Weekend (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Jean-Luc Godard's film Week End is loaded with his obsessions with outrageous characters, political and philosophical ideas, and so on, and many viewers have claimed this to be a full on political film. From what I could gather after seeing a poor yet manageable copy of this film, I saw that this is possibly his best effort in terms of abrasive, surreal though bravura directing. He leaves the camera on his characters, with their flaws almost shining off them (which serves as an asset in some scenes), and yet most of the time it feels like he's directing a comedy of these events- comedy of errors.Consider the scene where the woman has the monologue in her panties and bra, how she leads up such telling, informatory details to a payoff that gives as a reminder of the Walken scene in Pulp Fiction (though he is the better actor). Or in other times the comedy is in the sense of a Godard satire of his past work - the traffic set piece(s) gets the viewer to feel in the mood of the car he so pacingly follows, even as it becomes relentlessly obnoxious and tense, and acts like every other driver on the streets of the cities of America.However that, and a moment of argument over a corpse in the passenger seat (he cuts to the faces of the onlookers who happen to find such dialogue rather amusing), show by the time Godard reached this stage in his career he wasn't taking himself and his work 100 % seriously, though that's not to say that the element of the woman's path to guerilla-hood isn't a serious topic. For his art film die-hards he also uses a peculiar, non-linear style in story-telling- an added advantage for a week-end timepiece.I'm reminded of Fellini (as I was while watching another Godard film of recent, Contempt) in one aspect of the picture, in terms of how he portrays his women- he can love them, ignore them, belittle them, or even glorify them in the most drastic of measures, but he can't control them. One also wonders if this is how he just makes it for his films, or if in real life the women of his life were really this (how do I put it) out-there.The script occasionally veers off on it's tale of a couple going on a disastrous week-end out for stretches of poetry, discussion, things that don't have much to do with the story, and yet there's a catching, eccentric, melodic aura to these scenes and passages. These kinds of scenes make it perfectly clear that Godard has created an original work here, one that may put off audience members who "don't get it" or expect total sense in the outcomes. Certainly a movie made for it's time, country of origin, and target group.To sum up my review let me put it this way - this is the kind of picture that would've heavily influenced The Doors.

Godard, just a few years after his remarkable Alphaville, produced 1967's Weekend, which may be a political film, and is certainly surreal. It opens with a vicious young couple who, we quickly find, would like not only their parents dead (for the money and estate) but each other as well. Below, a fight breaks out in the apartment house's lot over a parking space. A man, outraged by losing a space, attacks the first driver, chased by a young woman throwing what look like academic or legal papers at the main assailant. (Godard was never subtle). The first driver falls, possibly dead, and the young woman gets into the assailant's car and departs. After a highly charged, but oddly sexless, discussion about sex, the not- quite-protagonist couple rushes off to the French countryside in a sports car, chased by gunshots from a neighbor. The world Godard sees is clearly disturbed! Then begins one of the longest tracking shots in cinema, a twenty minute traffic jam littered with overturned vehicles, bodies, and a variety of characters who use the spare time to play games, argue with the couple as they sneak by in the wrong lane, or picnic. That's recognizable part of Godard's world in Weekend. It's followed by a surreal journey into ghastly automobile accidents, terrorism, ghosts with bizarre commentaries, barbarism, and, finally cannibalism -- the eating attended by political discussions. There's a message of course, that the capitalist world is nothing but endless competition ending in pointless death and massive damage to property and to nature itself. But does Godard mean that? Or, as in Alphaville, is he practicing a form of cinematic play? This writer never much believed Godard's politics were anything but a front for playing with the big toy called cinema. As is the case with boutique radicals, credentials are deployed to allay criticism for hypocrisy or -- heaven help us -- having fun. Godard clearly had a blast making this one. See for yourself.

"Weekend" (1967) is directed by Jean Luc Godard (Breathless, Pierrot le fou, Le Mepris). This black comedy follows a bourgeois married couple, who both have secret lovers, and who are both planning the others' murder. They set off for her parents' home in the country to secure her inheritance from her dying father. On the way through the picturesque countryside they witness violent car accidents, as well as an assortment of characters, some from literature and history, and others representing the various classes in society. The film is broken up with intertitles that comment on the action as well as on the process of film viewing. Discussions from characters range from notions on identity to class struggle. The two protagonists seem intent on their sole and petty goal of the inheritance despite the fact that most everyone else around them are focused on more grave notions regarding philosophy and the binding relationships between humanity and the disparities between people and their rights and freedoms. This incongruous relationship between the two leads, and those around them, is enhanced by the jarring musical score which often sounds like the dramatic music from a film noire gangster film.The film also includes some special features, including a commentary by critic David Sterritt, an interview with cinematographer Raoul Coutard, and a Mike Riggis interview about his views on the film.

Perhaps I was having an "off day," but the very fact that I had to have this film explained to me tells me that something's amiss! I didn't get it, and if it's about what everybody says it's about, then Black Mirror does it better! In retrospect, I can say that I'm pleased I watched it, just to be able to offer an honest insight... but it's not my cup of tea!

Weekend (J.-L. Godard), F 1967When Corinne and Roland hit the road in their flashy Facel Vega to kill Corinne's parents (secretly planning to kill the other later) they run among others into an endless traffic jam and a guerilla to witness the end of civilization. Godard's last traditional movie until 1980 is a Cassandra against uninhibited materialism and future Pol Pots.

I first saw this aged 17 late night on TV, sound turned down so my parents wouldn't come down and send me to bed. Unfortunately, TV doesn't show films like this any more (not that there are any others) so today's teenagers will mostly miss the opportunity to feel shocked and affronted in the manner of a middle aged vicar. What's difficult is that it's not just viscerally unpleasant but frequently dull and constantly carries an aura of threat that seems to be directed at you the viewer, something along the lines of 'When the revolution comes, you'll be first up against the wall, you bourgeois pig.' - a still pertinent message, though not one we get to hear so much these days. Having decided he doesn't care what you think (an early onscreen text reads 'A film found on a scrapheap'), Godard can do anything he wants and does, resulting in one of the most visually inventive films of all time. There are musical sequences, figures from history and literature, long political disquisitions, virtuoso tracking shots, gunfights, miracles, readings from children's books, random onscreen texts and, as a defining motif, car crashes. After you get past the essentially superstitious feeling that the film is actually threatening to your life, there's really so very much to enjoy. Give yourself a very special treat.

One of the most essential, challenging, brave and provocative films ever made from the legend French director. This can be difficult to watch, confusing, bizarre, but actually a very intelligent, engaging film about consumerism, politics, society and still very relevant ever since it was made decades ago now.

I sent it back and got a refund as it was scratched to pieces. The film I've seen before on the Criterion blu, which is amazing. One of Godard's best. I can't comment on this dvd,