Le Mépris

068575 / 16 / FR / IT / 1963 / Godard, Jean-Luc / drama

Mépris, Le / Keskipäivän aave / Sen täytyi tapahtua. PC: Rome-Paris Films; Films Concordia; Compagnia Cinematografica Champion. P: Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti. D+SC: Jean-Luc Godard - based on the novel Il disprezzo by Alberto Moravia. DP: Raoul Coutard. M: Georges Delerue. CAST: Brigitte Bardot (Camille Javal), Michel Piccoli (Paul Javal), Jack Palance (Jeremy Prokosh), Fritz Lang (Fritz Lang), Giorgia Moll (Francesca Vanini). Franscope, Technicolor. Versions: 84’, 100’, 103’. Re-released in Finland in the restored version in 1997. Not re-examined: if it had been, it would have rated G. The screening I saw took 98’33”. Finnish / Swedish subtitles Pekka Lanerva / Johan Förnäs. DIST: Cinema Mondo. Viewed in Helsinki in the premiere screening in Kino Engel 2 on Friday, 26 December 1997. **** Brilliant colour restored to vintage Godard. Le Mépris was his rare outing with big producers, and he had savage fun with them in this metafilm. Godard and Warhol were the first postmodern film directors. Now this film does not look strange anymore. The music is sumptuous.