With influences ranging from Freud to Marx, De Sade and Eisenstein having walk-on roles and the Parisian weekend transformed into an allegorical bourgeois hell,Week-End is one of the defining films of the 20th Century. Born out of the nouvelle vague cinema (French New Wave), this is the terrible birth that is brought to light from J.L.Godard's obsession with prophesising the destruction and decline of the West. Even after taking into account his overt political messages, Weekend still exist as one of the most technically revolutionary pieces of cinema to emerge from his studios into a blinding glare of publicity and hostility.
Not content with depicting the destruction of western commercial values, Godard disrupts the visual narrative by interspersing film titles, book titles and music onto a background of patriotic red, white and blue colours. From a personal perspective, one of the most impressive sequences is an eight minute long tracking-shot of the Parisian highway which progresses from straightforward traffic jams to car-wrecks and the inevitable symbol of multinational Capitalism, a Shell oil truck. Essentially Week-End marks the 'Maoist period' of Godard's film-making career, during which he declared that 'the only way to be a revolutionary intellectual is to give up being an intellectual.'
Starring Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne, Week-End's fabular narrative is a weekend journey from Paris to Normandy which slowly becomes an apocalyptic struggle against the French peasant revolutionaries who continually intervene to prevent the couple meeting Darc's mother in order to find out whether they have successfully poisoned her father. This emblematic quest for the Capitalist Grail is hindered by a philosophising character from Dumas, two rebels (African and Algerian) masquerading as refuse collectors and Saint-Juste, before the couple are captured on their return to Paris by the Seine-et-Loise Liberation Front, a group of cannibalistic freedom fighters.
Godard's continued affinity with politics can be witnessed in his other Maoist films, Les Chinoise (1967), Le Gai Savoir and Tout Va Bien (1972). Despite accusations of pretension, he still remains one of the most provocative and influential film makers of his and future generations, whilst his immense cinematic output can be regarded as a Marxist biography of the previous century.
What was an initially ground-breaking piece of cinema has evolved into an essential European film. Heralded by Pauline Kael in the New Yorker as 'Godard's Vision of Hell, and it ranks with the visions of the greatest' and 'somewhere between Swift and Samuel Beckett, alternatively violent and tender, humorous and cruel' (Jan Dawson, Sight and Sound) Week-end is a film that must be seen to be believed and to miss this is to miss out on one of the spectacles of 20th Century cinema.
I've not seen all of Jean-Luc Godard's films, but of those I have seen this is my favorite. The narrative concerns a conventional, middle class, married couple who conspire to take a weekend trip to kill the wife's parents for money.
The car trip taken by the couple is comprised of a series of disastrous, improbable, and perplexing events. Art terrorists, thieves, rapists, and Marxist revolutionaries assail the couple at all turns. France is being overrun by weirdos! Bloody, flaming car (and plane!) crashes are everywhere. Violent demise is at every turn.
In the movie is a famous traffic jam scene that employed what was, up until the time of this movie's making, the longest dolly ever made. The scene is absurd, comical, and one of the delights of the movie. Likewise, Godard was becoming interested in socialist politics at this time in his career, in light of the Vietnam war and anti-colonial struggles that were happening globally, so a lot of "revolutionary" ideas are expressed by characters in the film. Unfortunately Godard most often has people simply read manifestos to the camera. Godard's political interests are thus conveyed in an awkward, cumbersome way. You do not have to agree with they're saying in order to enjoy the film.
Having said that, the movie is still one hell of a ride -no pun intended. The bourgeois couple at the heart of the story don't care about the flaming chaos around them. They just want their money. At one point the husband even sits idly by as a stranger rapes his wife.
As a journey narrative of two people, WEEKEND (or is it WEEK END?)is reminiscent of Alejandro Jodorwosky's 1968 FANDO & LIS. (There was something in the water in the late 60s.) Like Fando & Lis, Weekend is mainly a series of segments or vignettes strung together over the course of two protagonists' quest. In Fando & Lis's case the couple's uest is for the fabled City of Tar; in Weekend's case it's for an ample inheritance.
The last 30 minutes are the best in the film, as well as the most graphic. Comparisons to Pasolini's SALO or even John Waters's PINK FLAMINGOS may come to mind. In short, the bourgeois couple are kidnapped by mod-ish looking radical militants who look as if they've all come from an MC5 concert. One disturbing scene shows the actors actually slaughtering a duck and a pig on camera. The ducks headless neck suirts blood as its body twitches and its wings flap. The pig struggles as its throat is slit in front of the camera. Of course, people kill pigs and fowl everyday -it's how a lot of folks are supplied with their favorite meals. What could possibly be wrong with showing it, Godard almost seems to ask?
But the radicals also, it turns out, like to literally eat the rich, too. One uncomfortable scene portrays a victim stripping naked, being killed, and then being prepared for a meal as a cook cracks two eggs over her lifeless body and then thrusts a fish into her vagina (not shown on camera). Finally, the bourgeois husband is killed and is served up with the pig meat. The wife, who seems to have accepted the militants' way of life at this point, dines on her husband's and the pig's flesh as the movie ends.
Not for everyone, but some sort of remarkable milestone in cinema. Chaotic, dangerous, transgressive, and never boring.
The version of WEEK END I saw was the PAL version, which featured a great transfer, nice lucid colors, and special features that included an interview with Godard cinematographer Raoul Coutard, who is actually quite humorous and likeable as he sheds light on the circumstances surrounding the making of the movie. ("Godard was in a bad mood most of the time he was making the film, hence all the car crashes," "Godard wanted to piss off the producer with this scene," etc., to paraphrase.)
Buy Weekend (The Criterion Collection) (1967) Now
Jean-Luc Godard's "Weekend" has reached its four decade milestone. It's a surrealistic cinematic trip into Godard's commentary on then-contemporary French society. It doesn't have a straightforward plot; one assumes Godard didn't mean to have one."Weekend" begins with a couple enjoying double entendres in a drive in the country. They find themselves in an endless traffic jam, surrounded by hippies, Marxists, and those living the primitive live. It's a commentary on consumerism--but it's also a commentary on communism as well. Individuals are sacrificed to the community-literally-and the upper-class wife chows down on her husband,while a young woman is garnished with eggs. Communism consumes itself. Godard saw European society degenerating; he was prophetic. He critiques capitalism and communism alike.
"Weekend" is an afternoon trip... for the mind.
Read Best Reviews of Weekend (The Criterion Collection) (1967) Here
Jean-Luc Godard is, quite possibly, the greatest director of all time. I know, that is a hefty title to heap on any individual, but every film I see by the master is better than the last and just further cements in my minds eye his staggering genius.`Weed End' is no exception.
Godard frequently used his artistic approach to elaborate on the political dilemmas facing his country at that given time, and the Parisian 60's were a ripe canvas for Godard's superior sense of cinematic vision. The life of the bourgeois (for an interesting read, check out the Wikipedia page for `bourgeoisie', which will enlighten you on the very culture with which Godard pointed his camera lens) is dissected with brash statements that firmly underscore a point of view towards the political situations they found themselves in, using vivid and ridiculously obscene imagery and dialog to drive home the absurdity of the moment.
One, two, three, four...
The film revolves around a young Parisian couple who is sifting in their own moral callousness, each individual party possessing disturbed ideals and ideas. The two embark on a dreaded weekend with the wife's parents, where they fantasize about the demise of her father so as to reap the benefits of his will. Along the way they are bombarded with events out of their control that only serve to further embellish their misplaced priorities.
When their car is engulfed in flames, the cries for the loss of a handbag place a bold exclamation-point at the end of this couples `description'.
The absurdity of the film engulfs itself, really piling one ridiculous moment on top of the other, but all in a way that thrives within the context of the film. Godard was never a mainstream director, but he also created art pieces that told a story, that elaborated on truths not willingly admitted by those around him. Godard understood that filmmaking was a gift, a gift to be used as a tool to instill something in others. In all of his works, he did that very thing. With exaggerated sequences that uses unending tracking shots to create a feeling of uneasiness in the viewer (the never-ending traffic jam is one of many), Godard splashed visual wizardry on the screen and imprinted his political satire on the minds of the audience. Some have noted that Godard was a distant or cold director, but I find that aspect of his work endearing, for it sharply places a sense of realism in his wildly imaginative take on reality. There is nothing within `Week End' that appears real. In fact, even the protagonists here question their reality. The sequences (which involve, among other things, murder and cannibalism) all wear the stain of the absurd and yet they feel remarkably `honest' thanks to the `cold' approach that Godard takes. By stepping away from the characters and the moments and delivering a nonchalant take, he inserts a frigid sense of reality that makes this pill a lot easier to swallow.
We buy it, every image and every spoken word.
Want Weekend (The Criterion Collection) (1967) Discount?
"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.
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