Rent Film Socialisme (2010)

Film Socialisme review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

The latest movie from prolific French auteur Jean Luc Goddard Film Socialsme is a bizarre non narrative film captured on a European cruise with a variety of men and women from across the continent.

This is not a light weight film, even by Godardian standards, this is a movie that requires you to do a lot of work; but even with your best efforts Film Socialsme is almost completely incomprehensible.

Hardcore fans of Godard are likely to follow the lead of many of the critics who first viewed the film at last years Cannes Film Festival, it has been praised for it’s inert message and directorial presence, for us mere mortals however you are more likely to find the movie a vile insult to all that Godard and the French New Wave stood for.

The film consists of various fragmented scenes on a cruise ship traveling the Mediterranean, and also shots which travel through human history, which for the film's purposes involve Egypt, Greece, Palestine, Odessa (notably its famous steps), Naples, Barcelona, Tunisia and other ancient ports. There’s also a fair amount of topical images and some random but nonetheless still cute, kittens. This does not take into account the barrage of seemingly unconnected words Godard described as "Navaho English" which one can only assume are there to invoke particular emotions and images, why this could not be achieved through the traditional cinematic lanes of narrative I will never know.

There is really very little to hang acclaim on for this movie, and leaves most audience members with somewhat of a pounding headache. There is an interesting four minute fast forward version of the movie posted on the internet by Godard himself however, which is vastly more impressive and interesting.