Jean-Luc Godard's cynical look at the art of filmmaking follows a screenwriter in his attempts to recount Homer's THE ODYSSEY. Full of insights into the compromises required of filmmakers, as well as autobiographical allusions, especially concerning the failed union of Godard and actress Anna Karina, 1964's CONTEMPT is one of the most widely recognized films about the filmmaking process. It is also considered the film that made Godard realize that lavish productions were not for him, sending him back into a lower-budget world where he could maintain complete control over his films. Shot in glorious CinemaScope by Raoul Coutard, CONTEMPT is a poignant artistic commentary and a dramatic exposé of a dying marriage.
Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli) is struggling with Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance), the manipulative American producer financing his big-budget venture, and is frustrated by Fritz Lang (playing himself), the film's egotistical director. Concomitantly, his marriage to his gorgeous wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) founders, and the emotional distance between them weighs heavily upon him.
In this cynical look at the art of filmmaking, a director attempts to retell Homer's THE ODYSSEY. He wrangles with his own creative process and the coarse producer's ridiculous demands.
U.S. theatrical release: December 18, 1964.
The film was re-released theatrically in several US cities on June 27, 1997.
Filmed on location in Capri and Rome, Italy.
Jean-Luc Godard's first attempt at big-budget filmmaking sparked major conflicts with his producers, triggering the now legendary nude scene that challenges viewers by boldly removing all sexuality from the situation.
CONTEMPT was the first time Godard worked with an actress as famous as Brigitte Bardot.
DVD Features:
Region 1
2-Disc Set
Disc One:
Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Stereo 2.0 - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. Robert Stam - Film Scholar
Disc Two:
Additional Release Material:
Featurettes - 1. CONTEMPT: BARDOT ET GODARD (8 Mins)
2. PAPARAZZI (22 Mins)
3. THE DINOSAUR AND THE BABY featuring Jean-Luc Godard and Fritz Lang (61 Mins)
Interviews - 1. Raoul Coutard - Director of Photography
Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
Text/Galleries:
Print Excerpt - 1. Interview - Jean-Luc Godard - Director (by Francois Chalais)
Featured
Fritz Lang: German director, METROPOLIS
Source Writer
Alberto Moravia: Italian novelist
Director of Photography
Raoul Coutard: French Director Of Photography/Director
Review 1:
"...[Bardot] seems very natural..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.31 09/05/1997
Review 2:
"Godard's masterpiece works on several levels: as a self-reflexive satire about filmmaking, as a study of relationship in its dying throes and as a reworking of a classical myth."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.69 02/01/2004
Review 3:
"Sardonically scripted, it was shot in luminous Mediterranean locales..."
Source: Total Film
p.115 02/01/2004
Review 4:
"[A] masterpiece, a poetic, deeply reflective reverie on the interplay between a disintegrating marriage and the problematic filming of THE ODYSSEY in Italy."
Source: Los Angeles Times
07/11/2008
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