Review of Contempt (1963) by Keyin B — 09 Nov 2003

It was certainly different than the Godard's film I became familiar with, but never the less, it was great. Again it seems Godard loves to play with self awareness, the colors are almost nightmarishly vivid (probably alluding to the seemingless assumed beauty of the protagonist's life, but deep down isn't very stable), the actual story (a film about a film), and small tidbits here and there (the narration of the roles, the sound pausing in the theatre, the tint changes of the opening bed scene). But all in all it was a completely unexpected approach to a "mainstream film". As his usual style he plays up on casual moments that don't help the story in the action department, but rather the emotional. Camille is probably one of the most intriguing characters that graced the screen under Godard's earlier directing. Paul's suffering is powerful and the title is more than appropriate for the range of feelings the characters go through.

Although sometimes the film dragged to showcase it's breathtaking beauty, and it's pretension at times became a bit overbearing it was a nice departure from the film's I'm used to by him.