I really wanted to like this. It has a great cast, excellent camera work, and deserves points for being willing to deal in ideas. But there's a major problem for me in that I'm so apathetic that I was in my mid 30's before I ever voted so it's hard for me to get worked up about these things.
One problem the film will have with today's audiences is that the main motif of the narrative- the riots in France in 1968- won't be familiar to younger audiences. I remember reading about this in Life magazine when I was in college, and I'll be 62 in a couple of months. For viewers much younger than myself the film really needs a Cliff's Notes.
As to what's good in it, Jane Fonda is tremendous. Although I disagree with her politics completely, she seems like a person I'd really enjoy sitting and talking with. She plays Susan, a reporter trying to make sense of events in 1972 when the echoes of 1968 still reverberate. She covers a strike at a slaughterhouse which has resulted in the manager being held prisoner in his own office.
Suzanne is trying to find her footing in a complex world. As a reporter for an English language news service she wants to write intellectually stimulating material, but her editors reject her best work. Fonda lived in France during her eight year marriage to Roger Vadim and she shifts between languages with no effort.
Her husband Jacques (Yves Montand) has shifted from making feature films- he had been part of the New Wave movement- to directing commercials, because in the real world there are bills to pay.
There are two set pieces that remind me how important Godard's work is in film history. The scenes at the slaughterhouse use a two story set showing the offices with the fourth wall removed and we see what's happening on both floors of the complex.
Toward the end of the film there's a scene in a gigantic megastore where an author advocating the French Communist Party is promoting his (discounted) book. The scene, done in one continuous take, starts with the normal store activities. Then protesters arrive and start shouting that everything in the store is free and gradually a riot evolves with the police eventually showing up.
Godard is 78 years old now and as recently as 2006 was still directing films. It's been years since I remember reading about any of his work getting American distribution on a wide scale. That's a shame.
It's a funny thing. When I started writing this I originally gave it five stars. Since I've thought about it, I've upped that to a seven.
That's the good thing about films like this. Even though it's not necessarily perfect, it still gives the viewer something to think about.
One problem the film will have with today's audiences is that the main motif of the narrative- the riots in France in 1968- won't be familiar to younger audiences. I remember reading about this in Life magazine when I was in college, and I'll be 62 in a couple of months. For viewers much younger than myself the film really needs a Cliff's Notes.
As to what's good in it, Jane Fonda is tremendous. Although I disagree with her politics completely, she seems like a person I'd really enjoy sitting and talking with. She plays Susan, a reporter trying to make sense of events in 1972 when the echoes of 1968 still reverberate. She covers a strike at a slaughterhouse which has resulted in the manager being held prisoner in his own office.
Suzanne is trying to find her footing in a complex world. As a reporter for an English language news service she wants to write intellectually stimulating material, but her editors reject her best work. Fonda lived in France during her eight year marriage to Roger Vadim and she shifts between languages with no effort.
Her husband Jacques (Yves Montand) has shifted from making feature films- he had been part of the New Wave movement- to directing commercials, because in the real world there are bills to pay.
There are two set pieces that remind me how important Godard's work is in film history. The scenes at the slaughterhouse use a two story set showing the offices with the fourth wall removed and we see what's happening on both floors of the complex.
Toward the end of the film there's a scene in a gigantic megastore where an author advocating the French Communist Party is promoting his (discounted) book. The scene, done in one continuous take, starts with the normal store activities. Then protesters arrive and start shouting that everything in the store is free and gradually a riot evolves with the police eventually showing up.
Godard is 78 years old now and as recently as 2006 was still directing films. It's been years since I remember reading about any of his work getting American distribution on a wide scale. That's a shame.
It's a funny thing. When I started writing this I originally gave it five stars. Since I've thought about it, I've upped that to a seven.
That's the good thing about films like this. Even though it's not necessarily perfect, it still gives the viewer something to think about.