Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard (126 page)

6
.
G par G
, vol. 2,
1984–1998
, edited by Alain Bergala (Paris: Cahiers du cinéma, 1998), p. 298.
Limelight
no. 34, January, 1995.

7
.
Cinéma 65
, March 1965.

8
. The French word for “master of ceremonies” is “bonimenteur.”

9
.
Le Monde
, September 20, 1962.

10
. Ibid.

11
.
Cinématographie française
, February 17, 1962.

12
.
Sight and Sound
32 , no. 1, Winter 1962–63.

13
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 227.

14
.
Le Monde
, September 20, 1962.

15
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 228.

16
. Schiffman, in
Le Nouvel Observateur
, May 6, 1965.

17
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, December 3, 1964.

18
.
Libération
, January 22, 2005.

19
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 221.

20
. This image comes after the credits, which are superimposed over backlighted silhouette close-ups, in profile and facing the camera, of Anna Karina.

21
.
Cinéma 65
, March 1965.

22
. Ibid.

23
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 227.

24
.
France-Observateur
, October 19, 1961.

25
. Author’s translation of the Baudelaire translation, which Godard used in the film.

26
.
Tribune de Genève
, April 26, 1962.

27
. Gilles Deleuze, in his two books,
L’Image-Mouvement
and
L’Image-Temps
, uses the same paradigm of space and time. But Deleuze’s books are only loosely historical; he does in general suggest the switch in paradigm to coincide with the New Wave and does write more about Godard under the second than the first rubric, but he does not see a moment of enlightenment and revolution; we do.

28
. Files of Jean-Pierre Laubscher, undated interview by Patrick Thévénon,
France-Soir
.

29
.
La Cinématographie française
, September 8, 1962.

30
.
France-Observateur
, September 6, 1962.

31
.
Candide
, September 12, 1962, in
L’Avant-Scène Cinéma
, no. 19, October 15, 1962.

32
.
Le Figaro littéraire
, September 22, 1962.

33
.
Les Lettres françaises
, September 13, 1962.

34
.
Télérama
, September 30, 1962.

35
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, October 1962.

36
.
Combat
, September 24, 1962.

37
.
Le Film français
, February 21, 1964.

38
. Jean Clay, “Le Paradoxe de Jean-Luc Godard,”
Réalités
, September 1963.

39
. Beauregard,
Beauregard
, p. 141.

40
. Ibid.

41
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, pp. 228–29.

42
. Alain Bergala,
Godard au travail
(Paris:
Cahiers du cinéma
, 2006), p. 108.

43
. Godard,
Introduction à une véritable histoire du cinéma
, p. 67.

44
. Ibid., p. 69.

45
.
New York
, September 1964; published in
Objectif
65 (Quebec, Canada), August–September 1965; in
Bande à Part
, ed. Yellow Now, p. 136.

46
. He played the male lead in Agnès Varda’s
Cléo de 5 à 7
.

47
. Antoine Bourseiller, interview by author, November 16, 2001.

48
. Ibid.

49
. Anna Karina, interview by author, June 18, 2001.

50
. Coutard, interview by author, April 27, 2001.

51
.
Sight and Sounds
, vol. 32, no. 1 (Winter 1962–1963).

52
. The company’s investment was a prepurchase of distribution rights.

53
. They called him “Gaspard-Zero” (
huit
means “eight”).

54
. Coutard, interview by author, April 27, 2001.

55
. Pierre Braunberger, letter to François Truffaut (undated, March 1968); Truffaut archives, Bifi;
Correspondence
, 1945–1984, p. 387.

56
. Hélène Frappat,
Jacques Rivette, secret compris
(Paris: Cahiers du Cinéma, 2001), p. 129.

57
.
Journal de Genève
, May 12–13, 1962.

58
.
Télérama
, clipping from Bibliothèque André Malraux, Paris.

59
.
Sight and Sound
, vol. 32, no. 1 (Winter 1962–1963).

60
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, July 1963, in
La Politique des auteurs
(Paris: Champ Libre, 1972), p. 98.

61
. Jean Gruault,
Ce que dit l’autre
(Paris: Julliard, 1992), pp. 225–26.

62
. Published in
L’Avant-Scène cinéma
in 1976.

63
.
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 238.

64
. José Luis Guarner,
Rossellini
(New York: Praeger, 1970), p. 104.

65
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 230 .

66
. In a later interview, Godard oddly misattributed the story to H. P. Lovecraft: “I took up the theme of a book by Lovecraft,
I Am a Legend
. One day, upon waking, a man notices that the world has changed and that he is the only one to have remained a man. Thus, he becomes a legend.”
Le Monde
, May 6, 1965.

67
. The details on the page, however, are from the edition of November 17.

68
. Rossellini’s episode is called
Illibatezza
; Pasolini’s episode,
La Ricotta
, stars Orson Welles as a fictional director of the Passion. Gregoretti’s episode is called
Il pollo ruspante
.

69
. Bitsch, interview by author, September 19, 2001.

70
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962;
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 230.

71
.
Réalités
, September 1963.

72
.
L’Avant-Scène Cinéma
, July–September 1976, p. 7.

73
. Bitsch, interview by author, September 19, 2001.

74
.
Combat
, June 5, 1963, in
L’Avant-scéne cinéma
, July–September, 1976.

75
.
Réalités
, September 1964.

76
. Collet,
Jean-Luc Godard
, p. 107.

77
. The other films were made by Claude Chabrol, Ugo Gregoretti, Hiromichi Horikawa, and Roman Polanski.

78
. Tag Gallagher,
The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
(New York: Da Capo, 1998), pp. 557–58.

Chapter Seven:
Contempt

1
.
Lire
, May 1997.

2
. Catherine Rihoit,
Brigitte Bardot, un mythe français
(Paris: Oliver-Orban, 1966), p. 165.

3
. Brigitte Bardot,
Initiales B.B
. (Paris: Grasset, 1996), pp. 308–9.

4
. Ibid.

5
. The name Javal is an unusual choice, being the name of one of the leading Jewish families in Paris in the nineteenth century (Esther Benbassa,
Histoire des Juifs de France
(Paris: Seuil, 2000), p. 164); in Moravia’s book, the character was named Riccardo Molteni. The name Moravia is a pseudonym; the author’s family name was Pincherle, and he was in fact Jewish.

6
. Collet,
Jean-Luc Godard
, p. 105.

7
.
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 242; BiFi archive, SCEN, 1732.

8
. Collet,
Jean-Luc Godard
, p. 100.

9
. This story, perpetuated by Lang himself, is apocryphal; Lang’s departure seems to have taken a little longer to organize. (Patrick McGilligan,
Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast
(London: Faber and Faber, 1997), p. 180.

10
. Raoul Coutard,
Filmkritik
, July 1983, p. 333.

11
. Tolmatchoff, interview by author, March 20, 2002.

12
. Laubscher, interview by author, February 21, 2003.

13
. Bitsch, interview by author, September 19, 2001.

14
. “Pour le Plaisir,” for French television, 1965.

15
. Karina, interview by author, June 18, 2001.

16
. Bardot,
Initiales B.B
., p. 327.

17
. Tolmatchoff, interview by author, March 20, 2002.

18
. Schiffman, videotaped interview by Bernard Cohn, September 27, 1999.

19
. Beauregard,
Beauregard
, p. 169.

20
. BiFi archive,
Le Mépris
, SCEN, 1732.

21
.
Réalités
, September 1963.

22
. Ibid.

23
. The other two minutes were filmed later—see below.

24
. Karina, interview by author, June 18, 2001.

25
.
Libération
, October 14, 1981.

26
.
Lui
, July 1965.

27
. Michel Vianey, “En Attendant Homère,”
L’Express
, May 30, 1963.

28
. Schiffman, videotaped interview by Bernard Cohn, September 27, 1999.

29
. Vianey, “En Attendant Homère,”
L’Express
, May 30, 1963.

30
.
Le Figaro littéraire
, December 26, 1963.

31
. Vianey, “En Attendant Homère,”
L’Express
, May 30, 1963.

32
. Schiffman, videotaped interview by Bernard Cohn, September 27, 1999.

33
. Truffaut,
Correspondence
, letter to Godard, 1973.

34
. Collet,
Jean-Luc Godard
, pp. 97–98.

35
. Ibid.

36
.
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 16.

37
. Godard,
Introduction à une véritable histoire du cinéma
, p. 67.

38
. Michel Vianey, interview by author, June 16, 2000.

39
. Agnès Guillemot,
Jean-Luc Godard
(Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1979), p. 73.

40
.
Les Lettres françaises
, December 25, 1963.

41
. The book was titled
Entrez sans frapper
(Enter Without Knocking); Godard placed it so that the title faced the camera; before the cameras rolled, Piccoli turned the book so that its title was upside down, to spare Bardot the vulgarity. “Godard was furious, but after the rushes, he came to tell me that I was right.” Robert Chazal,
Michel Piccoli le provocateur
(Paris: France-Empire, 1989), p. 63.

42
.
Le Film français
, August 23, 1963.

43
.
Le Monde
, February 15, 1966.

44
. Godard did in fact film an added scene of Prokosch watching a nude Camille getting dressed, but it did not make the final cut. (Michel Marie,
Le Mépris
[Paris: Nathan, 1990], p. 20.)

45
.
Les Lettres françaises
, December 25, 1963.

46
.
Le Figaro littéraire
, December 26, 1963.

47
.
Cinéma 65
, March 1965.

48
. Examples include such avowedly Godard-ophobic critics as Samuel Lachize,
L’Humanité;
Robert Benayoun,
France-Observateur;
Judith Crist,
New York Herald Tribune;
and Frances Herridge,
New York Post
.

49
. Godard mentioned this, in print and on television. See
Les Lettres françaises
, December 25, 1963, and Godard interview by François Chalais, in the Criterion DVD set of
Contempt
.

50
.
L’Express
, in an unsigned piece, declared this first version of
Contempt
to be “an attempt at synthesis between the young cinema and the elements theoretically sure of success.”
L’Express
, September 5, 1963.

51
.
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 16.

52
.
Sight and Sound
, September 1996.

53
. Godard, interview by author, June 9, 2001.

54
.
Films and Filming
, September 1961.

55
. Jean-Luc Godard, interview by François Chalais, on the
Contempt
DVD.

56
.
G par G
, vol. 1, p. 222;
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1962.

57
. David Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson,
The Classical Hollywood Cinema
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1985).

58
. In the long bedroom scene, Paul walks around the apartment in his Dean Martin hat and a white toga, and Camille sits in the tub reading aloud from an interview with Fritz Lang about Greek tragedy.