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Ultimate Godard Collection, The (14 Discs)

Theatrical Release Date:  TBC
Home Ent. Release Date:  13 Jul 2008
Cert:  

Synopsis:

LE MEPRIS ALPAHAVILLE PASSION A BOUT DE SOUFFLE MADE IN THE USA UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME LE PETIT SOLDAT PIERROT LE FOU LA CHINOISIE DETECTIVE NOTRE MUSIQUE HELAS POUR MOI ELOGE DE L'AMOUR BONUS DISC Cinema’s original enfant terrible, one of the leaders of the French New Wave, a key influence on the American cinema of the 1970s and one of the few true auteurs still making movies: Jean-Luc Godard is all of these and more. A maverick force from the beginning, when his debut film A Bout de Souffle (1959) tore up the cinematic rulebook, Godard has continued to inspire and challenge moviegoers throughout a career that spans more than four decades. Born in Paris in 1930, Godard came from a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family, where he attended school until his parents divorced in 1948 and he moved to Paris. A contemporary of Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Godard first became involved in cinema through literary criticism, writing several articles under the pseudonym Hans Lucas. After supplying funding to films by Rivette and Rohmer, with whom he had also founded a ‘Gazette du Cinema’ for their writing, Godard’s family withdrew their financial support, and he took to living a Bohemian lifestyle, often stealing food and money when necessary. After becoming a scriptwriter and having made several short films, Godard made his memorable directorial debut in 1959 with A Bout de Souffle, cementing his reputation (earned from his articles and screenplays) as being at the forefront of La Nouvelle Vague. The most influential of French directors, Godard was a key figure of New Wave cinema. From his 1959 debut feature A Bout De Souffle, “the film which epitomised the iconoclasm of the early Nouvelle Vague” (Time Out) Godard has remained controversial and intriguing throughout his lengthy film career. A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (1959) ‘Seminal, a film to see and see again’ The Observer Stylish and sexy, Breathless [A Bout De Souffle] is the epitome of cinematic cool. A fast tale of a young man on the run in Paris at the end of the 50’s, Breathless shook up the film world upon its release and has made a lasting impression on cinema history. Starring Jean Paul Belmondo, the film was produced by Godard from an original treatment by François Truffaut in a production that united the four initiators of the ‘nouvelle Vague’ - Claude Chabrol acted as artistic director while acclaimed director Jean Pierre Melville appeared in front of camera. ALPHAVILLE (1965) Written and directed by Godard, Alphaville is the strangely beautiful futuristic tale of Lemmy Caution, an American private eye sent to a planet ruled by Von Braun, a malevolent scientist who has outlawed human emotions in favour of logic. The film deals with the fight between indivualism in face of inhumanity and blind conformity, and won the Golden Bear award of the Berlin Film Festival in 1965. LA CHINOISE (1967) A swiftly paced satire that incorporates Godard’s advocacy of Maoist principles, La Chinoise may be one of Godard’s most explicitly political works, but that doesn’t preclude it from also being amongst his most accessible and enjoyable. Largely eschewing a linear narrative to resemble a collage of slogans and conversations, the ‘plot’ centres upon a small group of Parisian students (amongst them Godard's then-wife Anne Wiazemsky and Truffaut favourite Jean-Pierre Léaud) who discuss the implications of the cultural revolution in China and how it may be possible to effect, by means of terrorism, a similar political and cultural upheaval in the West. Awarded a special jury prize at the 1967 Venice Film Festival. DETECTIVE (1985) Amidst the confines of a decaying Parisian hotel, Détective is set in motion when miserably married couple François (Nathalie Baye) and Emile (Claude Brasseur) attempt to collect a debt from mob-plagued boxing manager, Jim Fox Warner (Johnny Halliday). Meanwhile, house detective Laurent Terzieff tries to solve an old murder case. Made in 1985, Détective is a characteristically barbed and witty take on modern morality and popular culture. Playfully riffing on the charisma of its many stars, the film also marked the feature debut of actress Julie Delpy. UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME (1961) Angela (Anna Karina) is a stripper living in Paris with her husband, Emile (Jean-Claude Brialy), who is a bookseller. She wants a child, he doesn’t. Emile’s obsession with cycling interferes with the love of his wife. Angela embarks on a dangerous game to try and reignite Emile’s passion for her, by involving Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a good friend of theirs, in her quest for a baby. Alfred is in love with Angela and, it seems, more than willing to be the third corner of his love triangle. Written and directed by Godard, the film was his second, winning both him and his wife Anna Karina awards at that year’s Berlin Film Festival. MADE IN THE USA (1966) A Classic New Wave crime thriller, Made in USA is inspired by the American Noir thrillers of previous decades but, as ever, Godard colours the old traditions with his own distinctive style. Anna Karina stars as the questing anti-hero searching the murderer of her lover, and the film features a cameo by Marianne Faithful. LE MEPRIS (1963) Contempt Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli) is hired by an American producer Prokosch (Jack Palance) to commercialize director Fritz Lang’s adaptation of the Odyssey, about to begin shooting in Rome. Whilst attempting the rewrite in Capri, Javal’s wife Camille (Bardot) spends an unexplained hour in the company of Prokosch, possibly at the behest of her husband, although this is never made clear. This sets off an argument between the couple that hints at deeper problems within the marriage and the contempt Camille feels for her husband. PASSION (1982) Godard’s 1982 film Passion is a fascinating musing on the nature of life love and art, in a world seen through the eyes of disoriented Polish film director Jerzy and his partner Laszlo. Staying at the hotel where he is filming, Jerzy becomes involved with the hotel owner Hanna and Factory worker Isabelle and reality and art mingle as he searches for the story he wishes to tell. To the displeasure of his financial backers, Jerzy has no script to speak of, and hopes instead to live the narrative as he films it. A UK DVD premiere. LE PETIT SOLDAT (1963) In 1958, during the Algerian war, Bruno (Michel Subor) deserts and hides out in Switzerland, where he falls in love with Veronica (Anna Karina). However, whilst he is a member of an extreme-right terrorist group, she is a member of a group on the extreme political left, and when his own group suspect him of being a double agent, he is captured and tortured, in a memorably long scene that caused controversy upon the film’s original release. As much a meditation on the idea of personal freedom within the constraints of modern day politics as a comment on the Algerian war PIERROT LE FOU (1965) Based on Lionel White’s novel Obsession, Pierrot Le Fou is the story of a bored husband who runs away from Paris to the South of France with an unpredictable but beguiling young babysitter (Anna Karina) after a corpse is found in her flat. After an idyllic time at the seaside they hit the road once more and get by from stealing, soon becoming embroiled in the machinations of two rival gun running gangs and a man who may or may not be the girl’s brother. Belmondo was nominated for a BAFTA for his perfomance in this tragic tale of a romantic couple who cannot escape fate no matter how far they flee. NOTRE MUSIQUE (2004) Notre Musique is a film in three parts – “Hell”, “Purgatory” and “Heaven”. Part poetry, part journalism, part philosophy, Jean-Luc Godard’s latest feature is a timeless meditation on war. Drawing on the Bosnian war, the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, the brutal treatment of Native Americans and the legacy of the Nazi’s, Godard intermingles real-life literary figures with actors and documentary with fiction. HELAS POUR MOI (1993) Based on the Greek myth of Amphitryon and Alcmene, Helas Pour Moi sees Jean-Luc Godard transplant the story to a tiny Swiss village, the story narrated by a publisher named Klimt who travels there to explore the veracity of the extraordinary tale. Depardieu plays Simon, whose body was apparently briefly inhabited by God wishing to experience physical love: having been inspired by the beauty of Simon’s wife Rachel. Within this narrative framework, Godard continues to push the boundaries of linear cinema with a contemplative, spiritual vision that is both perplexing and revelatory to the viewer whilst undoubtedly mesmeric in its imagery and tone. ELOGE D’AMOUR (2001) Told through 2 couples, young and elderly, Eloge De L’Amour explores the four key moments of love: the meeting, the physical passion, the quarrels and separation, the reconciliation. Film director Edgar (Bruno Putzulu) is producing a new film about love. During a casting in Paris he meets Elle (Cecile Camp), who he feels would be perfect for the lead role, but there is something strangely familiar about her. Through flashback, we learn that Edgar and the girl met two years earlier, when Edgar visited the house of an elderly couple who survived the Nazi occupation, and wish to sell their story to Hollywood.

Directed By:

  • Jean-Luc Godard

Starring:

  • Jean-Paul Belmondo
  • Anna Karina
  • Jean-Claude Brialy
  • Brigitte Bardot

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Ultimate Godard Collection

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