Entertainment / Movies

Jean-Luc Godard doesn’t turn up to explain latest film at Cannes, not that he could

French director Jean-Luc Godard didn't attend the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of his latest, Film Socialisme, a typical Godardian cacaphony

Director Jean-Luc Godard, seen here at the 2004 Cannes film festival. The Swiss director cancelled his appearance on May 17 at the 2010 festival just moments before he was to arrive to talk about his latest film.





Jean-Luc Godard sends his regrets.

Actually, that's not quite right. The grand old lion of the French New Wave was acting Monday more in tune with the title of an Edith Piaf song: "Non, je ne regrette rien."

Godard, or more likely one of his aides, telephoned the Cannes Film Festival to say he would not be attending his scheduled 1:45 p.m. press conference to discuss his new work Film Socialisme.

"He is not coming. He gave no reason," the unflappable festival press chief Christine Aimé told film critics mobbed outside the media conference room of the Palais des Festivals. They had assembled long in advance of the planned event to see Godard's first Cannes appearance since 2004.

Later in the day, Godard did give a reason, sort of, to Liberation, his favourite French revolutionary newspaper. He was as famously obscure as ever.

"Due to problems the Greeks would be familiar with, I unfortunately cannot be at your disposal in Cannes," Godard said, in a quote translated by the online film journal indieWIRE.

"I'd walk to the ends of the Earth for the festival. But alas, I will not be taking a single step further."

He also has a few things to say in a mock interview included in the press notes , in which he replies to questions posed by a made-up journalist he calls "Renaud Deflins." As a sample, Godard believes that "cinema is not necessarily to be found in films."

Godard turns 80 this December and perhaps has earned the right to act capriciously. He certainly is as contrary and as provocative as ever, going by Film Socialisme, which had its world premiere Monday in the Debussy Theatre, as part of the festival's cutting-edge Un Certain Regard program.

Described as "a symphony in three movements" (although it's more of a cacophony), the film exhibits many of Godard's signature tropes: the indifference to narrative, shock cuts between images and the liberal use of text on the screen (he was tweeting long before there was Twitter). The only thing particularly new about the film is that it's Godard’s first to be shot entirely in high-definition video.

Godard is credited as the sole director, however, there is some suggestion that he might have shared helming duties with as many as six younger directors, all of whom have worked with him before. Perhaps this is what he means by "film socialism," but in any event, there's a unity of vision on display that can only be described as Godardian.

The first part of the 102-minute Film Socialisme takes place on a Mediterranean cruise, and it's not unlike what you'd expect of a video by a curious tourist, walking around the ship. The second part is on dry land, and concerns the discussions between a sister and her younger brother with their affluent parents, on the grand themes of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity." The third and final part, to quote the press notes, tours "six sites of true or false myths: Egypt, Palestine, Odessa, Hellas, Naples and Barcelona," resulting in a barrage of images.


His constant textual notations are especially vivid this time. There seems less angry fist-waving and more resigned shrugging in Godard's commentary, much of which serves as sort of haiku poetry in English subtitles for the French dialogue of characters in the film. Here's what it says over images of the young girl in part two: "To be 20 / To be right / Government's wrong."

Godard slips in what seems like his personal philosophy as he reaches the December of his years: "There was joy / Up to you." Perhaps he agrees with The Beatles, who sang that, "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

But I think he's more connected with Dylan, whom he influenced (and vice-versa), and whose song "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," kept playing in my head as I watched Film Socialisme.

Especially Dylan's pungent lyric line, "Say okay, I've had enough, what else can you show me?"

You feel that way at times with Godard. As amusing a contrarian as he is, does he do anything else except mess with your mind?

His new film Biutiful, which had its world premiere Tuesday, remains locked on the troubled affairs of a Barcelona hustler named Uxbal (Javier Bardem), who has a world of hurt upon his scruffy shoulders.

He's separated from his wife Maramba (Maricel Alvarez) and struggling with the shared-custody duties of raising their two young children. His dead father's final resting spot requires attending to. He's in charge of arranging off-the-books employment for illegal Chinese and Senegalese immigrants. And he's just been given a medical diagnosis that will seriously change his life.

The film is a barrage of harsh realities. Life isn't "biutiful" for Uxbal and his family, to use his daughter's misspelling of "beautiful" that becomes the title. What joy they find lasts only until the next bad news arrives.

Is it Palme worthy? Perhaps not, but Bardem delivers a performance of resigned fury in the central role, one that might be recognized when prizes are handed out on the weekend.

Here goes, using the requisite 15 syllables: "Yakuza gangs kick, punch, shoot each other / No story / Most die."

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