From the start of Pierrot le fou, we see Godard referencing himself, not only with prior works, but also in works he had yet to make. Per Morrey, "ultimately, the film threatens to create a closed circuit of self-referentiality," with the suggestion that the film is a postmodernist one, even before the term was invented. Further, Ferdinand could be described in the terms of Frederic Jameson's"compensatory decorative exhilaration," as he has lost the ability to distinguish truth from fiction, or important issues from trivial ones - becoming most clear at the end of the film, but constant throughout. The self-referentiality, the characterization of Ferdinand (as well as, to some extent, Marianne), and the fourth wall break all fit into the definition of postmodernism, and it's interesting to see such an early example. On an unrelated note, it's also one of my very favorite Godard films.
Here are just a few examples of Godard referencing his earlier works: + choice of stars - Jean Paul Belmondo + Anna Karina - Une femme est une femme + playful, romantic domestic scene in Marianne's apartment - À bout de souffle + repeated car theft - À bout de souffle + musical sequences - Une femme est une femme + repeated use of Alfa Romeo - Le Mépris + coastal scenery, especially at the end of the film - Le Mépris + use of "pickups" - Vivre sa vie + escape under the cover of night in an American car - Alphaville
And a few examples of Godard referencing content that will appear in his later works: + advertising copy + product placement - 2 ou 3 choses que je said d'elle + Vietnam and Mao references - La Chinoise + a couple wandering through the countryside after stealing and wrecking cars - Week-end + elaborately staged wrecked cars - Week-end and One plus one
Godard's response to the question posed in Notre Musique "Can the little digital camera save cinema?" is one of silence. While the interpretation to his response (or lack thereof) is open to anyone who wants to debate it, I thought of this scene when I came across this interview of JLG from 1960.
I find some correlation with youth and technology, especially in this context - Godard of 1960 is looking for young people to bring new blood and passion to cinema and to change it - not necessarily for better or for worse, but to make sure that it's shaken up. Change leads to inspiration, and reinvigorates everyone involved.
In doing research for my paper on how Godard uses cars in his films of the 1960s, I came across a website devoted to cataloging the different makes + models of cars in films, so I thought I'd share the links for the pages for Pierrot le fou and Week-end:
People can comment on each photo, and I found a pretty interesting comment for this photo:
According to Esquire (July 1969) page 42, the Alfa Romeo on fire is Jean-Luc Godard's own car.
That particular car - a 1962 Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint - was not cheap, nor especially common. Only around 7,000 were produced from 1962-1966, and they cost $5400 - or around $40,000 in today's dollars. If Godard really did throw his own car onto a heap and set it in fire, it gives some indication of how serious he was in the message he's trying to communicate.
The lone source for this comment is from that issue of Esquire, which I am now in search of - it seems to be a pretty neat issue with not only the Godard issue, but McLuhan also featured, as well as lots of moon stuff.
Godard has said that a theme returns to over and over again is prostitution, and it's interesting to me how he characterizes prostitutes across his films. What strikes me, especially in looking back through JLG's films we've seen this semester, is not only that he keeps returning to prostitution (Vivre sa vie in 1962, 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle in 1966, and Sauve qui peut in 1980), but that he characterizes the central characters in similar ways, even if the films they're featured in are quite different. Nana, Juliette, and Isabelle are all portrayed inhabiting their daily lives in a matter-of-fact, stoic manner. Their faces often do not betray any emotion, and often hold the viewer at a distance.
This cinematic treatment of prostitutes brings to mind Chantal Akerman, who was heavily influenced by Godard, and specifically her 1975 film Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Clocking in at three and half hours, Akerman's film is a quiet, incredibly slow-paced character study of a widow who supports herself and her son by prostituting herself while her son is at school. Jeanne is a creature of habit, and the camera documents the minutiae of her daily life. Jeanne retains the same emotional stoicism that is exhibited by Godard's characters - at least until the end of the film, where her stoicism breaks down.
I find the resemblence in facial expression + attitude most striking in these shots of Nana and Jeanne:
and just in case the video doesn't load, here is the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En1P8CWmL-A
I had no idea that Godard + Gorin did a commercial in order to finance themselves as film-makers, and I find that fascinating. Considering much of the anti-capitalist content + themes they were producing at that time under the Dziga Vertov group, it seems both hypocritical + subversive at the same time - hypocritical in directly financially benefiting from the capitalist marketers promoting consumption, subversive in using the funds to create the material they found important. One source below mentions how Godard + Gorin charged the advertising agency a full week of shooting wages, and shot the ad in half a day.
In reading some blogs + my own pigeon French, what is interesting in the commercial is not only the casting of Juliet Berto (whom you'll recognize from 2 ou 3 choses, Weekend + La chinoise), but what the couple is actually arguing about - the radio broadcast is blaring news about Palestine, the girl doesn't want to hear about it, the guy thinks it's important to hear. The domestic scene is obviously one of Godard's favorites, and it's interesting how Godard can incorporate politics and reference both his past interests as well as his current ones.
I found some other thoughts around this commercial as well for further reading if anyone is interested: http://inpursuitofsilence.com/2010/04/15/godard-for-schick-an-irresistible-sonic-curio/ http://www.filmbrain.com/filmbrain/2009/03/histoires-daftershave.html http://marspoetica.net/2010/02/07/jean-luc-godards-tongue-in-cheek-schick-commercial/
