By Jake Howell jake.howell@utoronto.ca
Countdown To Cannes: Jean-Luc Godard
The tenth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.
Background: French-Swiss; born Paris, France 1930.
Known for / style: Breathless (1960), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Alphaville (1965); Film Socialisme (2010); a founding member of the nouvelle vague; accomplished film criticism in addition to screenwriting; an incredibly prolific output that has moved on from narrative filmmaking and transitioned more into experimental documents, short films, and video commentaries on art, life, and love; a blatant dismissal of institutions and traditions; elliptical editing; avant-garde tendencies; politically and philosophically-charged cinema.
Notable accolades: Cannes is one of the only major festivals that hasn’t presented one of the original modern auteurs with a prize—not that Godard thinks twice about this, mind you. At the top of his awards shelf are his two Golden Lions from Venice (a career award and one for Prénom Carmen, 1983), the Golden Bear from Berlin (Alphaville), and an honorary Oscar at the 83rd Academy Awards. In true Godardian fashion, he was not present for that award.
Previous Cannes appearances: Godard has attended the Festival for over five decades. He began his journeys there acting in the Agnès Varda Competition title Cleo de 5 a 7 (1962), later bringing his films to parallel sections (Vent d’Est, 1970; Comment ca va, 1976; Ici et Ailleurs, 1977) and then finally in Competiton (Sauve qui Peut / La Vie, 1980; Passion, 1982; Détective, 1985; Aria, 1987; Nouvelle Vague, 1990; Eloge de L’amour, 2001). He’s also played Un Certain Regard a number of times, including Lettre a Freddy Buache (1982), Histoire(s) du Cinéma (1997), and Film Socialisme (2010). Out of Competiton, he’s premiered Histoires du Cinéma (1988) and Notre Musique (2004). Cannes’ Classics program has also showed a few selections from his catalogue. Godard will also be bringing a Special Screening of his 2014 documentary Bridges of Sarajevo to the Croisette.
Film he’s bringing to Cannes: Adieu au Langage 3D (Goodbye to Language), an expectedly experimental film shot natively in 3D. The newly-released trailer features a Godardian aesthetic most recently seen in Film Socialisme (2010), including white text overlays, ambiguous storytelling, video and handheld camerawork, and avant-garde color palettes. The synopsis, found on the distributor’s website: “The idea is simple: A married woman and a single man meet. They love, they argue, fists fly. A dog strays between town and country. The seasons pass. The man and woman meet again. The dog finds itself between them. The other is in one, the one is in the other.”
Could it win the Palme? Godard hasn’t won anything from Cannes, and he certainly doesn’t care either way: he’s already far more canonized than some current Palme d’Or owners, which is to say awards are technically irrelevant. That’s not to say he couldn’t win the top prize in 2014, but we’ll have to see if he even shows up to the Festival in the first place. Goodbye to Language might seem impenetrable or an otherwise difficult sit, but the jury has some notably excellent fans of video that may enjoy Godard’s latest (Jia Zhangke, for one). A career Palme d’Or, if anything, seems the most likely.
Why you should care: Godard hasn’t screened in Competition in over a decade, and many of the filmmakers he’ll be competing against were inspired by his work. While he was hilariously absent for his scheduled Film Socialisme appearance, you can be sure that if he does attend Cannes 2014, the press conference for Goodbye to Language will be assuredly great: Godard will smoke his cigarettes, answer questions with brutal honesty, and act as if none of this matters at all. If nothing else, expect his latest film to be an interesting commentary on rhetoric and the mode of 3D-filmmaking.
Follow Jake Howell on Twitter: @Jake_Howell
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