I don't understand why people don't talk about this movie
I think it’s an interesting film and I think in it Godard is struggling further with a lot of the things that he began with in “Hail Mary”- however, I find that “Hail Mary”’s explorations work better for me.
Notre Musique is the late Godard that’s most interesting for me.
Yes, the late Godard – the films that people use to point out that Godard is over-the-hill. I hate to admit it, but this is the first late-Godard I have seen…. better late than never.
It’s actually still the only Godard I’ve ever seen in an actual movie theater.
This is a bonafied masterpiece. I’ve been meaning to make this thread for awhile! thanks Roger!
What to say about Notre Musique? Perhaps the greatest analysis of the impossibility of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The films continuing discourse on the ingredients which make revolt and revolution authentic continuously astound me. Whereas sometimes his films which are purely investigative into the essence of cinema are questionable in their fundamental goals (ala Passion), Notre Musique successfully marries all of Godard’s obsessions with the cinema with one of the most devastating ongoing world tragedies; and moreover, through Godards anamorphisms which interrelate the purgatory of Palestine with the history of cinema, we glean a ‘safer’ lens to look at the situation with. No matter how many times I watch it, that ending is different every time.
In hindsight, maybe we’re not supposed to talk about this movie.
I watched this right after watching Chantal Akerman’s Là-bas and thought that her film was more nuanced and affective (without wading into details and specifics) in discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but perhaps this is because her view is more concentrated and isolated where Godard’s tends to be more incisive and broad. It’s interesting though that both have chosen to insert themselves into the image and are both in many ways returning to or revisiting their older techniques and styles.
Perhaps this is Godard’s shot-reverse shot: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ktmuabMvIN1qa6m7zo1_500.jpg
file:///Users/Corynn/Desktop/Picture%201.png
EDIT: Sorry, I’ve completely forgotten how to embed images on this forum.
(just surround the url with exclaimation points like this:)
I just liked the hell part
Robert W Peabody III
SPOILERS
People can’t talk about this movie, Kurt.
Godard points to the divisive language of cultures and asks:
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How can I even begin to talk, if you don´t understand me?
Language is not concrete enough for Godard.
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I see language obedient as a cloud.
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Did you know that, before language was developed in Sumer…to talk about the past, we used the word ´´after´´…and to talk about the future, the word ´´before´´?
Language is used to cover up the field of vision. Specifically he says that the language of defeat is true and that the language of victory is false.
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There is much more inspiration and human richness…in defeat than there is in victory.
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For instance: in 1948, Israelis get in the water… towards the Promised Land.
Palestinians get in the water to drown.
Shot and reverse.
Shot and reverse.
The Jewish people become fiction.
The Palestine people become documentary.
He provides and example of how the language of the imaginary subverts reality:
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In 1938…Heisenberg and Bohr were walking through Denmark´s countryside. They pass by the castle of Elsinore. The German savant says, ´´That castle has nothing extraordinary about it.´´
The Danish physic replies, ´´Yes, but… if you say, ´Hamlet´s castle, then it becomes extraordinary.´´
Elsinore: the real.
Hamlet: the imaginary.
Shot and reverse.
Imaginary: certainty.
Real: uncertainty.
For Godard, vision is also not concrete enough.
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She said that if any Israeli was willing to die with her…for peace, and not for war, she would be happy.
-And then what?
-Everyone left, she was left alone.
She had a red knapsack on her shoulder. The police killed her…before she could reach inside it. But there were only books inside it.
Notre Musique takes us further than we have ever gone in a film. Nonetheless, Godard cannot resolve the dualism that is life – he cannot solve the riddle; he cannot end the film. This is Godard at his very best as a filmmaker.
KINGDOM 3 – PARADISE
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There are two women, side by side. I am one of them. The other one, I´ve never seen… but I can recognize myself. It’s… like…an image…but seen from a distance.