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Introduction to Godard

2 Or 3 Things I Know About Godard

Jean-Luc Godard (1930 ~ ), Cahiers du cinema critic-turned-director is one of most influnetial filmmaker in the later half of this century. His prolific movies (in the heydays of 60's, he made two to three, or even more feature movies each year) explore the nature of cinema and its possibilities, which he believed to closely intertwined with the social and political conditions of the time. His relentless experimentalism led him to pose fundamental questions about narrative and nature of cinema. While his earlier movies follow rather straightforward plots, his movie became increasingly fragmentary and arranged in collage structure.

A few tidbits to keep in mind when watching Godard movies:

Godard is a superb improvisator. With the notable exception of the Contempt, Godard does not have a shooting script when he starts to shoot. In "Breathless", his first feature, he usually wrote the dialogue in the morning before shooting. In more later movies like "Pierrot le fou", he often told his actors to act out without pre-written dialogue, which explains many of blank look his actors give at the camera. His movies are in the happening.
This has to do with Godard's continual concern about movie's illusionary nature. Many of Godard's idiosyncracies stem from his attempt to discourage the audience from taking illusion for granted and to find reality vs illusion. So you have a corpse that moves, because in the movie, it is not a real corpse. In the "Pierrot le fou", the woman we see is not Marriane but Anna Karina acting out as Marriane. Godard does not want the audience to get lost in the movie by its illulsionary power but be able to distance themselves.
Godard often describes his movies as "filmed essays". His movies do not simply tell a story. And if a movie, being collaborative art by its nature, can ever be called one person's movie, Godard's movie comes closest to vision of personal cinema. Godard not only controlled most aspects of the production of his movies, even movie posters were made by Godard.
Godard was also seriously concerned about the role of an artist in the politics. As time went on, his movies became more political until at last he formed "Dziga Vertov" group, in which he subjugated his arts under service of Maoist revolution and disowned his own pre-1968 movies. From 1968 on, this period is marked by overtly political movies, moving from the realm of narrative cinema into that of experimental cinema. It is general critical consensus to ignore this perid all together, for one thing, movies of this period are "extremely" difficult and very cryptic, but my feeling is that having reached and announced "the end of cinema" in the "Week-end", this is the only direction that Godard could take. He went on to experiment with videos and images in 1970's.

Recommendated Movies

Band of Outsiders (1964)
One of Godard's lighter and playful movie, and perhaps one of first movies to play with credit (I may be wrong), this is a good introduction to Godard. It has usual Godardian idiosyncracies, to which you can get used to and familiarize yourself with it while having fun. Quentin Tarantino name his production company after this movie (if that is of interest.)
Breathless (1960)
Godard's first feature and his most commercially successful one, this movie made stars out of two starring actors, Belmondo and Jean Seberg and put Godard on the map. It will not be as accessible today because its truly modern sensibility(this is the granddaddy of the trend-setting movies) may be lost to today's audience who are flooded with MTV and also because it has been copied so much. Also some scenes, like 10 minute long take on two characters who talk about pretty much nothing(Seinfeld?), will bore some people to no end. But this movie is a rebellion against the Hollywood filmmaking rules, and with this mind, some people may appreciate the revolutionary impact it made in 1960.
Masculin-Feminin (1966)
This romance story of two young people in Paris is also one of more accessible Godard movies. The message of the movie is pretty much spelled out for you, and also has many quotable catch-phrases, like "children of Marx and Coca-Cola, and its cute actor and cute actress do not hurt the accessibility. This is also a good introduction to later Godard movies leading to Week-end and La Chinoise(1967), during which Godard gets more markedly political.
My Life to Live (1962)
As I said in the earlier post, this movie looks more realized as a finished product than most other Godard movies (except the Contempt), and its tableaux structure, relatively straight-forward plot and theme make the movie more accessible despite a deliberate pace. Most of all, available on DVD.
Pierrot le fou (1965)
Superficially, this may be called the Breathless in Technicolor (and Cinemascope) as it treads similar storyline(it's also an answer to promise made at the Bande a part). It shows tendency toward decidedly more essayistic approach with less coherent story telling, more episodic handling of plot (with now famous out-of-sequence editing, and so on), which make a film somewhat difficult. But all the necessary clues are there. And its beautiful photography, sumptuous color, naturalistic lighting, etc are feast for eyes. Available on DVD.
Alphaville (1965)
For some, this may be the most accessible of Godard movies, but I do not recommend it as the first Godard movie for people to see because I'm afraid one might get wrong idea about Godard. This is a sci-fi movie (which is an allegory for the present-day Paris), which gives the movie a fun factor, and it also has intentionally campiness about it, but Godard deliberately wanted to assault with the audience as with flashing lights (especially if you are watching the movie in the dark). At superficial level, this is a lot of fun, but to get to the deeper level, you should be familiar with Godard's stylistic quirks. Also available on DVD.
The Contempt (1963)
This movie about moviemaking is one Godard movie that even Godard detractors generally like the best among Godard movies because this movie is a proof that Godard can make an art film in traditional sense if he really wants to. It has literary script, polished look, stars like Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli, and Hollywood production value and budget to boot - Godard's only studio movie. However, some may find the movie extremely slow going at several places. The entire one-third of movie spends its time in an apartment room with nothing much happening. But for those who are familiar with serious art movies (like Antonioni,etc), this is perhaps the first choice for introduction to Godard.
Week End (1967)
This movie may be called the summation of Godard's early period(1960-1967), and for me an eye-opening experience, especially showing cinematic possibilities, yet it's a very difficult movie. It deals with the nature of cinema, its place in culture and politics, and direction that it should take while exploring the apocalyptic world of the bourgeosie with the story of an urban couple going to country in the weekend.
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967)
This tale of "her" is about present-day Paris as much as the female protagonist, with miscroscopic look at macroscopic issues - as examplified with "universe in coffe cup", "detergent boxes as buildings", among other things. It's a continued look at prostitution as metaphor for capitalist society and place of movies, all presented with poetic metaphors and thought-provoking images.
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