Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:36 pm

They're definitely 'out there,' so to speak - Mubi had it had it as a 'special discovery' within the last year or so, and if memory serves there were various English-subbed copies circulating on backchannels before that, too.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1004 Post by domino harvey » Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:48 pm

In an inverse of how this usually goes, I watched the 1961 BB comedy La bride sur le cou and in it Bardot jokingly refers to Michel Subor as “Petit Soldat”— I can’t remember any non-Young Turk French movie from this era referencing Godard, it’s usually the other way around! Perhaps Vadim (who took over after Bardot got Jean Aurel fired) was paying it forward to Godard for his early effusive praise in the pages of Cahiers

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1005 Post by domino harvey » Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:26 pm

I just realized that, for whatever reason, Milne's Godard on Godard does not include any of Godard's contributions to the fifth and final issue of Rohmer's Gazette du Cinema (1950). For my own personal French practice I'll attempt to translate these at my leisure (ten of the capsule reviews in the issue are by Godard, though only two are credited to JLG, with the other eight signed by Godard's nom de plume, "Hans Lucas," plus an eleventh longer piece on 16mm screenings), but dear lord please stop me if someone else has already done so!

Here is one of the capsules signed "JLG," for Gaslight (Thorold Dickinson 1940):
We know the story of this film, made in 1940 by Thorold Dickinson, whose Queen of Spades was just released in Paris. The rights were purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who commissioned George Cukor to lead Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer in a new, neatly traced version. Let's thank Mr Henri Langlois for displaying the film’s fireworks at the Cinematheque, as here is a movie that shows that there are some in the English cinema who know how to direct actors.

We know the story of Gaslight: an elegant criminal returns with his young wife to the house where he had strangled an old aunt. He tries to convince his wife of her madness so as to inherit her money after committing her. This rather improbable story is treated well by Mr Thorold Dickinson, who is content, with a quiet cleverness, to insist on character growth and tears and smiles that are on the money. His staging is perfect discretion and taste. As proof, one need only look at his reverence to Degas during a delightful display of the french-cancan. Mr Dickinson also seems to love silent cinema and, by casting hoops onto the legs of the young women among the little girls with big bowties, sends Griffith some moving praise.
Please note that I have no idea what Godard means in the last line (which wouldn't be the first time), so corrections are welcomed. Here’s the original French, if that helps:
M. Dickinson semble par ailleurs aimer fort le cinéma muet et, jetant des cerceaux dans les jambes des jeunes femmes, au milieu des petites filles à grands nœuds papillon, envoyer à Griffith quelques louanges émues.
I suspect this is wordplay or a reference I just don’t get... (it also doesn't help that the lowercase l's and t's in the Gazette's font look identical)

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1006 Post by Rayon Vert » Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:45 pm

Thanks for doing this, domino. Your translation of the last line sounds fine to me, but I'm not sure what it means either. I'm guessing maybe there's a scene in the film where what he depicts happens?

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1007 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Sun Apr 07, 2019 2:52 am

I think it's just Godard being Godard playfully (or irritatingly depending on your take on Godard's metaphors) referring to the image of hoop-skirted young women seeming like bowling hoops running through groups of smaller girls with large ribbon bows in their hair being an affectionate nod to and conjuring up Griffiths. Whether this image actually exists as depicted by him in Dickinson's film is anybody's guess.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1008 Post by Rayon Vert » Sun Apr 07, 2019 11:00 am

The image is cropped but yes it's a scene, as I suspected.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1009 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:37 pm

Rayon Vert wrote:
Sun Apr 07, 2019 11:00 am
The image is cropped but yes it's a scene, as I suspected.
Yes you're right that it exists with the bowling hoops for real rather than metaphorical. However despite making allowances for the cropping I don't really buy the nod to Griffith's imagery except in the most superficial way or merely in Godard's exaggerated magpie tendencies.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1010 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:45 pm

Thanks for the clip. I’ve changed “hoopskirts” to “hoops,” since it’s apparent Godard is talking about the literal hoops and possibly punning this with the old-fashioned hoop skirts (same word) the older “young” women are wearing while walking amongst the hoop-playing children. Of course, as noted, even solving the question mark here doesn’t make it a very compelling argument! Still, other than Young Cassidy, which no doubt got a pass from Godard for John Ford’s involvement, I can’t think of another non-Hitchcock British Film Godard likes, and this exception paired with an early admission of hatred for Brit films being present years before it became standard policy of the Young Turks is really where the interest in this rave lies for me

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1011 Post by Rayon Vert » Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:48 pm

Point taken. Here's a better, non-cropped version of the same scene where the Griffith ribbon bows are more visible! ;)

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1012 Post by Rayon Vert » Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:50 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:45 pm
I can’t think of another non-Hitchcock British Film Godard likes, and this exception paired with an early admission of hatred for Brit films being present years before it became standard policy of the Young Turks is really where the interest in this rave lies for me
Yes, I had the same reaction. I didn't bother to look up where the quote sticking in my mind comes from, but I remember his mentioning different national cinemas in an article and saying "the British have none" or something to that effect.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1013 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 07, 2019 2:43 pm

And here's the second review credited to JLG, for Ditte Menneskebarn (Bjarne Henning-Jensen 1946)
Here is a cynical and tender film. Its tenderness is the confession of a resentment too quickly felt and its cynicism is the bitterness of a revolt too tenderly held together. If the film belongs to a certain Protestant tradition, it borrows more from the madness of heresy than from the righteous pleasures of the offense. The passages of the mother and the daughter intertwine and play out in offsets of each other and so, because they follow each other only to cement their similarities, with an immaculate happiness the grace of one is illuminated by absolving the sin of the other. Every second a new star comes into the world: even without the charms of scandal, the body of Tove Maës is fresh and young as the host. There is only one thing to do in front of Him: one must imagine Ditte happy.
Godard's prose is so hard to get right because even in translations by native speakers I'm not sure I always understand what he's saying, but I feel better about my work on this one, especially since I actually get his references this time and I believe I’ve honored his wordplay as it relates to the religious angle he takes throughout. Some notes:

The line about scandal and Maës’ body is a reference to the publicity surrounding the actress appearing nude in the film. Note Godard’s continued use of religious imagery here as throughout the short piece: he refers to the actress as the “host” (of her body, but also as literal host in the Catholic sense).

The last line is an altered quotation from Camus' Le mythe de Sisyphe. Ditte is the name of Maës’ character. The lead up to the quote is worded strangely but I believe “Him” here is God ("Il" comes at the beginning of Godard's sentence, so no help there w/r/t capitalization), to continue the religious parallels Godard is clearly working with, so I’ve capitalized it to draw the distinction.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1014 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 08, 2019 2:32 pm

"HL" on the Great McGinty (Preston Sturges 1940)
A screenwriter working under the reign of American comedy, Preston Sturges began directing in Hollywood at the same time the war was taking place in Europe. The weakness of his first film and the small charms of the two that came after are due only to the demands of the Aufklärung, under which made his debut and which, starting from Sullivan’s Travels, he will methodically and brilliantly distort. The meaning of this short fable was clear: it is a story of laughter, but now Sturges only works outside these constraints. He was a phenomenologist whose versatility was that of Sheridan rather than Voltaire. He filmed both the comic and its absence and stripped objects and men of all preconceived meanings.

A little over a hundred and fifty years ago, a great painter made him a remarkable portrait: le bel indifférent. But there is no doubt that this beautiful monotony is the tracing of an intimate catastrophe. Pulling back all hands but his own, becoming an outsider himself, Preston Sturges installs the love of others in a carousel too fragile to survive the contemptuous irony and outdatedness of his inspiration.
Notes on translation:

For some reason Godard used the German word for the Age of Enlightenment (perhaps to draw a further parallel to the war with Germany dramatically altering Hollywood product), so I left it untranslated to respect his language shift.

Sheridan refers to the Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Voltaire is Voltaire.

I chose not to translate “le bel indifférent” because this is a double-reference to Jean-Antoine Watteau’s painting L’Indifférent (though Godard was off in his estimation) and Jean Coceatu’s one act play written for Edith Piaf, Le bel indifférent (later adapted by Jacques Demy seven years after Godard wrote this). Here’s Watteau's painting:

Image

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1015 Post by Rayon Vert » Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:46 pm

This is in French, but Godard was interviewed on French TV and said he'd be interested in making a film about the Yellow vests movement. Also shares his thoughts about Varda's passing.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1016 Post by domino harvey » Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:32 am

HL on the File on Thelma Jordan (Robert Siodmak 1950) (and in true Godard fashion, it's really 80% about another movie!)
Since starting work in Hollywood, Robert Siodmak has been the most famous of the outsiders who stage films of terror. But the flowers of terror here are the tricks under which rhetoric hides. The brutal elegance of his mise en scène once gave us only the black and beautiful smiles of Ava Gardner’s snow white face. The Great Sinner offered us the first Dostoevsky girl of cinema - Natasha the diamond, beautiful and breathtaking - and showed how morality triumphed over aesthetics in the auteur. However, the original title testified to the great sin of obeying rhetoric. Each of the actors is sinful, for their gestures compose with a language in front of which obedience is only the hasty advantage of a forthcoming loss. I like to see the definition of romanticism: each work contains its own commentary. Each character behaves at the sole benefit of the contempt which terrorizes him.

In his latest film, Robert Siodmak, aristocrat of mise en scène, hides his icy sentences under a scarf of crime. He imposes on the photographer the same style of dreary images, cast gray with a slight revulsion for the actors including the always beautiful Barbara Stanwyck, a little shark with a belly covered in silver.
Translation notes:

“The original title” refers to the Great Sinner, as the French title was Passion fatale

“Each work contains its own commentary” is a reference to Albert Béguin’s position in L’Âme romantique et le rêve, essai sur le romantisme allemand et la poésie française. Godard’s lead-up comment is awkwardly worded, but accurate to the original French (as I understand it, at least).

Where I've gone with "aristocrat," Godard uses the word “Junker” to describe Siodmak’s staging. Google tells me that this is a German word designating nobility, here presumably used as a play on Siodmak’s country of origin.

Godard uses the word “argent” in the last line, but I believe he wants the reader to associate this with the less common usage of “silver” (like coinage) to complete his “gray” imagery trifecta. But at least this is word play I get!

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1017 Post by accatone » Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:01 pm


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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1018 Post by lzx » Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:13 am

Here's an English-subtitled version of the video accatone posted: Godard's in-person appearance to accept the 2019 FIAF Award

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1019 Post by Ovader » Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:53 am

Rayon Vert wrote:
Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:46 pm
This is in French, but Godard was interviewed on French TV and said he'd be interested in making a film about the Yellow vests movement.
Jean-Luc Godard Reveals He’s Begun Working on His Next Film
Speaking to Les Inrockuptibles (with a helpful translation from Richard Brody), when asked if he’s shooting next film, the director answered, “Yes. It will tell the story of a Yellow Vest woman who breaks up with her boyfriend. The theme is inspired by Racine’s Bérénice. The character brings to mind Bérénice when Titus comes back to the State.”

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1020 Post by Oedipax » Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:58 am

The Cinémathèque Française has announced its 2019-2020 season, and the big surprise is a Godard retrospective with Godard present. Dates and titles aren't announced yet, but it seems to be planned for next January. Of course, there are very good odds Godard is ultimately a no-show, or only Facetimes in. There is an Anne-Marie Miéville retro happening as well, although she is not listed as attending.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1021 Post by NWRdr4 » Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:15 pm

Currently reading Richard Brody's Everything is Cinema, and I've been pleasantly surprised to find in the book references to Godard's thoughts on some contemporary filmmakers. He's said to have loved works by Carax, Gallo, and Guiraudie, among others. Now, I'm a big fan of Godard's early critical work, and Godard on Godard is a treasure to me, but it naturally only goes through the late '60s... I'm curious to see which directors and films Godard has admired in subsequent years. (Obviously many of his films themselves could be seen as lengthy works of film criticism, but I'm thinking primarily of things he's said in interviews or conversations.) I think his adoration of Kiarostami is pretty well-known at this point, but I've seen sources saying he's also praised Coppola, De Palma, Scorsese, Warhol, Cassavetes, Emshwiller, Brakhage, Fassbinder, and even Korine.

Does anyone know other modern directors or works Godard has praised over the years? I'm especially curious: has he ever had anything positive to say about Paul Schrader's work? He and Schrader have reportedly met at least once...

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1022 Post by AskewWaters » Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:41 pm

NWRdr4 wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:15 pm
Currently reading Richard Brody's Everything is Cinema, and I've been pleasantly surprised to find in the book references to Godard's thoughts on some contemporary filmmakers. He's said to have loved works by Carax, Gallo, and Guiraudie, among others. Now, I'm a big fan of Godard's early critical work, and Godard on Godard is a treasure to me, but it naturally only goes through the late '60s... I'm curious to see which directors and films Godard has admired in subsequent years. (Obviously many of his films themselves could be seen as lengthy works of film criticism, but I'm thinking primarily of things he's said in interviews or conversations.) I think his adoration of Kiarostami is pretty well-known at this point, but I've seen sources saying he's also praised Coppola, De Palma, Scorsese, Warhol, Cassavetes, Emshwiller, Brakhage, Fassbinder, and even Korine.

Does anyone know other modern directors or works Godard has praised over the years? I'm especially curious: has he ever had anything positive to say about Paul Schrader's work? He and Schrader have reportedly met at least once...
It's safe to assume Godard was a fan of Woody Allen as well, given the cameo he casted Woody in; playing Mr. Alien, safety-pinning strips of film together, and then leaping into a pile of them in Godard's King Lear.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1023 Post by domino harvey » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:25 pm

It’s driving me nuts because I can’t remember his name, but I’m sure someone will jump in with it: Godard also enjoyed that Baltimore indie director who made a movie in the late 80s consisting entirely of long scenes unfolding in uninterrupted takes. Godard utilizes clips from the segment filmed in the Inner Harbor in one of his films, and as I recall he also praised the film at whatever film festival he saw it at

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1024 Post by Ovader » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:35 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:25 pm
It’s driving me nuts because I can’t remember his name, but I’m sure someone will jump in with it: Godard also enjoyed that Baltimore indie director who made a movie in the late 80s consisting entirely of long scenes unfolding in uninterrupted takes. Godard utilizes clips from the segment filmed in the Inner Harbor in one of his films, and as I recall he also praised the film at whatever film festival he saw it at
Hal Hartley?

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1025 Post by domino harvey » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:41 pm

Nope. I found it: Rob Tregenza's Talking to Strangers. Here are Godard's thoughts

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