Eins plus eins (1968)

Eins plus eins: Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With Sean Lynch, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Keith Richards. While The Rolling Stones rehearse “Sympathy for the Devil” in the studio, Godard reflects on 1968 society, politics and culture through five different vignettes.

“This u0026quot;meetingu0026quot; of two of the finest artists of the 20th Century – Jean-Luc Godard and The Rolling Stones – is truly a missed opportunity. The footage of the band recording their landmark song (probably my favorite Stones track) is certainly fascinating, as we watch the initially slow musical accompaniment for the song taking shape and metamorphose into the energetic, percussion-heavy final version weu0026#39;re familiar with. Sadly, itu0026#39;s also quite apparent here that Brian Jones (who sits in his booth playing his acoustic guitar, rarely communicating with his bandmates except to ask for a cigarette and eventually disappearing altogether in the second half of the film) was slipping away fast.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately for us viewers, Godard (in full-blown u0026quot;political activistu0026quot; mode) unwisely intersperses the recording sessions with lots of boring stuff featuring militant black people spouting u0026quot;Black Poweru0026quot; philosophy in a junkyard, white political activists reading their u0026quot;sacredu0026quot; texts in a book shop while members of the general public are made to slap two of their comrades and give the Nazi salute and, most embarrassingly of all perhaps, Godardu0026#39;s current wife, Anne Wiazemsky (playing Eve Democracy!) is seen being followed by a camera crew in a field and asked the most obtuse u0026quot;topicalu0026quot; questions imaginable to which she merely answers in the affirmative or the negative! u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs if this wasnu0026#39;t enough, the film has undoubtedly the murkiest soundtrack Iu0026#39;ve ever had the misfortune to hear (so that I often had to rely on the forced Italian subtitles present on the VHS copy I was watching) and Iu0026#39;d bet that even Robert Altman would have objected to Godardu0026#39;s occasional overlapping on the soundtrack of the Stones recording, the Black Power spoutings, an anonymous narrator reading a (mercifully) hilarious pulp novel, etc. For some inexplicable reason then, the film ends on a beach where an unidentified film crew is filming a battle sequence!! u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGodardu0026#39;s original intention was to not include the song u0026quot;Sympathy For The Devilu0026quot; in its entirety and when producer Iain Quarrier overruled him, he jumped up on Londonu0026#39;s National Film Theater stage following a screening of the film and knocked him out! Godardu0026#39;s version, entitled ONE PLUS ONE, is also available on a double-feature R2 DVD including both cuts of the film but itu0026#39;s highly unlikely that Iu0026#39;ll be bothering with it any time soon…”