Jean Luc Godard
 

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Jean Luc Godard, loved by many not so much by others. Has 12 films published by criterion.

How would you rank his movies?

Do you own any of his films?

Is he the best French Director?

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Do you own any of his films?

I own the following(the photos are the exact editions I own):

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^ Only blu-ray of his films I own so far, rest are DVD.

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(Criterion)

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(Criterion)


I did have Le Mépris but after I watched it for the first time I didn't think much of the film at all so gave the DVD to one of my friends who I thought would love it:

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Out of all the films I've seen, À bout de souffle is my favourite from the director but he's not a favourite of mine overall, most of his films I've found a complete bore and not a fan of his more experimental films, some from his political phase(mostly late 60s/early 70s) for example but saying that I did rather like the very political La Chinoise.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Even though I think he may be the most overrated director ever, most of his films have a flourish or two which make them memorable, if only for a few minutes. However, overall he's often maddening in his technique (shooting people from behind for no good reason except to have you notice it), obnoxious in his politics, boring in his choice of stories and characters, and seemingly full of himself in thinking he's reinventing cinema when basically he just recycles from older movies, sometimes even silent films. In reality, I think more of him now so what I just wrote is positive compared to what I would have said a few years ago.

I actually think that Ingmar Bergman said it best about Godard: "I've never gotten anything out of his movies. They have felt constructed, faux intellectual and completely dead. Cinematographically uninteresting and infinitely boring. Godard is a fu**ing bore. He's made his films for the critics. One of the movies, Masculin Feminin, was shot here in Sweden. It was mind-numbingly boring."

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

^Ouch. Can't say I've seen enough to judge, but I can understand that already. Is it a shame more artists aren't openly opinionated about other works these days? I'm not sure, but I do love to read those kind of quotes.

I think Godard was a fan of Bergman too :p

Anyways, I've seen five of his films: Breathless, Vivre sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, and Pierrot le Fou. I had mixed feelings about him initially, but Breathless now ranks in my top ten and Pierrot le Fou is a favorite as well. I love his style (though I know I'm in a minority with that opinion on here), and those two movies are a ton of fun as well. I'm very interested in the rest of his early work, but I haven't heard too much good about his post-1967 films.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

There are several quotes by Bergman in his IMDb bio. They're all pretty good and sometimes unexpected. This is what he said about his own film: "Now I want to make it plain that The Virgin Spring must be regarded as an aberration. It's touristic, a lousy imitation of Kurosawa." Of course, I think that movie is better than anything from Godard.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Now guys... we also know that Bergman was a nut who hates Fellini and Antonioni. I seriously doubt there was any competition or rivalry between those european directors in the 60s. Its probable that Bergman to a certain extent was jealous of the popularity of these directors and wanted more attention given to his films. Either way he's still a nut.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

I feel like everyone was kicking ass in the 60s- no surprise to see some egos clashing like that.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Bergman was a brilliant director, nut or not.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

"His gifts as a director are enormous. I just can't take him very seriously as a thinker -- and that's where we seem to differ, because he does. His message is what he cares about these days, and, like most movie messages, it could be written on the head of a pin."
- Orson Welles

“Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film.”
- Werner Herzog

How would you rank his movies?

Alphaville
Histoire(s) du Cinema
Masculin Feminin
Pierrot le fou
Breathless
Contempt
Vivre sa vie

Do you own any of his films?

No

Is he the best French Director?

Definitely not.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

You mentioned it Tyler, so here goes...

Bergman on Fellini: "He is enormously intuitive. He is intuitive; he is creative; he is an enormous force. He is burning inside with such heat. Collapsing. Do you understand what I mean? The heat from his creative mind, it melts him. He suffers from it; he suffers physically from it. One day when he can manage this heat and can set it free, I think he will make pictures you have never seen in your life. He is rich. As every real artist, he will go back to his sources one day. He will find his way back."

"Fellini, Kurosawa and Buñuel move in the same fields as Tarkovsky. Antonioni was on his way, but expired, suffocated by his own tediousness."

"He's done two masterpieces, you don't have to bother with the rest. One is Blow-Up (which I've seen many times) and the other is La Notte, also a wonderful film, although that's mostly because of the young Jeanne Moreau. In my collection I have a copy of Il grido and damn what a boring movie it is. So devilishly sad, I mean. You know, Antonioni never really learned the trade. He concentrated on single images, never realizing that film is a rhythmic flow of images, a movement. Sure, there are brilliant moments in his films. But I don't feel anything for L'avventura, for example. Only indifference. I never understood why Antonioni was so incredibly applauded. And I thought his muse Monica Vitti was a terrible actress."

"When film is not a document, it is dream. That is why Tarkovsky is the greatest of them all. He moves with such naturalness in the room of dreams. He doesn't explain. What should he explain anyhow? He is a spectator, capable of staging his visions in the most unwieldy but, in a way, the most willing of media. All my life I have hammered on the doors of the rooms in which he moves so naturally. Only a few times have I managed to creep inside. Most of my conscious efforts have ended in embarrassing failure- The Serpent's Egg, The Touch, Face to Face and so on."

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Antonioni never learned the trade? Of course he concentrated on single images- but I don't think there's a single shot in L'Avventura that isn't strikingly beautiful.

I have to admit that I enjoyed Breathless, but then again, Jean Paul Belmondo is a favorite of mine and I've seen most of his films.
Other Godard films I've seen are Le Petit Soldat and Pierrot Le Fou.
I found Godard too full of himself, always trying to interject his own
political leanings and personal philosophy into hs movies, his point of view being "au contrare" from mine and in the final analyses somewhat boring.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Of the little I've seen I think marks original Bergman on Fellini quote sums it up. I will have to watch Atleast two more films and Breathless before really giving a verdict.
Notre Musique ( ) was the best one so far, an while beautifully artistic, such a bore

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

Just watch Alphaville and Histoire(s) du cinema. You can forget about the rest.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

I haven't really watched any of his films yet. Once I started watching his documentary type thing Sympathy for the Devil which I turned of half way through, I didn't quite get what was happening and it all seemed like a bit of a mess to me, it seemed like he was trying to get away some sort of point with the use of a variety of scenes from different groups etc. I'll properly understand it more once I've watched some of his more known films but it just seemed all over the place to me.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

How would you rank his movies?

Breathless
Pierrot le Fou
Vivre sa Vie
Band of Outsiders
Contempt

Do you own any of his movies?

I own Breathless, the Criterion box set is fantastic.

Is he the best French director?

I don't think I've seen enough French cinema to answer that question.

I really like Jean-Luc Godards work... But he is a bit to fluky in his work. In the same movie he can go from something completely magical to underwhelming ********.

Breathless (1960)
Pierrot le fou (1965)
A Married Woman (1964) +
Alphaville (1965)
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967)
Film socialisme (2010)
In Praise of Love (2001) +

They are showing Histoire(s) du Cinema in my local arthouse theater this winter and that is something im looking forward to.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

I'll recommend two of his later films that I never see listed that I think are well worth a watch: King Lear (1987) and Nouvelle Vague (1990)

As for ranking his films....eh..... I'll just say my favourite is probably: Pierrot le Fou.

Re: Jean Luc Godard
 

To love Godard, I think, is to love not just film, but filmmaking. This doesn't mean you love doing it yourself, but love the idea or thought of the process, which is evident in a Godard film. It is also, in one certain period, to love Anna Karina.