Godard: À Bout de Soufflé

[Des]

I bought this DVD on Monday. Imagine my disappointment when, instead of a concise history of egg-based dishes, it was some jerky old black and white film full of cool looking people and vacuous dialogue. I demand my money back.

[garth cartwright]

But she's so cute (can't recall her name - tragic life). And Alain Delon has that great line about peeing in the sink. But, yes, chic tosh. I know its sacrilege to say but i prefer the US remake with Richard Gere.

[Hugh Weldon]

Très drôle.

Reminds of the non-Francophone who bought Manon de Sources thinking it was the French version of The Lost Weekend.

[Hugh Weldon]

Jean Seberg was the actress Garth.

I think Godard was just having a laugh with that film, and probably couldn't believe it when the critics started taking it so seriously. I'm sure I remember somebody telling me the French govt made a lot of public money available in the late 50s early 60s which enabled Godard, Truffaut and all those guys to make features on a relatively low budget. I say 'having a laugh' (in a rather cruel and amoral way to some extent) but the virtue of A Bout de Souffle I think is the audacious freedom he is having with the script, the camera, the actors etc.

Some of the later Marxist Godard stuff gets a bit pretentious but the one of his I must try again is Alphaville - a futuristic sci-fi flick set in modern day (or 60s rather) Paris, shouldn't work somehow, but it did, from what I recall.

[AndyM]

In some filmic/intellectual circles of my acquaintance, Godard is so revered he hardly needs the last three letters of his surname.. And this despite not having made anything remotely interesting since the early 70s. 'Alphaville' is pretty cool, however.

[Rob Hall]

Très drôle.

Reminds of the non-Francophone who bought Manon de Sources thinking it was the French version of The Lost Weekend.

Very old joke:

Man in bookshop - Do you have any Guy de Maupassant?
Bookshop assistant - No, but we do have Guide Michelin

[uiwangmike]

When the film was revived maybe 7 or 8 years ago at one of the West End cinemas, the final scene raised a laugh from the audience. J-P Belmondo (not Alain Delon) is chased down the street by the flics, all the time desperately gripping his cigarette in his mouth. Finally, he's shot and lays dying, still sucking on the cig. I wondered if this was the meaning of the title. Anyway, it seemed very French.
À Bout de Souffle - being at the end of your soufflé would be quite a different experience.
And Hugh - I also wonder if Jean-Luc has ever had a laugh in his life. He does seem an extremely serious chap.

[Hugh Weldon]

'Having a laugh' was a loose phrase, but I do seem to remember a somewhat cynical sense of humour in that film. There was definitely a sense amongst the new wavers of cocking a snook at the older generation, as was seen in another new wave some years later.

Godard wasn't completely humourless though, the other one of his that I really liked, Masculin Feminin had a couple of quite amusing scenes.

[kas]

And my "Godard having a laugh" (in the literal albeit morbid sense) would be the equally silly/tragic end of Pierrot le fou:
Belmondo (again) commiting a suicide by wrapping dynamite around his head, lighting the fuse - and then having second thoughts about it but not finding the fuse in time to stump it...
I just saw a fairly recent documentary about his film Le Mepris ("Contempt") in which Godard himself is also interviewed. And he seemed able to laugh a bit at his old ways.
A good documentary by the way.

[kas]

And my "Godard having a laugh" (in the literal albeit morbid sense) would be the equally silly/tragic end of Pierrot le fou:
Belmondo (again) commiting a suicide by wrapping dynamite around his head, lighting the fuse - and then having second thoughts about it but not finding the fuse in time to stump it...
I just saw a fairly recent documentary about his film Le Mepris ("Contempt") in which Godard himself is also interviewed. And he seemed able to laugh a bit at his old ways.
A good documentary by the way.