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After I reviewed La Chinoise for this site, I felt that I had to do a little digging around to see what sort of context that film and Le Gai Savoir (The Joy Of Learning) were released in, because neither film felt anything like the two others I own by the director, Jean-Luc Godard.  What I found out was that the films I’m familiar with (Alphaville and Breathless) were both released earlier in the man’s career, before his work became so completely politicized and took on such an experimental tone.

Le Gai Savoir has no easy plot description, the basics are that two young militants Emile (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and Patricia (Juliet Berto) meet nightly in a darkened television studio and discuss language.  They leave each morning to strike a blow for the revolution, and return each night to debate how best to re-invent the language, both with words and visually as well.  These discussions are set against the backdrop of news footage, still photography and images from pop culture, most of which have been written upon or altered in some way to reflect or are juxtaposed ironically against the words being spoken.

This is actually where things really get tricky with the film, as the subtitling only occasionally translates the written material, which is frustrating for someone who doesn’t speak or read French. 

A good deal of the film is the two leads in a black room, so all we see is the two of them, presumable to help eliminate distractions from their discourse, which is interesting at times and frustrating at others, as the film easily slips into the most abstract of concepts within moments.  The idea that the two concoct is a three year program in which they will deconstruct the very language in an attempt to ‘return to zero’ and recreate it in a purer form, free of all the layers of meaning that society has put upon it.  This includes interview portions involving word association using a child and an elderly homeless man, and even simple recitation of vowel and consonant sounds using different intonations.

I freely admit that I think a good deal of this film went over my head, as I haven’t ever looked into the academic examinations of film to any great extent.  I found this visually interesting, even if I know for certain that I’m missing out on details just for lack of an understanding of the director’s philosophies.

La Gai Savoir is a film that will obviously stand up to repeated viewings, as the ideas come at the viewer a mile a minute, and it’s impossible to take it all in on a the first watch.  While the film isn’t exactly my cup of tea, I could certainly see giving this another look after doing a little more reading about the director and his ideas about cinema, I think that would definitely add layers of meaning to what might otherwise be dismissed.

The DVD is a bare bones disc that offers only the trailer for La Chinoise as a bonus that plays before the feature.

This is a great watch for film students or scholars, but I doubt it will appeal to the great unwashed masses, of which I’m unfortunately a part, as this left me a little cold.  Take that into consideration when you judge the resulting rating.

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