Contempt (Le Mepris) (1963)

I admittedly haven't seen all that much Godard. I saw Masculin Feminin, which is barely comprehensible. I watched ten minutes of Adieu au Langage on Netflix and it was unwatchable. Maybe I'm just not a Godard fan. But Le Mepris is gorgeous. To begin with, there is a plot! The music is super emotional. The characters are complex. And the cinematography is visually stunning. The whole movie was kind of mesmerizing.

It is supremely European. Giorgia Moll plays interpreter for the group of English, French, German and Italian speaking characters. The characters speak in their own languages without regard for the others and the very impressive interpreter must act as the go-between. Kind of interesting that only the French was subtitled, and only if it wasn't also translated orally in English. So you really have to pay attention to who is saying what.

Godard's editing style is rather unique. I wonder if he thinks in the same way he cuts together his movies because some of the montages are otherwise inexplicable. The introductory credits is like a unique behind-the-scenes take with narration. There is some voice-over in the middle too when Camille and Paul discuss the dissolution of their marriage. That whole long apartment scene is masterful. It feels natural. There is one unnatural part at the end of the movie. That is the car accident. The car accident is inexcusably dumb. There is no way he didn't see a giant truck, especially to ram into the section of the truck that drags the huge semitrailer. Also, even though there is plot, the gun never pays off; you don't introduce a gun in act two if it never gets used...