Truly Dreadful Film

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Not even bad in a good way

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Before I begin, I feel I should give some of my background: I only studied a little bit movies in school (not that I think that should matter) and I have seen relatively few classics, but I still enjoyed some of them. I also watched the movie with subtitles (I don't know French, German, or Italian). I feel the need to provide others with an opinion that differs from the high rating it has received so far.The movie starts off promising with a few interesting characters, such as Prokosch and Lang, along with the gorgeous Camille and the interesting "movie-in-a-movie" premise (which is less consequential as the movie continues). Without any explanation, Camille takes on the character she will be the remainder of the movie; an enigmatic and flippant wife who misinterprets a transportation hiccup (or correctly interprets her husband's conniving) and inexplicably stops loving him. In fact, the synopsis ought to have a spoiler alert because he only figures that out at the end. Her husband tirelessly (to me, it's past any realistic level tirelessness) tries to get any response out of her. This continues for the whole movie and only slightly differentiates as the movie continues.Lang and Prokosch are not developed much more and become static elements to the story, which I find lazy. The soundtrack is maniacally repetitive and is applied almost disjointedly from the action in the film. To me, it feels like they had only two or three melodies composed and recorded and decided to use them over and over again regularly without much regard for plot. The ending gave me no emotion except for the relief that was over.I'm not sure if this movie is considered "good" (7.8 rating at the time of my writing) because of some social or historical importance or the allegorical references regarding Homer's Odyssey, but those pluses are far too subtle to me. While I find Hollywood movies typically too explanatory, this is same magnitude on the other end of the spectrum. The characters are irrational and one dimensional, which eliminated my empathy for them and the movie became annoying.If annoyance is the point of the movie, then the director succeeded. I think the director, producers, and crew wanted to make this movie their vacation so they could go to some villa by the seaside, drive around in a nice Alfa Romeo, film Bridgitte Barot and other women naked, and flex their cinematography muscles in that conveniently planned apartment. If you look at it that way, this movie may be more enjoyable. This movie could make more sense and be more enjoyable if it were shorter and had a couple more lines in it.

Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt is a beautiful film visually and an ugly film thematically, depicting the disintegration of a marriage. One wonders how Godard, who had just married the ravishing Anna Karina the same year Contempt was released, managed to write a film so pessimistic about the union of marriage and how it corrupts both parties mentally.The eye-popping color scheme of Contempt, thanks to Raoul Coutard's predictably wonderful cinematography as well as CinemaScope, a specific kind of anamorphic lens for widescreen shooting, is one of the defining reasons for this film's greatness. The process of CinemaScope enhances the color extraordinarily, adding a new layer of vivid texture to the film and a spot-on visual scheme throughout the film. Ordinary things like walking along the beach, admiring the ocean, or just simple conversations staged inside unremarkable buildings become a feast for the eyes simply because Godard uses this delightful method of shooting.But what a way to use the film's visual scheme to contrast it with its overall bleak tone. The film revolves around an American film producer Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) who decides to adapt Homer's renowned and iconic piece Odyssey for the big screen. He hires famed director Fritz Lang, who treats the film as if it were an artistic indie film and not the epic he had envisioned. Prokosch decides to hire Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli), a writer and playwright, trusting him to handle Homer's work with the respect he knows it deserves.Paul, however, begins to feel increased pressure with adapting this work, as well as opposition in line of his own personal artistic expression as well as studio interest. To add to his already filling plate, Paul's marriage to the incredibly beautiful Camille (Brigitte Bardot) is on the rockiest of waters with persistent fights occurring between the two as well as Camille's hot and cold attitude towards him and their marriage.Godard's Contempt is a multilayered piece of work to say the least. The film can be taken as a surface examination of a marriage in total jeopardy, and perhaps a depiction of the death of a practical union between two impractical people, or simply seen as an on-screen showcase for the issues and opposition Godard faced when he began making films on his own in the 1960's. I've already established that Godard is a rebel filmmaker in every regard; he consciously set out to fight against typical French filmmaking conventions and, in turn, pushed French cinema through an unthinkable New Wave movement, redefining cinematic aesthetics, tampering with narrative convention, and even adding deeper morals and themes provided with new visionary techniques and darker tones to films.He puts his talents and his desire to destroy and construct to use with Contempt and, in turn, makes a fascinating film. Rotten Tomatoes' consensus on the film states that it is "essential cinema" and blends the ideas of "meta" and "physique," a statement I couldn't agree more with. Godard has always been big on abstraction with film to, at times, treading the line of being inaccessible in what he's trying to say. The best way that I've heard his work put, by a colleague, is that his films "are like having an intellectual conversation." So many ideas are getting tossed around, most of his films lack central ideas (one thing I've been known to critique with his films), and some I find to be next to impossible in trying to extract even some meaning out.Contempt is definitely abstract and lives up the description of "meta;" various scenes leave a viewer confused and questioning what they were supposed to take away from a certain part. However, the overarching theme of the decline of marriage and artistic creativity remains accessible and digestible through the abstraction. Just by the inclusion of Fritz Lang, one of Godard's biggest cinematic influences, we can evidently see that Godard is commenting about how warped studios become in money, profits, and the meticulous "Hollywood/film accounting" process that they forget about the visionaries, the film stylists, and those who have original ideas that desperately need to find ways out in the public. Cinema had to inherently be discovered by rebels, illusionists, and subversive artists, and these are the same people that are finding the film industry a harder and harder place to break out, let alone work. Through Paul Javal, Godard details this struggle beautifully.As stated, the film's style - or "physique" - is dashing in every regard. When one sees stills from the film taken out of context, one can easily infer Contempt to be a film masquerading in a more positive light than it actually is. However, make no mistake, as Contempt deals with the disintegration of a marriage in its darkest form. If capturing how difficult it was to make a film when you're barricaded by philistines wasn't subversive enough, Godard dares enter the realm of showing how marriage itself is a practical union between two people but people themselves aren't always practical. Look at the character of Camille, who seems to play psychological mind-games with her husband, never really solving anything and just getting him to dance around a whirlwind of mixed singles and unidentified irritations she seems to form overnight.After watching what I deem Godard's "happiest" film so far, his sophomore effort A Woman is a Woman, entering into Contempt's world was a rough wakeup call. Godard is one of the moodiest filmmakers I have yet to discover. I'd love to catch him on a good day, but he's so much more thought-provoking, alive, and blustering when he's angry.Starring: Michel Piccoli, Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, and Fritz Lang. Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Contempt is a 'new wave' French film full of 'French emotions' and rather a lot of unhappy and/or weird people. It stars Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli as Camille and Paul Javal, a young couple ravaged by marital and emotional difficulties and in the case of Camille either low self esteem or mental illness and an anger management problem. Paul (a screen writer) has his demons too and it's hard to figure out if he's a nice guy with a crazy wife or a sly and manipulative guy who has driven his wife crazy - and that's the crux of this movie. Contempt. The contempt that Camille feels for her spouse, the contempt her spouse feels for the crass American film Producer, Jeremy Prochosh (played by Jack Palance) who wants to commercialize Fritz Lang's Ulysses. The difficulty with this movie is that it's unclear whether the problems Camille and Paul had in their relationship existed prior to Paul's involvement with Prochosh and co. However, Camille's insecurities are showcased in the opening scene. What 'Contempt' does best is realism, and one of the most striking scenes involves Camille and Paul arguing (for what seems like hours) as they go about their business in their apartment; walking past each other, getting dressed, preparing dinner etc. The ending is unexpected but then again perhaps not if one takes Paul's interpretation of the Odyssey to heart? 'Contempt' certainly lives up to its title and is well acted, entertaining (in a voyeuristic way), and makes you uncomfortable because the acting is so 'real'.

No, I'm really not a person that likes everything that is French and 'old'. As a matter of fact, I'm not too big on Jean-Luc Godard and really don't like all of his movies. This movie however was one I nearly fell in love with.In all truth and honesty, I was absolutely taken by its movie its style and approach. It's visuals were splendid and its subject manner was truly an unique and great one as well. It's a sort of a shame that the movie somewhat lost me in its middle part and its end also definitely wasn't as great as the beginning but overall this remains a movie I really admire and can be positive about.Of course it's being an artistic movie but what I like about it is that its being quiet and subtle art. It doesn't ever goes over-the-top with any kind of weirdness and instead really takes its time to subtly show and tell you what this movie is all about.The movie does truly feel like a moving painting. It's also because of the compositions and camera-work that the movie uses. It's filled with long shots, in which the camera is also occasionally slowly moving but never toward its subjects. It's being a very subjective, observing movie that views everything from a distance and doesn't use close-ups or any other movie tricks to bring out or emphasize certain emotions. I absolutely loved the cinematography and not just because of its use of vibrant colors.It makes the movie almost an hypnotic one and completely sucks you in. Because of the movie its approach and overall style of storytelling, you are forced to constantly keep paying attention, which will suck you all the more into the movie itself. Even when there is very little happening or being said, it still feels like there is plenty going on in this movie and I also most certainly won't call this a boring one.The movie is already a very special one for the fact that is stars the legendary director Fritz Lang in it, who is playing himself. He probably did it as a favor and out of respect for director Jean-Luc Godard, since Lang never starred in anything. It's basically good and fun to watch all actors in this, who each speak their own language. French, English, German and Italian gets constantly spoken throughout the entire movie, no doubt to also emphasize the differences and contrasts in the characters, who all have their own ideas about finishing a particular Fritz Lang directed movie. Besided the name of Lang, also the names of Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance should arouse certain people's curiosity.But the movie does not only tickle the brain and is a feast for the eyes, it's easily great to the ears, due to the wonderful classical musical score by Georges Delerue.A true mesmerizing viewing experience!8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/