Le Mépris (Contempt) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)

Brigitte Bardot − interesting character yet I feel like she didn’t live up to hype of the film. Yes, sure I can understand her part in the success of the film as Godard’s most commercially successful film (and ironically, her least commercially successful film) as a ‘plaything’ for men. But it just seemed like she wasn’t as, I dunno how to describe it, “in your face”, perhaps? She didn’t really have a dominating presence on screen. 

It’s funny because every time I see a Godard film, it’s like I’m becoming more and more used to his style and techniques, almost so much that I don’t notice them. For instance, his use of long takes and tracking shots (particularly in the house scene when Paul and Camille (Bardot) are walking around in towels arguing, filmed in almost real-time), the framing (how all the furniture in the house is set up so “nicely” for the mise-en-scene), as well as the references to books. I also really liked the use of colour (Brigitte’s yellow hair, red robe, blue ocean, etc). (I love ’60s colours.) At one point when Bardot is talking to, I think it was, Paul, the camera uses this slow tracking shot across, as the camera moves left to right. This shot, with its slow almost what some would call a ‘boring-ish’ quality, reminds me of the supermarket shot in Tout Va Bien!. That’s the classic Godard I know and love. 

Interesting how Jacques Aumont, in his article “The Fall of the Gods”, suggests that although Le Mépris and Federico Fellini’s 8½ are both films about films, in 8½ the “anxiety of creation seems in the end to shake off all material constraints”. Of course, these are two different films at heart, but they do have overarching similarities: the camerawork, use of voiceover narration, as well as the references to the nature of cinema itself within the film (as Aumont states, Godard is “the recognized master of the quotational genre”). Actually, when I was watching 8½, I was immediately reminded of Godard in the way they are both films about films − instantly I thought, “this is like Godard!” − it just struck me like that. And also, actually a closer look will also reveal many similarities. In Le Mépris, when Paul came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel it reminded me of Guido’s toga sequence in 8½ too. (And I found out the fabulous Marcello Mastroianni was also considered for the part of Paul in Le Mépris but was rejected by Godard). So I think there are definitely more similarities (or are they just pure coincidences?) than Aumont claims.

4/5