Misstropolis

Sunday, March 11, 2007

A Swirl of Foam, Godard on Construction and Chaos

by Robin Hauck

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In the early 1960s Jean-Luc Godard was probably the most talked-about director in the world. The man who said “All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl,” made movies controversial enough to inspire famous debates (with Pauline Kael and others), university lectures, and political action (Le Petit Soldat (1960) was banned in France).

Godard’s work, both in and out of the context of the French New Wave, impacted the very direction of cinema. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, Wong Kar-Wai, Wes Anderson and Steven Soderbergh display clear Godard influences. Quentin Tarentino dedicated Reservoir Dogs to Godard and named his company A Band Apart after his 1964 film Bande à part.

From March 15 - 25 the Museum of Fine Arts’ Film Program is showing Godard’s 1967 film Two or Three Things I Know about Her (2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle) as part of a series of Classic French Cinema.  More a conversation with the audience than a narrative, more an essay than a feature film, Two or Three Things I Know about Her observes and questions the lives of Juliette Janson, a housewife from a suburb of Paris, Marina Vlady the actress who plays her, and (and most of all) Paris itself.

Godard narrates the film in a conspiratorial whisper and asks question after question, each more philosophical than the last. As in many of Godard’s films, sound plays an integral part in the unfamiliar viewer experience. There is a haunting phrase from a Beethoven string quartet, grinding construction noises from the cranes that loom over Paris, statements made by the actors directly to the camera, Godard’s whisperings, and, loudest of all, silence.

Go and decide Godard’s major themes for yourself, but for me references to prostitution, consumerism, alienation, urban sprawl and war make Two or Three Things I Know About Her as relevant today as it was forty years ago.

Godard has a virtual canon of celebrated moments from his body of work. Two or Three Things has one of the most iconic, a close-up of foam swirling in a cup of espresso. Geoffrey Nowell-Smith of the British Film Institute writes, “Seen in 35mm, Two or Three Things I Know about Her not only dazzles philosophically, it is also visually entrancing: the swirl of brown foam in the cup of espresso encapsulates chaos better than any film image I know.”

This is a rare opportunity to see this film on the big screen, and, to make it even more enticing, the MFA is screening a beautiful new print. Seeing Two or Three Things restored to “its diamond bright colors of late 60’s haute kitsch” is definitely a don’t miss event.

Visit the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Film Program to learn more and order tickets. Museum of Fine Arts Boston Film Program online

Additional Reading on Godard:
Film Forum: Film Forum
BFI: British Film Institutue (BFI)
Senses of Cinema: Senses of Cinema

Photos: Rialto Pictures