Jean-Luc Godard

By: Ally the Manic Listmaker

All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.

To be or not to be. That’s not really a question.

Here is a ranked list (name of the film followed by how many times I’ve seen it).

FIRST TIER (Favorites) 1-10
1. À bout de souffle/Breathless(1960) seen 3x
2. Une Femme Est Une Femme/A Woman is a Woman seen 2x
3. Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux/ My Life to Live seen 2x
4. Pierrot le Fou (1965) seen 3x
5. Une histoire d’eau (1961)
6. Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still (1972)
7. Masculin, feminin: 15 faits precis / Masculine, Feminine (1966)
8. Meetin’ WA (1986)
9. Le Petit Soldat
10. Les Carabiniers

SECOND TIER (decent viewings, pretty good films) 11-23
11. Le Mépris /Contempt
12. La chinoise (1967)
13. Made in U.S.A. (1966)
14. Charlotte et son Jules/Charlotte and Her Jules (1960)
15. “France/tour/detour/deux/enfants” (1977)
16. Changer d’image – Lettre à la bien-aimée/To Alter the Image (1982)
17. Je vous salue, Sarajevo (1993) (V)
18. Sept péchés capitaux, Les/The Seven Deadly Sins (1962) his segment
19. Lettre à Freddy Buache/Letter to Freddy Buache (1982)
20. Liberté et patrie/Liberty and Homeland (2002) (V)
21. L’origine du XXIème siècle (2000)
22. The Old Place (1998)
23. Je vous salue, Marie/Hail Mary (1985)

THIRD TIER (okay) 24-43
24. Hélas pour moi/Woe Is Me (1993)
25. Tout va bien/All’s Well (1972) seen 2x (accidentally)
26. Ten Minutes Older: The Cello [Segment: Dans le noir du temps] (2002)
27. Sauve qui peut (la vie)/Slow Motion (1980)
28. Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963)
29. Comment ça va? (1978)
30. Notre musique (2004)
31. Une catastrophe
32. Les enfants jouent à la Russie/Children Play Russian/The Kids Play Russian (1993)
33. Allemagne 90 neuf zéro/Germany Year 90 Nine Zero (1991)
34. Puissance de la parole (1988)
35. Pravda (1970)
36. Vladimir et Rosa (1970)
37. Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s’appellent Patrick/All the Boys are Called Patrick (1959) [short]
38. JLG/JLG – autoportrait de décembre/JLG/JLG – self-portrait in December (1995)
39. Bande à part/Band of Outsiders (1964)
40. Histoire(s) du cinéma
41. Détective (1985)
42. Weekend
43. Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)

FOURTH TIER (kinda boring and/or lacking) 44-46
44. Soft and Hard (1986)
45. British Sounds (1970)
46. One P.M. (1972)

FIFTH TIER (not really to my liking at all) 47-62
47. 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle /2 or 3 things I know about her (1967)
48. Film socialisme (2010)
49. Nouvelle vague (1990)
50. Prénom Carmen/First Name, Carmen (1983)
51. Passion (1982)
52. Le Gai savoir /Joy of Learning (1969)
53. Ici et ailleurs / Here and Elsewhere
54. Une femme mariée: Suite de fragments d’un film tourné en 1964 (1964)
55. King Lear
56. Numéro deux/Number Two (1975)
57. Soigne ta droite /Keep Up Your Right
58. For Ever Mozart (1996)
60. Sympathy for the Devil/1+1 (1968)
61. Le plus vieux métier du monde, segment “Anticipation, ou l’amour en l’an 2000” (1967)
62. Éloge de l’amour/In Praise of Love (2001)

Here is a JLG-related project I worked on:

A Godard A Day (through May 2009)
1. May 1st (25 mins.) Puissance de la parole (1988) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5coYh3VqU4&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd5DbvEMfjk
2. May 1st (106 mins.) Vladimir et Rosa (1970)
3. May 2nd (short) Ten Minutes Older: The Cello [Segment: Dans le noir du temps] (2002) http://uk.youtube.com/
4. May 3rd (short) Une histoire d’eau (1961) Collaborating with Francois Truffaut, Godard makes a film about a town that is flooded each year when the snow melts from the Alps. Our main character “The Girl” tries to get to Paris and hitches a ride. Beautifully shot. Highly recommended.
5. May 4th (60 mins.) Soft and Hard (1986)
6. May 5th (26 mins.) Meetin’ WA (1986) Godard “interviews” Woody Allen. They talk about their different approaches. Allen notes that he is inspired by literature, while Godard’s work is pure cinema.
7. May 6th (16 mins.) Liberté et patrie (2002) (V) Started out really good, talking about emotions and displaying firework like images. Then it kind of fizzled.
8. May 7th (13 mins.) Charlotte et son Jules (1960) This seemed a lot shorter than the listed runtime. Anyway, it features a Jean-Paul Belmondo and an unknown (to me) Anne Collette. It was a cute farcical thing. Anne Collette did all the facial expressions Anna Karina was to do later. However, I guess Karina was the one that Godard fell for.
9. May 7th (commercial) Godard’s Schick Commercial (youtube), not on IMDB
10. May 8th (11 mins.) Lettre à Freddy Buache (1982)
11. May 9th (feature, 85 mins.) Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux / My Life to Live (1962)
12. May 10th (feature and trailer) À bout de souffle (1960)
13. May 11th (54 mins.) British Sounds (1970) Didn’t like the still imagery. But it was an ok film.
14. May 11th (trailer) Socialisme
15. May 12th (62 mins.) Allemagne 90 neuf zéro (1991)
16. May 13th (80 mins.) Notre musique (2004)
17. May 14th (102 mins.) Le mépris /Contempt(1963)
18. May 15th (62 mins.) JLG/JLG – autoportrait de décembre (1995)
19. May 16th (2 mins.) Je vous salue, Sarajevo (1993) (V)
20. May 17th (13 mins.) L’origine du XXIème siècle (2000)
21. May 18th (90 mins.) One P.M. (1972) The quality on YouTube was horrendous, but I only stuck with it because of the revolutionary characters.
22. May 19th (52 mins.) Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still (1972) Letter to Jane opened my eyes to the Jane Fonda situation.
23. May 20th (60 mins.) Les enfants jouent à la Russie /Children Play Russian(1993)
24. May 21st (58 mins.) Pravda (1970)
25. May 22nd (25:49 mins.) France/tour/détour/deux/enfants, Mouvement 1: Obscur/Chimie (Dark/Chemistry) 1978, color, sound
26. May 23rd (25:58 mins.) France/tour/détour/deux/enfants, Mouvement 2: Lumière/Physique (Light/Physics) 1978, color, sound
27. May 24th (110 mins.) Pierrot le fou (1965)
28. May 25th (25:47 mins.) “France/tour/detour/deux/enfants” (1977) Mouvement 3: Connu/Géométrie/Géographie (Known/Geometry/Geography) 1978, color, sound
29. May 26th (25:49 mins.) “France/tour/detour/deux/enfants” (1977) Mouvement 4: Inconnu/Technique (Unknown/Technique) 1978, color, sound
30. May 27th (26:17 mins.) “France/tour/detour/deux/enfants” (1977) Mouvement 5: Impression/Dictée (Impression/Dictation) 1978, color, sound
31. May 28th (49 mins.) The Old Place (1998)
32. May 29th (10:12 mins., 22:12) Pennebaker on Breathless & Coutard and Rissient
33. May 30th (82 mins.) Numéro deux (1975)
34. May 31st (21 mins.) Le plus vieux métier du monde, segment “Anticipation, ou l’amour en l’an 2000” (1967)