Contempt - Criterion Collection

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With his aptly titled Contempt, Jean-Luc Godard embraced the widescreen splendor of Hollywood while thumbing his nose at Hollywood itself. A rebel with a cause, Godard pursues an iconoclast's agenda, using the Franscope format (expertly controlled by cinematographer Raoul Coutard) to undermine the grandeur of widescreen melodramas. The story ostensibly concerns an innovative production of Homer's Odyssey and the struggle of a respected screenwriter (Michel Piccoli) to please a pugnacious producer (Jack Palance), a veteran director (Fritz Lang, essentially playing himself), and a petulant wife (Brigitte Bardot) who's grown tired of their turbulent relationship. It's all pretense, however, for Godard's mischievous (and yes, contemptuous) deconstruction of commercial Hollywood filmmaking, potently infused with film-buff in-jokes, astute observations about love, stardom, and artistry, and enough glossy style to suggest that Godard had mastered the craft he so willfully rejects. Contempt is one of his most accessibly fascinating films. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Jean-Luc Godard's subversive foray into commercial filmmaking is a star-studded Cinemascope epic. Contempt (Le M pris) stars Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter torn between the demands of a proud European director (played by legendary director Fritz Lang), a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot) as he attempts to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey.

Customer Reviews:

Contempt.......2007-06-27

In the hands of New Wave master Godard, this brilliant, piercing film about alienation and the end of a marriage is also quite overtly about the cinema itself--especially the role of art in relation to commercial interests. Casting sex kitten Bardot as Camille is particularly inspired, as anyone will understand how a sudden loss of her affections would drive a man insane. As a slick, boorish Hollywood type, Palance is wonderfully reptilian, but Lang has all the best lines, effectively ventriloquizing Godard's own views. Lovingly shot in Rome and Capri in dazzling CinemaScope, "Contempt" is subversive food for thought.

A Production Within a Film.......2006-05-19

When you're married to beautiful, glamorous women as our director
extraordinaire, Jean-Luc-Godard, you have your moments of doubt. You
are an ordinary physical specimen and she is well, Anna Karina, or in
the case of Godard's alter ego, screenwriter, Paul Javal, you have many
moments of self-doubt from bedroom to soundstage with the nubile
Brigitte Bardot. If I give you $30,000 in 1963 money, may I sleep with
your wife? Godard invents yet another, now standard film idea, the
moral curmudgeon: is my significant other a commodity.

Jack Palance leers over Brigitte and certainly, he has enough Hollywood
bucks to install her in his bedroom. In fact, he has enough bucks to
turn a work of art into a mass produced cliché. Skin sells in Peoria.
Palance is printing dollars as he screens films for rubes, but what of
true artists as say, Fritz Lang, the director that made the silent
classic M. Lang works around Palance's interference. He must finish
what he begins. He will not work for the Third Reich, but will work for
Louis Mayer.

Godard works his camera interiors for lengthy, banal conversation
between husband and naked wife. Bardot is beautiful and Godard takes
every opportunity to look at her, sharing with the voyeurs. The star
seems quite comfortable clothed or not. She also looks fine on a
Riviera mansion of the Bauhaus architecture overlooking the
Mediterranean. This is the sea of the Odyssey, which is the film within
a film. Alternatively, should I say there is a production within a
film.

Captivé, fasciné, subjugué.......2006-05-17

Godard est peut-être le seul réalisateur à ne pas avoir eu peur du mythe BB. Le résultat est magnifique : la présence de Bardot, la musique de Delerue, la villa de Malaparte à Capri, le tout réuni avec maestria par Godard adaptant Moravia font de ce film magique un sortilège de séduction irresistible.

a good movie with a wrong actress.......2006-04-02

Brigitte Bardot's movie career coincided with 'la nouvelle vague' (= French for 'the new wave'), which was an upcoming trend in French moviemaking around 1960.

However, 'La nouvelle vague's style considerably differed from the typical BB-light comedies. In spite of that Brigitte desperately wanted to be in, and with 'Contempt' she managed to do so.

Bad rumors state, that Brigitte owed her role in 'Contempt' (or 'Le mepris' in French) to its American financing. When the movie was finished, the Americans were not satisfied with her part. For this reason director Jean-Luc Godard had to add its opening scene, showing Brigitte naked on a bed.

'Contempt' makes clear Brigitte Bardot's talents do not suit 'la nouvelle vague'. Maybe Brigitte's best performance is to be found in this movie's memorable poster.

Fickle Baby Brigitte.......2006-03-19

To start with I found this movie agonizingly slow. I fast-forwarded several scenes. However, it stayed with me, and I've had another try. I still fast-forwarded some of the scenes, but lingered longer on some of the others. It seems to me that Godard oozes contempt for everything and everyone involved with this picture, including the picture itself, except, possibly, Fritz Lang. Lang is too old and too wise to be an object of Godard's scorn. Godard appears to me to despise Hollywood, Hollywood producers, Hollywood films, his own producer, nude starlets, the film industry, Cinemascope, remakes of classic texts, mercenary writers, melodramatic cop-out endings, movie audiences, weak husbands and, especially, the type of wife who wants to have her cake and eat it. He also seems to feel contempt for himself --- but perhaps I'm reading too much into it all: the whole thing is perverse. I think his feeling towards the actors may be neutral, for want of a better word. At least, they seem to be giving him what he wants. Bardot gives a fine performance, imho, and so do the others: always supposing Palance is meant to be as wooden as he appears. The analysis of womanly logic in the apartment dialogue is deeply misogynistic, but also extremely accurate. I will give this film a third go, and watch it patiently all the way through, as I suspect it will reveal more as time goes by. But it is a sour piece of work, and I doubt whether I would upgrade it to 5 stars, although I've given 5 to worse films. It is thought-provoking, but the thoughts it provokes are not welcome. Nor do they seem to me worthwhile. The shots of the Greek statues are great.

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

More Cocteau than Bresson
All the senses of love.
Disappointing Transfer
Somewhat obscure but impressive
Worth owning for much re-visiting

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne - Criterion Collection
Starring: Paul Bernard , María Casares , Elina Labourdette , Lucienne Bogaert , and Jean Marchat
Director: Robert Bresson
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000087EY6
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Amazon.com

Robert Bresson's second movie, a melodrama of love, jealousy, revenge, and redemption, is haunted by an uneasy tension between Bresson's ambitions and his directorial compromises. A beautiful but jealous high-society woman (Maria Casarès) tries to spark her longtime lover (a rather wan Paul Bernard) into a declaration of commitment by staging a breakup, and to her horror he agrees to the separation. Seething with resentment, she plots an elaborate vengeance involving getting him to fall in love with a young dancer who "entertains" to support her poverty-stricken family ("I'm no better than a prostitute!" she declaims to her mother), leading to a public disgrace--a grand melodramatic gesture presented with quiet understatement. Using professional actors and a script polished by Jean Cocteau (adapted from the novel Jacques de Fataliste et son Maitre by Denis Diderot), the film is marked by the stylized dialogue and psychologically shaded performances of classical French cinema which Bresson's later films reject. The director's hand can be seen in the austere sets and compositions, the tempered performances, and the moving, spiritually rich conclusion. While it's not Bresson's best work by his own admission, he tames the drama with a rigor that fully flowers in his next film, Diary of a Country Priest. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

More Cocteau than Bresson.......2007-04-15

`Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne' was directed in 1945 by: Robert Bresson (Diary Of A Country Priest, 1950; A Man Escaped,1956; Pickpocket, 1959; Au Hasard Balthazzar, 1966) The screenplay was adapted from the Denis Diderot short story `Jacques The Fatalist' by poet, artist and director Jean Cocteau (La Belle Et La Bete, 1946; Orphee, 1949). This seems an odd coupling because their work as directors is in complete contrast and because of the dialogue it makes this film feels more like a Cocteau film. This is however was only Bresson's second film and what would be determined as Bressonian, his lack of theatre and visually austere style, would only be developed in his subsequent the film of the 1950s.

Bresson used actors (he would later use non-professional or `models') in this film the most notable being Maria Caseras (Le Enfants Du Paradis, 1945; Orphee,1949) whom astute critics at the time compared to Joan Crawford who had just starred in `Mildred Pierce' (1945,Curtiz) and the following years `Possessed' (1946, Bernhardt). It is that manipulative femme fatale role that is the defining quality of this, which could be considered, French film noir.

Cinematography was by Philippe Agostini who had shot the now famous poetic realist `La Jour Se Leve' (1939, Carne) a cinematic movement that was instrumental in the development of American film noir. He would later work on `Le Plaisir' (1952, Ophuls) and `Riffifi' (1955, Dassin) both being stylistically brilliant films.

`Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne' may in the end be good Cocteau but not so good Bresson.

All the senses of love........2006-01-21

This film is mesmerizing in its air of mystery and dark passions, done by Bresson obviously under Cocteau influence - the image of Cocteau's Orpheus immediately conjures up, with Maria Casares' dangerous beauty captivating from the first moments...
I love so much that the whole dry and moralistic spirit of the book which is the source of the story - "Jacques le Fataliste" by Denis Diderot - is gone. The book would speak at length about religion and virtue, in 18th century fashion, while here Cocteau left only the essence of love - passions of desire, of pursuit of happiness, of jealousy and revenge...

And perhaps the message is that once love is gone, it cannot be won back by evil, and even revenge could boomerang and hurt the perpetrator.

It is overall an incomparable film.

Disappointing Transfer.......2004-12-10

As it was stated by another reviewer, the Criterion transfer of "Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne" is quite disappointing. The film seems loose in the gate and therefore the picture is very instable; it's jumping a lot, which is very irritating. Also, there is some noise present in the background.
So although Criterion did clean up the print quite much, this effort is in vain due to the imperfect transfer. I wonder why nobody has noticed this at Criterion? And its a problem which could have been corrected quite easily....

Considering the high price Criterion asks for this title: don't buy it!

Somewhat obscure but impressive.......2004-11-15

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne", also known as "Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne" or "Ladies of the Park" is a lesser known French film but is still good. It is based on the story "Jacques le Fataliste" by 18th century author Denis Diderot. It is a story of revenge about a woman scorned . When her boyfriend loses interest in her, she exacts revenge by matching him up with a former prostitute.The result: a scandal.

The film has some nice moments and could be described as a warning not to jilt your love interest.

The Criterion Collection edition contains a disappointingly small amount of special features. There is only a behind the scenes photo gallery and two essays in the liner notes.

Worth owning for much re-visiting.......2004-07-29

For consistency of tone, measured pace, and assured craft, this is a very fine film. I think of the word EXQUISITE. I think of the word LOVE. I think of the word FRANCE. I remember some lines from this film -There is no such thing as love, just the proof of love-To own and revisit and so to be reminded of what the best of cinema has to offer.

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