FAQ | Art & Merchandise | Film Sources | Special Events | Search | Home
|
Membership | Now
Playing | Coming Soon | Links
| Table of Contents FAQ | Art & Merchandise | Film Sources | Special Events | Search | Home |
 |
| Scene from CONTEMPT |
Stunning new 35mm color CinemaScope print!
Starring BRIGITTE BARDOT
with MICHEL PICCOLI JACK PALANCE FRITZ LANG
Godard's legendary film, conspicuously absent
from movie screens for nearly 30 years.
Says Martin Scorsese: "CONTEMPT is one of the key modern films-brilliant, romantic and genuinely tragic."
A Martin Scorsese Presentation
A Strand/Rialto Re-Release
Critical acclaim for the British Re-Release (Sept. 1996):
"GODARD'S RAVISHING MASTERPIECE. A meditation
on classicism and modernism; an exploration of the
phenomenon 'BB'; a parable about
prostitution, love and communication; and a study in
beauty. JUST GREAT."
- Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London)
"On all levels, it's compulsive viewing.
Godard elicits a mesmerizing performance from Bardot,
who imbues her sex kitten persona with romantic agony
and savage bitterness."
- Derek Malcolm, The Guardian
"THE GREATEST WORK OF ART PRODUCED IN POST-WAR
EUROPE."
- Colin McCabe, Sight and Sound
Adapted from Alberto Moravia's novel A GHOST AT NOON (IL DISPREZZO), CONTEMPT stars Bardot as a woman who gradually develops an overwhelming contempt for her husband (Piccoli), a screenwriter beset by doubts when he's hired to doctor the script for a new film version of THE ODYSSEY-and caught between the director (German master Fritz Lang playing himself) who wants to remain faithful to Homer and the vulgar American producer (Jack Palance) who's interested only in filling the screen with topless mermaids. CONTEMPT was partially backed by the late Joseph E. Levine, who, legend has it, was totally unaware that Godard's characterization of the crass American mogul was modelled on Levine himself. (Godard also had "contempt" for the film's Italian producer, Carlo Ponti, whose dubbing and tampering with the musical score rendered its Italian version meaningless.)
Conspicuously absent even from Godard retrospectives, CONTEMPT has been one of the most eagerly sought-after films-a "holy grail" on par with Buñuel's BELLE DE JOUR (which Scorsese also presented). For decades, the only existing prints of CONTEMPT were completely faded and battered. This dazzling new color and Cinemascope print-spotlighting the spectacular cinematography (shot on location in Rome and Capri) by Raoul Coutard-is being produced at Rank Film Laboratories in London.
A Rialto Pictures Release.
Related Links:
Selections From Amazon.com:
 Speaking About Godard by Kaja Silverman, Harun Farocki | (Not Shown) Jean-Luc Godard: Interviews by Jean-Luc Godard, David Sterritt (Editor) Godard on Godard: Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard by Jean Luc, Godard, Jean Luce Godard, Annette Michelson, Jean Narboni (Editor) |  The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible by David Sterritt |  Cahiers Du Cinema: The 1950's Neo-Realism, Hollywood, New Wave (Harvard Film Studies) by Jim Hillier (Editor) |
|
Membership | Now
Playing | Coming Soon | Links
| Table of Contents FAQ | Art & Merchandise | Film Sources | Special Events | Search | Home |