"Gods, I like Gods. I know exactly how they feel." -- Jack Prokosch in Contempt
In the opening shot, Godard destroys the line that separates film from reality: In the distance, at the far end of a receding line of dolly tracks, a camera crew follows a pair of actors as they slowly stroll toward the screen. As they approach, they move out of frame, leaving the camera operator in the center of the image. He carefully adjusts his lens until it's aimed directly at us, the audience. Like it or not, we've just been cast in a Godard film.
When Paul is roped into a project with the crass American film producer, Jeremiah Prokosch (Jack Palance), Camille's emotions curdle as she watches her husband prostitute himself. Prokosch has come to Europe to bastardize an adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey, directed by the legendary Fritz Lang (playing himself). Lang wants to make slow, cerebral art. Prokosch wants a rewrite filled with topless mermaids wiggling their tails. Paul needs the money. In two key scenes, Camille wants Paul to intervene when Prokosch makes lecherous advances toward her, but Paul doesn't. Camille is humiliated. Her frustration eventually festers into the acidic emotion of the title, and the undeniable power and beauty of the film comes from feeling her pain.
Godard, in 1963, was disillusioned by the crisis facing both the American and European film industries. Not only was the "golden age" of the American studio system collapsingthe hallowed place that had given birth to the auteurs that French critics like Godard had championedthe European industry was facing the onslaught of American culture. Godard: "It's always a bit sad when I see Lang in the film. He was touched that the young filmmakers admired him, but it was mostly because he needed money that he accepted." (Imagine a reality where Fritz Lang compromises himself for money.)
-- capsule taken in part from Cinemania |
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Made in:
1963 |
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Cast: |
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Directed by:
Jean-Luc Godard |