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Very French!

If only I knew French well enough to speak AND understand it!  Fortunately, these films have French, English and Spanish subtitles. This 3-disc set of Godard’s films is packed with farce, love, and passion as well as the downright slapstick. 

Passion is the first in the series of films. Like all of Godard’s work in this collector’s edition, it’s about a film being created within the film.  There are multiple narratives, sounds where you would not expect them and voiceovers that seem out of place. The Boob Tube flick being shot is over budget and the film director is having simultaneous love affairs with two women.

Prénom Carmen (First Name: Carmen) comes on as a pretense for Carmen to borrow her uncle’s house by the sea to make a movie, all the while plotting a bank robbery. It centers around what women can do to men such as seducing them in a tease and then pulling back and not taking them to bed. Godard plays Carmen’s uncle, one of the few times he appeared in his own films.

Detective has people watching a hotel and choosing the right time to rob it. The film’s use of slapstick adds nothing to the plot except to overly exploit a comedic feel in a bad situation.  It’s a put-off. I saw no need for the robber to run through the lobby shooting aimlessly over other people or backing into a table and falling. He shuffled and ran, shuffled and ran and hid behind objects too small to protect his tall frame from the woman shooting a pistol at him.

Héla Pour Moi (Oh, Woe Is Me) is a take on Greek myths. Gerard Depardieu plays Simon, a man who wants to love his wife, but leaves and returns as a god to woo her into an affair.

Jean-Luc Godard: A Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma is a documentary about the man himself. It focuses on how the director challenged current thinking about love, God, the arts and so many others areas. This gave me a better understanding of Godard and what he was trying to attempt with his films. He was ahead of his time with mixed sounds that overlapped dialogue, scenes that had nothing to do with the action that was taking place on the screen, and a passion for classical music that played over muted dialogue.

I had trouble watching the films in this set because there is so much dialogue - all in Godard’s native tongue. I spent more time reading the subtitles than actually watching the films. I almost gave up several times, but gritted my teeth and bore through the films. It was an utter failure because the dialogue was difficult to read while watching the actors at the same time.

If you understand French, then you’ll be right at home with these films and can enjoy the rich colors and textures of the scenes. Otherwise, you might as well purchase something that you do understand and can watch without being distracted by subtitles, music that overpowers the narrative, and narratives that have nothing to do with what you are currently watching. I may go back and watch it again in the hopes of actually seeing the movies instead of reading the subtitles. I missed the movements of the scenes and the facial characteristics of the actors because I was trying to understand the text at the bottom of the screen.  These films did nothing more than introduce me to more French than I could learn in a week.

Digitally remastered, all films except Passion are unrated. 

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