Two or Three Things I Know About Her
1967
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
This is our seventh Godard film on The List and I feel as though as the years have progressed, Godard has cared less and less about plots and characters. Instead, his films have simply become platforms where he can complain about society. I enjoy subtle commentary, but this is getting a tad ridiculous.
The film is about (that might be too specific a term for this movie) Juliette Jeanson, a married mother who spends her days prostituting herself, seemingly to make ends meet. Occasionally the characters will break the fourth wall and ramble about this and that directly to the camera.
With Bell de Jour coming up, I can't help compare this film to other movies that address prostitution in somewhat casual, and not at all erotic, terms. It falls completely short of anything I have seen. I found the narrative structure to be annoying and pretentious, without revealing any cultural truths of interest.
I am liking Godard less and less.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Screenshot of Vivre Sa Vie can be seen on the wall.
Yeah this is another one I watched because its on the list, but ended up knitting at the same time. I just didn't care about any of the characters. I watched this and Belle de jour on the same day without knowing they were both about the exact same subject. At least Belle de Jour was intriguing and had an interesting ending.
ReplyDeleteI agree! And Belle de Jour had Catherine Deneuve in it, who is always fantastic.
DeleteI a impressed you actually liked Godard at any point. I am thoroughly fed up with that guy.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I missed commenting on this one when you first posted it.
ReplyDeletePossibly because all I can add is the rather boring agreement we have probably had about Godard on other films.
Its bad .. as an accredited film buff and of a general leftist persuasion, we should love Godard..but, one or two early films excepted .. sorry, he is (by about this time) boring as heck.. and these days just plodding on with tired leftish cliches that really only seem to confirm to conservatives that leftwingers are boring p word idiots.
Oh dear....
So if you guys had to choose a favorite Godard, what would it be?
ReplyDeleteOne that has ended. Finishing a Godard movie means that I do not have to watch it again and that is the best moment.
DeleteThat's a toughie .. I guess the obvious 'À bout de souffle' has to be mentioned.. and even most of the other tedious ones are well worth a watch .. in isolation, as a one or two off. It's just how the same old stuff kept coming round again and again, getting more up it's own arse before slipping, one by one into almost self satire.
DeleteI was going to answer that my favourite Godard was Liza Godard. But a quite check shows that she spelt Goddard with an extra 'd', so that doesn't work.
DeleteForced to instead take your question seriously, I'll maybe go for Alphaville as it does have some iconic qualities.
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ReplyDeleteDidn't like this. Normally these list films come together for me by the end or there's something I can admire or respect about them even if I couldn't honestly say I enjoyed them. And the further I travel through the list, the more I learn, the more I can understand what would have totally baffled me when I started out at the beginning. But this is the first film in quite a while that I could find little or no merit in at all.
ReplyDeleteThe politics, as mentioned above, represents (to me) a more ignorant version of left-wing outlooks. Thinking it's clever and meaningful to make observations that really just show a lack of understanding and a lack of nuance.
But, when I think on it some more, this is still the mid-sixties. Modern consumerism is barely born. Of course it had a less developed philosophical understanding and critique. And of course, over half a century later, we have mostly grown in the intellectual maturity of how we looks at it (unless you're Russell Brand and you've got a tour to promote). And we didn't get to here without people like Godard first taking us to places like this film. So maybe I shouldn't be too harsh. That would be like sneering at Galileo for not knowing half of what was in my textbook at school.