Die Verachtung (1963)
44KDie Verachtung: Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Giorgia Moll. Screenwriter Paul Javal’s marriage to his wife Camille disintegrates during movie production as she spends time with the producer. Layered conflicts between art and business ensue.
“Fritz Lang, playing himself, is set to direct a more commercial adaptation of Homeru0026#39;s u0026quot;Odysseyu0026quot;. Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance), the producer, despises art films and hires screenwriter Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli) to help Lang commercialize the movie. Javal u0026#39;offersu0026#39; his young wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot, sexier than ever, in one of her few serious roles), to Prokosch, thinking heu0026#39;ll get a better payment. But he didnu0026#39;t know that would sparkle Camilleu0026#39;s contempt and ruin their marriage.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Le Méprisu0026quot; aka u0026quot;Contemptu0026quot; is Godardu0026#39;s existentialist, provocative essay of the relationships between artistic and commercial cinema, man and woman/husband and wife (he was married to his then-muse Anna Karina, with whom he made some of his best films; after their divorce in 1967, he married Anne Wiazemsky, with whom he made u0026quot;La Chinoiseu0026quot;, u0026quot;Week Endu0026quot; and others). Gorgeously photographed by Raoul Coutard and scored by the master Georges Delerue, and with some u0026quot;influencesu0026quot; of Antonioniu0026#39;s trilogy (Lu0026#39;Avventura, La Notte and Lu0026#39;Eclisse), u0026quot;Le Méprisu0026quot; is not my favourite Godard, but itu0026#39;s certainly a vigorous film. 9/10.”
