It's a huge number of films. It is terrifying by fame.Godard, with a few others, combines both. Hard to find, when one is a young cinemaphile and wants to attack the monument. Fear of hermetics. Fear, always, of not having bandage to understand. Very modestly, this series of articles will try to make the (re)discover...
Discover Godard
I jumped the pace after his death – the death of an artist being always the strange moment when the masses are again interested in it – and discovered an exciting, highly sensory filmmaker and devilishly accessible films. On the occasion of the reading of the cobblestone by Antoine de Baecque at Grasset «Godard: final biography», I decided to film his filmography in parallel with some biographical notes gleaned from this book, interesting archive images or parallels with other works. A long-term project, which will probably never end, saw the hugefilmography of the man, but who will motivate some (I hope!) to step in and discover his films.
Operation Concrete (1958)
Godard began as a critic, especially at theCinema books. The occasion of a few blood strokes, a handful of account settlements, but also to create a short newspaper: « Friends of Cinema ». But we will necessarily remember his clever little blow, while he goes to Switzerland to work in a daily, full pockets, and for cause! The young Godard has just gone from Paris by taking with him the whole caisse ofPapers…
In Switzerland, the thief-critic wanders: the son of a good family becomes bohemian, looted in books, cinema and flirts with misery. However, he will get to know the engineer working on the construction in Switzerland of the famous dam of the Grande Dixence. A colossal project, which Godard is determined to film. He will convince several acquaintances to provide him with the money he needs, he will find a 16 mm camera and, at the beginning of the concrete campaign, he is ready.
The movie will come outOperation Concrete, sold to the company of the Great Dixence. A first court that will bring him enough money to live – albeit a little bit – for almost two years and to shoot his other short film,A hot woman,from a news from Maupassant. Anyway,Operation Concreteis an exciting film by its historical aspect more than for its relatively classic form of industrial reporting. And inevitably remains this voice, the first time it resonates, so particular and forever marking the history of cinema.
But let's jump a few years, a few shorts and a few detours (he reconnects with the band ofPapers, works as a press officer at Fox, realizes a first professional shortCharlotte and Véronique, etc.), to arrive at the burst of its first long. And before that, a short interview with Godard for the show "Ecrans du monde", where the director briefly presents himself and describes, according to him, the term "New Wave".
Out of breath (1960)
On follows the story of a thug (Jean-Paul Belmondo) which connects Marseille to Paris in a stolen car. In the meantime, if he kills a gendarme en route, it is mainly to Patricia (Jean Seberg) that his thoughts turn.
Film worn by a magisterial and perfectly free fergue in its form, Godard turns it into a thriller and, by his own admission, will do something totally different: "I thought I was filming Scarface's Son or Scarface's Return and I realized that I had rather turned Alice in Wonderland, more or less“.
An idea of a minimalistic scenario, planted by the reading of an article in France Soir that will eventually germinate to give the story of the rogue incarnated by Belmondo. A script first written by Truffaut, reviewed entirely by Godard and finally put in the trash, to favor notes written day by day, morning of the shooting. There's something to scare his producer, George de Beauregard, with whom relations will quickly get tense.
But this way of working will please its actors much more, especially Belmondo, who says: "I said to my wife on the way home: ‘I found the safe house, it's not killing, we drink drinks, it's okay!». In the end, the energy and freedom that is felt in the film is the energy and freedom that Godard imposed on his filming: the place of chance, the absence of rule and a crazy spontaneity.
Out of breath... The characters are certainly at the end of this constant forward flight. The equipment too. Out of studio shooting and artificial lights, Godard hires a former war reporter as photo director:Raoul Coutard. The ideal opportunity to push his Caméflex into its last cuts. Well illustrated by Godard's quote: "Wednesday, we shot a scene in the sun with Geva 36. Everyone thinks it's infecting. I think it's quite extraordinary. This is the first time that the film has been forced to give the maximum of itself by having it do what it is not made for. [...] Even the film you see will be breathless“.
A resounding film, we said, with a critical and public success,Out of breathlaunches Godard's career and is forever part of the history of cinema. And as the film begins to be projected, Godard continues with a whole new filming:The Little Soldier.
The Little Soldier (1963)
During the Algerian War, Bruno (Michel Subor) takes refuge in Switzerland. The deserter works for the OAS, an extreme right group. Yet his friends doubt him, he will be forced to assassinate a journalist. In parallel, he will meet Veronika (Anna Karina) and will fall in love with the young woman...
Censored at its release in the context of the Algerian question, this second feature film by Godard suffers from the comparison withOut of breath. Subor has not the presence of a Belmondo, the film seems less fiery and the random post-synchronization tends to bring the spectator out of the thread of narrative. However, Godard's first two films were both fully doubled after the filming, with the difference that forOut of breaththe director has worked a lot on background noise, while forThe Little SoldierHe intentionally left it a waste of time. Sometimes whole dialogues take place without any noise – typically a long car sequence on the Geneva docks – unsynchronising perfectly sound and image. A confusing choice, in line with Godard's multiple experiments, but which does not plead for an immersion of the spectator.
This film was extended in 1999 byClaire Denis, via itsNice work. She takes up Michel Subor and her character, to see what could have been the continuation of her story... It should also be added that Godard makes a cameo in his film – a man with a little dog – and that it is his first (and future long) collaboration with Anna Karina.
Here's for this first part of Godard retrospective, waiting for his next filmA woman is a woman, where we will find Belmondo and Anna Karina.
Sources
- IssueTravellingRTS
- From Baecque Antoine, «Godard: final biography», Grasset Publishing
- Introductory image: Jean-Luc Godard at Berkeley, 1968, Gary Stevens (Wikimedia Commons)
Subscribe
Connection
0Remarks
oldest
