The film revolves around a love triangle between a man and two women where it plays into post-1960s ideals as well as the rise of the feminist movement in the early 1970s. It is a film that explores the dynamic of a threesome where a man tries to find his ideal partner in two different women. Jean Eustache’s screenplay does not have a conventional plot as the narrative is driven by monologues and dialogues as it relates to its three central characters in the unemployed intellectual Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Leaud), his girlfriend in Marie (Bernadette Lafont) who works a dress shop, and a sexually-liberated nurse in Veronika (Francoise Lebrun). The script plays into Alexandre going through his own issues with Marie while his attempts to reunite with his former girlfriend Gilberte (Isabelle Weingarten) were futile. While walking through the city, he notices Veronika at a café drinking as he would meet her where they would keep their affair a secret from Marie though she is suspicious that Alexandre has met someone. She would eventually meet Veronika as she is initially not fond of her but eventually realizes her worth in the film’s third function as it plays into some of the freedoms she has as a woman.
Eustache’s direction is entrancing for its minimalist approach where there are not a lot of wide shots in favor of intimacy through its medium shots, close-ups, and static shots. Shot on location in Paris, Eustache creates a film that plays into the ideas of relationships between a man and two women as there are a lot of dialogues and monologues that occur. Notably as it would go on for several minutes during the film as the camera would often remain still. Eustache’s direction would rarely have movements in the camera unless the characters are walking in the streets or to go from one room to another. The approach to long shots and a minimalist presentation with a 218-minute running time would make scenes ponderous at times since Eustache wanted to create something that feels confessional. Especially given the subject matter and the many contradictions of these characters where Alexandre is pretentious in his views on art and sex, yet he is also someone that is also traditional. He is also a manipulative person in his attempts to women where it would frustrate Marie who can see through his bullshit even though she is just as bad as him.
Editing with co-editor Denise de Casabianca, Eustache would create a presentation that is the antithesis of the editing and filmmaking style of the French New Wave for a style that is akin to realism. It is a style that also sort of plays like a documentary even though it is fiction, yet Eustache does play into the sexual politics between men and women in how they view each other. Eustache also maintains a sense of ambiguity in its finale as it relates to Alexandre and his view on women where he still has a lot to learn about love, commitment, and understanding. Even though both Marie and Veronika are also flawed in their own views about sex and love, they manage it better than Alexandre who is full of contradictions. Overall, Eustache creates a compelling and unsettling film about a love triangle that becomes toxic.
Cinematographer Pierre Lhomme does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white photography with its emphasis on realism in shooting on available light for some of the exterior scenes set at night as well as the way some of the daytime interior/exterior scenes are presented. Costume designer Catherine Garnier does excellent work with the costumes from the stylish clothing that Marie and Veronika wear to contrast their personalities with the latter often wearing all black. The sound work of Jean-Pierre Ruh, Paul Laine, and Nara Kollery do amazing work with the sound as it captures everything presented on location including the music that is played on film. Among the music that is played on the film ranging from classical music, pop, and rock from acts like Zarah Leander, Damia, Jacques Offenbach, Edith Piaf, Frehel, Marlene Dietrich, and Deep Purple with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small and appearances from Jean Eustache as a man at a supermarket/Gilberte’s husband, Andre Techine and Jean-Claude Biette as a couple of men at a restaurant wanting to talk with Veronika, Genevieve Mnich as a friend of Veronika, Jean-Noel Picq as a fan of the composer Offenbach that Alexandre meets, Jacques Renard as a friend of Alexandre who shares the same intellectual views as Alexandre, and Isabelle Weingarten as a former girlfriend of Alexandre in Gilberte who is upset over Alexandre’s lack of commitment in their relationship. Francoise Lebrun is great as Veronika as a French-Polish nurse who is also sexually-open in her ideas of sex to cope with avoiding commitment until her affair with Alexandre has her thinking about wanting a relationship with him and Marie until she sees the many faults from Alexandre’s views on love.
Bernadette Lafont is phenomenal as Marie as a dress shop worker who allows Alexandre to live with her as she has a cynical view on relationships though she loves Alexandre while later becoming fond of Veronika in her openness in realizing Alexandre’s own faults. Finally, there’s Jean-Pierre Leaud in a tremendous performance as Alexandre as an unemployed intellectual who is in love with two different women where he is hoping to win them over with his own views only to be filled with contradictions about everything to the point that his attempts to manipulate his lovers become futile.
Le maman et la putain is an incredible film by Jean Eustache that features a trio of great performances from Jean-Pierre Leaud, Bernadette Lafont, and Francoise Lebrun. Along with its visuals, realistic and minimalistic presentation, and its study of sexual politics and desires in early 1970s France. The film is not an easy watch due to a presentation that requires patience as well as the fact that it goes into uncomfortable subject matters about sex and love. In the end, Le maman et la putain is a remarkable film by Jean Eustache.
© thevoid99 2025
Based on the short story Le autopista del Sur by Julio Cortazar, Weekend is the story of a bourgeoisie couple who travel to France to collect an inheritance as they encounter a world where everything is falling apart. Written for the screen and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, the film is an exploration of two people with secrets from each other as they’re forced to see a world that is in total chaos as it would mark the end of a style of storytelling for Godard for more than a decade as it plays into his interest towards political and social matters. Starring Mireille Darc, Jean Yanne, Georges Staquet, Juliet Berto, Jean Eustache, Jean-Pierre Leaud, and Yves Afonso. Weekend is a chilling yet abstract film from Jean-Luc Godard.
A trip through the French countryside for a bourgeoisie couple becomes a nightmare due to a world that has gone to shit. That is the film’s overall premise as it explores the idea of what happens when society and morality have all fallen by the wayside just as a couple go on a trip to collect an inheritance with each having their own intentions for themselves. Jean-Luc Godard’s screenplay does have a traditional narrative structure yet it is told in an abstract style as it breaks down the fourth wall at times but also would blur the idea of fantasy and reality along with elements of surrealism as the couple would meet real-life figures in literature, history, or in politics. It all play into a world that is coming apart as this couple in Corrine (Mireille Darc) and Roland (Jean Yanne) are trying to understand what is happening yet are desperate to reach their destination that becomes more troublesome as they have to endure the chaos around them including traffic jams, deaths, and people angry at the world.
Godard’s direction is definitely stylish in its offbeat approach yet it is filled with some haunting visuals that play into this idea of a world coming undone. Shot on various locations in France, Godard captures a world that is outside of Paris that is full of wonders where he shoots a Corrine and Roland both at their apartment as Roland is driving his car recklessly with no regards for anyone. There are some long shots that occur throughout the film whether it’s in a wide and medium shot or in a close-up where Godard would have characters talk about what is going on around them or a historical figure pop up and say something that has some relevance to the chaos that is happening in France during the 1960s that would have these dire premonitions of what was to come in May of 1968. Even as Corrine and Roland find themselves unable to get a ride to town after their car had crashed at the beginning of its second act due to political affiliations.
Godard’s direction would include these long and gazing dolly-tracking shots for the film’s traffic jam scene in the film’s first act as it shows Roland Corrine trying to get through this road of death, destruction, absurdity, and confusion. The tracking shots definitely capture a lot of coverage while they would be briefly interrupted by jump-cuts of title cards that would also include a scene of a camera going slowly in circle for a music break. It is Godard breaking away from the confines of traditional narrative while following this bourgeoisie couple who are traveling to receive an inheritance as the third act is about them reaching their destination and an aftermath that is more troubling as it relates to their secrets from one another but also this inhumanity they had endured throughout their journey where they end up encountering a guerilla task force. It would play into the conflict involving social classes as well as this growing civil disobedience over what the world has become. Overall, Godard crafts a provocative and unsettling film about a bourgeois couple’s trek through France where they encounter a world that has completely lost its purpose.
Cinematographer Raoul Coutard does brilliant work with the film’s gorgeous cinematography that captures the vibrancy of the colors in the clothes that Corinne and other characters wear as well as the look of the locations that showcase a world that is coming undone. Editor Agnes Guillemot does amazing work with the editing as it is playful with its usage of jump-cuts but also its usage of repetition and montages to play into this sense of remorse or lack of it. The sound work of Rene Levert and Antoine Bonfanti is excellent for its approach to sound in the way car horns, trucks, guns, and everything would sound from afar or up close as it help add to the film tense atmosphere of the film. The film’s music by Antoine Duhamel is fantastic for its offbeat musical score that ranges from somber orchestral pieces as well as a disconcerting drum-based piece that is actually played on location while the film also feature elements of classical music.
The film’s superb cast feature some notable small roles and appearances from filmmaker Jean Eustache as a hitchhiker, Omar Blondin Diop and Laszlo Szabo as a couple of garbage men who both have something to say about the state of the world for Africa and Algeria, Ernest Menzer as a FLSO cook, Michelle Breton as the assistant cook, Jean-Pierre Kaflon as the leader of a guerilla faction known as the FLSO, Valerie Lagrange as the leader’s lover, Paul Gegauff as a pianist performing classical music for the music break sequence, Anne Wiazemsky and Michel Cournot as a couple of barnyard passerby with Wiazemsky also playing a guide, Georges Staquet as a tractor operator who argues with Roland, and Jean-Claude Guilbert as a vagabond who fights with Roland. Jean-Pierre Leaud is terrific in a dual role as the French Revolution leader Louis Antoine Leon de Saint-Just and as a man on a telephone who tries to stop Roland and Corrine from stealing his car.
Yves Afonso is fantastic as the literary character Tom Thumb who comments about the state of the world while Blandine Jensen is excellent in a dual role as the author Emily Bronte who never gives any straight answers and as a piano accompanist for the pianist. Juliet Berto is brilliant in a dual role as a fellow bourgeoisie that Roland and Corrine encounter and as a FLSO fighter. Finally, there’s the duo of Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne in great performances in their respective roles as Corinne and Roland Durand as this bourgeois couple traveling through France to collect an inheritance for Corinne as she is someone eager to get money for her own reasons while dealing with the chaos around her. Yanne’s performance as Roland is a man who is manic and impulsive with little regard for anyone due to his reckless driving and nonchalant attitude towards others where he and Darc both display this air of inhumanity as two people with ulterior motives for each other as well as become lost in a world that is far crueler than they are.
Weekend is a spectacular film from Jean-Luc Godard. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, an abstract narrative, and themes of a world becoming undone by class conflicts, social issues, popular culture, and the sins of the Western Civilization. It’s a film that is definitely confrontational but also unafraid in being absurd and offbeat as it is definitely one of Godard’s quintessential films as well as a fitting end to his widely-revered French New Wave period. In the end, Weekend is a phenomenal film from Jean-Luc Godard.
Jean-Luc Godard Films: All the Boys are Called Patrick - Charlotte et son Jules - A Bout de Souffle - The Little Soldier - A Woman is a Woman - Vivre Sa Vie - Les Carabiniers - Contempt - Bande a Part - A Married Woman - Alphaville - Pierrot Le Fou - Masculin Feminin - Made in U.S.A. - Two or Three Things I Know About Her - La Chinoise - Sympathy for the Devil (One Plus One) - (Joy of Learning) - (British Sounds) - Tout va Bien - (Letter to Jane) - (One A.M.) - (Number Two) - (Here and Elsewhere) - (Every Man for Himself) - (Passion) - (First Name: Carmen) - Hail, Mary - (Soft and Hard) - (Detective) - (King Lear (1987 film)) - (Keep Your Right Up) - (Nouvelle Vague) - (Allemagne 90 neuf zero) - (JLG/JLG - Self-Portrait in December) - For Ever Mozart - (Historie(s) de Cinema) - (In Praise of Love) - (Notre musique) - (Film Socialisme) - (Adieu au Language) – (The Image Book)
© thevoid99 2019
Based on the novel Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith, Der amerikanische Freund (The American Friend) is the story of a con artist who convinces an ailing picture framer to take part in an assassination scheme. Written for the screen and directed by Wim Wenders, the film is an unusual noir film that play into a battle of wits that would eventually form into an unlikely friendship. Starring Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, and Gerard Blain. Der amerikanische Freund is a riveting and intoxicating film from Wim Wenders.
The film revolves around an American con artist, whose work in art forgeries, has him traveling to Hamburg where he meets a dying picture framer who he believes can carry an assassination job for another man. It’s a film that plays into a man who is trying to create a scheme about an assassination he wants to take place with another man as he feels slighted by this picture framer he met at an auction. Wim Wenders’ screenplay follows the world that Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is in where he cons people into buying paintings for lots of money when they’re actually forgeries as he goes to Hamburg from New York City to sell a forgery where the picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz) notices the painting is a forgery that people are over-paying for. Zimmerman knows who Ripley is as he refuses to shake his hand prompting Ripley to turn to a fellow criminal in Raoul Minot (Gerard Blain) to use Zimmerman as an assassin for a rival that Minot wants dead.
For Zimmerman who is dying from leukemia and is health is failing, he would receive news that his health is worsening where Minot approaches him about doing a job and would get certain health benefits and money in return. Yet, his wife Marianne (Lisa Kreuzer) is suspicious about Zimmerman’s trips to Paris and Munich as the story progresses with the former having him going to a hospital where they would send Marianne false medical notes which Zimmerman had no clue about thinking he would be fine. Upon the job that Minot would have Zimmerman do, it does give Zimmerman a sense of life although things become more complicated when Minot wants Zimmerman to do another job without Ripley’s knowledge who is becoming fond of Zimmerman.
Wenders’ direction does bear some visual style reminiscent of suspense and film noir yet much of what he does is straightforward. Shot mainly in Hamburg, Germany with additional locations in Munich, Paris, and New York City, Wenders would play into a world that is vast as it relates to the kind of operation that Ripley is involved as he lives mainly in New York City but went to Germany for business knowing he can make serious money through forged paintings made by his friend Derwatt (Nicholas Ray). Wenders’ direction definitely emphasizes some simple compositions in his approach to the framing where he does use close-ups and medium shots to play into the interaction between characters as well as the scenes at the metro in Paris where Zimmerman is going after his target as it’s dialogue-free in order to play up the suspense. Even in the way Wenders would move the camera to see Zimmerman and his target move from one metro train to another as well as the sense of geography in the metro stations with some wide shots to get an idea of where Zimmerman can kill this man though there’s cameras at the station that can see what is going on.
Wenders’ direction also maintains that intrigue into what is happening with the suspense as well as Ripley’s visits to Zimmerman’s shop as the former wants the latter to create a picture frame for one of the forgeries. Even as it play into a growing friendship between Ripley and Zimmerman as the former is aware of the latter’s illness and wants to help him as he would be involved in this second assassination that Zimmerman is supposed to carry out. The film’s third act has Wenders take great advantage of the locations and its scope where it does play into a friendship that is growing but also revelations about Zimmerman’s ailing health and Ripley’s own involvement into these assassinations prompting the latter to take control as well as to try and make things right for Zimmerman and his family. Overall, Wenders craft a gripping yet somber film about an American con artist who gets an ailing German picture framer to carry out an assassination.
Cinematographer Robby Muller does brilliant work with the film’s colorful and ravishing cinematography as its usage of natural lighting for some of the daytime exterior scenes as well as available and stylish light for some of the interiors including the scenes at night. Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work with the editing as it has elements of jump-cuts while mainly aiming for a straightforward approach with the rhythmic cuts to play into the suspenseful moments of the film. Art directors Heidi and Toni Ludi do fantastic work with the look of Ripley’s home as it has appliances that are covered while Zimmerman’s home doesn’t have much space though his son’s bedroom is full of cool toys and appliances.
Costume designer Isolde Nist does terrific work with the costumes from the denim-like look of Ripley with his cowboy hat to the more casual and reserved look of Zimmerman. Sound mixers Milan Bor, Max Galinsky, and Martin Muller do superb work with the sound in the way trains and ships sound from outside a building as well as what goes on inside the metro stations that help play into the suspenseful moments of the assassination sequence. The film’s music by Jurgen Knieper is incredible for its mixture of piano and strings that help play into the drama with its lush string arrangements that also add to the film’s suspense while its soundtrack features mainly music from the Kinks that is played in parts of the film.
The film’s wonderful cast feature some notable small roles from Andreas Dedecke as Jonathan and Marianne’s son Daniel, Sandy Whitelaw as a doctor trying to help Zimmerman, filmmakers Samuel Fuller and Jean Eustache in their respective cameo roles as an American gangster and a friendly man on the train, Lou Castel as Minot’s associate Rodolphe who makes sure Zimmerman does the job, and filmmaker Nicholas Ray in a small yet terrific performance as Ripley’s paint forger named Derwatt. Gerard Blain is fantastic as the French gangster Raoul Minot as a man that wants Ripley to kill a rival gangster only to turn to Zimmerman for the job and later trying to get Zimmerman to do more of his dirty work.
Lisa Kreuzer is brilliant as Zimmerman’s wife Marianne as a woman that is trying to understand where her husband is going believing something isn’t right upon getting messages from his doctor while is also suspicious about Ripley. Bruno Ganz is incredible as Jonathan Zimmerman as a picture framer who used to make forged paintings that is dealing with leukemia as he’s trying to cope with his illness as well as what he’s being forced to do where it’s a low-key yet somber performance that has Ganz sing a lot of British Invasion songs to deal with his situation. Finally, there’s Dennis Hopper in a phenomenal performance as Tom Ripley as this con man trying to get Zimmerman to kill as revenge for slighting him only to become fond of him as he later tries to help him as it’s an offbeat yet charismatic performance from Hopper.
Der amerikanische Freund is a sensational film from Wim Wenders that features great performances from Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz. Along with its ensemble cast, Robby Muller’s gorgeous photography, its study of manipulation and redemption, and its beautiful music score. It’s a film that doesn’t play with the conventions of suspense in order to study the motivations of two men who are connected by carrying out an assassination only to try to connect through the simple ideas of life. In the end, Der amerikanische Freund is a spectacular film from Wim Wenders.
Related: Purple Noon
Wim Wenders Films: (Summer in the City) - (The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty) - (The Scarlet Letter (1973 film)) - Alice in the Cities - Wrong Move - Kings of the Road - (Lightning Over Water) - (Room 666) - (Hammett) - (The State of Things) – Paris, Texas - (Tokyo-Ga) – Wings of Desire - (Notebook on Cities and Clothes) – Until the End of the World - (Faraway, So Close!) - (Lisbon Story) - (Beyond the Clouds) - (A Trick of Light) - (The End of Violence) - (Buena Vista Social Club) - (The Million Dollar Hotel) - (The Soul of a Man) - (Land of Plenty) - (Don’t Come Knocking) - (The Palermo Shooting) - (Pina) - Salt of the Earth - (Every Thing Will Be Fine) – (The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez) – (Submergence) – (Pope Francis: A Man of His Word)
© thevoid99 2018
