Set largely in a Parisian apartment during the course of the summer, the film revolves around five students from Parisian suburbs who have become Maoist activists as they try to figure out how to carry their ideals to the world with terrorism being a key suggestion. It is a film that explores a group of young people who are troubled by the state of their surroundings as they’ve been inspired by the actions of Communist China under the rule of Mao Zedong. It is a film with a straightforward narrative where Jean-Luc Godard uses the Dostoyevsky novel and set it in modern-day France during a tumultuous time of social disorder that would set the stage for the events of May of 1968. For these five people, they listen to Radio Peking and other Maoist propaganda in the hope they can achieve something in France but also deal with other factions relating to communism as they have different views. Even as the continuous studies and such would also create discord within the group about what to do.
Godard’s direction is stylish as it is set almost entirely in this apartment in Paris where there are five people who live there as they’re all idealists lead by the couple Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Leaud) and Veronique (Anne Wiazemsky) as they’re joined by the country girl Yvonne (Juliet Berto) and the student Henri (Michel Semeniako) as well as another figure known as Kirilov (Lex de Brujin) who would play a bigger role. Aside from a visitor in an African student in Omar (Omar Blondin Diop), the group remains isolated as Godard maintains an intimacy in the direction while also breaking the fourth wall at times to show a few crew members filming the actors. There are a lot of close-ups and medium shots that play into the intimacy such as the characters in a room that is filled with a lot of copies of the Little Red Book in the background as all of the characters carry a copy of that book with them. Godard does use some wide shots as there are shots of areas in France as well as parts of Paris that portrays a society that is being overtaken by ideas of the bourgeoisie which these students are opposed to.
The direction also has Godard create these moments where characters are carrying objects that transform into machine guns as well as make some commentary on the Vietnam War as well as their own opposition towards American foreign policy. Even as there are moments of Yvonne playing a Vietnamese woman being attacked by toy American jets to explain the chaos of the war as it also allude to their own disdain towards the Soviet Union’s idea of communism. By the time the film reaches its third act where members of the group diverge in ideals as the four principle characters do get a segment where they talk with Henri talking about what happened to him while a scene set in a train where Veronique talks about terrorism with political activist Francis Jeanson over his role in the Algerian war as he is troubled by Veronique’s views as it does play into the fallacies on revolutions. Overall, Godard crafts a compelling and gripping film about a group of political activists turning to terrorism to get their message through during a tumultuous time in France during the 1960s.
Cinematographer Raoul Coutard does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography in capturing the vibrancy of the color red throughout the film with many of its interior shots being straightforward yet colorful along with its exteriors in some of its greyer settings. Editors Delphine Desfons and Agnes Guillemot do excellent work with the editing with its stylish usage of jump-cuts and other stylish cuts to play into the film’s unconventional presentation but also for dramatic effect. Costume designer Gitt Magrini does fantastic work with the costumes from the sweaters that Guillaume wears to the war cap that Veronique would sometimes wear. The sound work of Rene Levert does superb work with the sound in capturing the natural elements of the sound on some locations but also in creating sound effects for some of the playful gunfire. The film’s music consist of original music by Michel Legrand and Karlheinz Stockhausen as well as classical pieces by Pierre Degeyter, Franz Schubert, and Antonio Vivaldi as the original is a mixture of pop and orchestral music to play into the events of the time including a song celebrating Mao while much of the classical music is played for dramatic effect.
The film’s incredible ensemble cast feature some notable small roles and appearances from Jean-Claude Sussfeld as a getaway driver for a key scene late in the film, Omar Blondin Diop as a black-French student who appears to do a speech about his views on the world, Lex De Brujin as Kirilov as a student who doesn’t engage much in the discussions though he does have views of his own that supports the idea of terrorism, and Francis Jeanson as himself as the controversial political philosopher who is against Veronique’s views as well as wanting to use terrorism as he is someone who goes into the fallacies of his own actions in the Algerian war as well as the flaws of revolutions. Michel Semeniako is fantastic as Henri as a student who is a follower of the Maoist ideals but then starts to question things as he would later comment on his own future but also the faults of Maoism.
Juliet Berto is excellent as Yvonne as a young student from the country who is hoping to use Maoist to help with plight of workers as she also the lack of progress that occurs in revolutions. Jean-Pierre Leaud is amazing as Guillaume as a student who is eager to play a role in the revolution as he then starts to disagree with Veronique later on as he also copes with the lack of progress in revolutions. Finally, there’s Anne Wiazemsky in a phenomenal performance as Veronique as a young student who is a fervent follower of Mao and his ideals as she realizes what is necessary despite the many faults of her views as she also copes with the fallacies of revolutions.
La Chinoise is a tremendous film from Jean-Luc Godard. Featuring a great ensemble cast, vibrant visuals, a riveting music soundtrack, and its focus on political ideals and the chaos that it would predict. It is a film that isn’t just one of Godard’s finest films during the French New Wave period but also a film that says a lot about young people’s fascination with terrorism and other acts of violence for the sake of change with its many fallacies. In the end, La Chinoise is a spectacular 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 - Weekend (1967 film) - 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 2023
The film is the story of two women with a fascination for magic who meet as they embark on a series of adventures where they encounter a house as they would play the role of a maid in a murder mystery from the past. It is a film that doesn’t have much of a plot as its screenplay is loose in its presentation but also has these layers of stories within a story that includes this murder mystery from the past. The script does feature a lot of literary references in not just some of the works of Henry James but also Lewis Carroll and Marcel Proust in relation to the idea of alternate realities. The film begins with Julie reading a book on magic where she catches Celine running through a park leaving things as Julie would follow her as the two eventually meet and become friends with Celine moving in to Julie’s apartment. Julie is a librarian while Celine is a cabaret performer/magician as the two would know more about each other’s lives but also this home near a house where a childhood neighbor of Julie lived in. There on different days, they would separately encounter this story of two sisters who are in a love triangle with a man as Celine and Julie would play a maid on different occasions where a young girl is murdered.
Jacques Rivette’s direction is largely simple in its presentation as it doesn’t emphasize on anything stylish but rather shoot on actual locations as the film is largely set in Montmartre near Paris. Shot on the 1:37:1 aspect ratio, Rivette uses the format to play into the film’s simple presentation as there are some unique wide shots of the location as well as a few scenes in a room with one of the characters in the foreground and another in the background. There are also some incredible compositions that Rivette uses in the close-ups and medium shots as it play into the way Celine and Julie interact with one another but also in how they try to figure out this murder mystery in this old house where it’s opened at a specific time. There are also these moments in the film where whenever Celine or Julie leave that house. They are disoriented as they would get these flashes of what they had experienced while they would eat a piece of candy later on where they remember what they saw. The scenes inside the house showcase these two women in Camille (Bulle Ogier) and Sophie (Marie-France Pisier) who are sisters who are taking care of their niece Madlyn (Nathalie Asnar) while pursuing her father Olivier (Barbet Schroeder) on Madlyn’s first birthday since the death of her mother.
Rivette’s direction also play into individual pursuits of Celine and Julie with the former being a magician and the latter is a librarian as they would eventually switch roles with the former trying to deal with the latter’s childhood sweetheart and the latter filling in for the former in an audition. It adds to the film’s whimsical tone while also playing into how they uncover the mystery from this candy that they eat as they would take notes on what they remember. The film’s climax is about uncovering what really did happen but also play into this idea of what is real and what is fantasy as it is followed by an aftermath that blur the lines of all of that and more. Overall, Rivette crafts an intoxicating yet exhilarating film about two women who embark on a weird adventure involving a murder mystery from the past and other alternate universes.
Cinematographer Jacques Renard does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as its usage of natural lighting for many of the daytime exteriors as well as the usage of lights for some interior scenes in the day and night. Editor Nicole Lubtchansky does amazing work with the editing with its stylish usage of jump cuts to help blur the ideas of fantasy and reality. Costume designers Jean-Luc Berne, Pierre D’Alby, and Laurent Vicci do fantastic work with the costumes from the more conservative look of Julie to the more hippie-inspired look of Celine as well as the posh clothing of Camille and Sophie. The sound work of Paul Laine is superb for the way sound is presented in its natural setting including some of the music that is played on location. The film’s music by Jean-Marie Senia is wonderful as it is largely a cabaret piano-based piece that is performed for Celine’s stage performance.
The film’s incredible ensemble cast feature some notable small roles from composer Jean-Marie Senia as the piano player Cyrill, Jerome Richard and Michael Graham as a couple of men watching Julie’s audition, Adele Taffetas and Monique Clement as a couple of fellow performer friends of Celine, Anne Zamire as a co-worker of Julie at the library, Jean Douchet as Celine’s boss at the club, Philippe Clevenot as Julie’s childhood sweetheart Guilou, and Marie-Therese Saussere as an old neighbor of Julie in Poupie whom Julie asks about the house next door. Nathalie Asnar is fantastic as the young girl Madlyn who deals with her upcoming birthday but also unaware of the tension surrounding her family with Celine and Julie observing her. Barbet Schroeder is excellent as Madlyn’s father Olivier who is in love triangle with her aunts as he deals with being in love with two women but also trying to seduce the family maid who are played on different occasions by Celine and Julie.
Bulle Ogier and Marie-France Pisier are phenomenal in their respective roles as Camille and Sophie as two sisters who are watching over their niece but also vying for the affection of Olivier with Ogier being more out there as someone who is losing her mind while Pisier plays a woman with an immense fear for flowers. Finally, there’s the duo of Julie Berto and Dominique Labourier in spectacular performances in their respective roles of the titular characters in Celine and Julie. Berto provides a bit of sensuality in her work as a magician but also this exuberance in the way she is introduced into the film while Labourier is more reserved early on while also having a few quirks of her own. Together, the two women display an air of mischievousness in how they plot schemes but also play into the way they react to the other world they’re in as they are a major highlight of the film.
Celine et Julie von ten bateau is a magnificent film from Jacques Rivette that features tremendous leading performances from Julie Berto and Dominique Labourier. Along with its ensemble cast, colorful visuals, whimsical presentation, and its story of two women going into a moment in time that also involve alternate worlds. It is a film that is definitely offbeat in its presentation and premise yet it has a looseness that is engaging to watch as well as what two women would do to uncover this murder mystery but also themselves. In the end, Celine et Julie von ten bateau is an outstanding film from Jacques Rivette.
Jacques Rivette Films: Le Coup du berger - (Paris Belongs to Us) – (The Nun (1966 film)) – (L’amour fou) – (Out 1) – (Duelle) – (Noroit) – (Merry-Go Round (1981 film)) – (Le Pont du Nord) – (Love on the Ground) – (Hurlevent) – (Gang of Four (1989 film)) – (La Belle Noiseuse) – (Joan the Maid) – (Up, Down, Fragile) – (Lumiere and Company-“Une aventure de Ninon”) – (Secret Defense) – (Va savoir) – (The Story of Marie and Julien) – (The Duchess of Langeais) – (Around a Small Mountain)
© thevoid99 2022
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
