Avis des critiques

The film’s obtuse nature stems mostly from the ambition of Godard’s attempt to reckon with seismic questions of faith and belief, be it religious or secular, and Hélas Pour Moi marks the possible start of the director’s twilight phase, in which he has concerned himself with zealous obsession to determine if cinema can be trusted to reveal higher truths.

Given the discussion last fall, most of it misguided, regarding Godard's attitude toward Jews (a discussion that, I suspect, the release of "Film Socialisme" will rekindle), "Oh, Woe Is Me" is a crucial film to consider, as much intellectually and ideologically as aesthetically. It is, for that matter, a movie of a voluptuous visual beauty: it depicts a miracle, and by no means a chaste one.

What the work may be "about" at any given moment is never prioritized over the beauty of a morning garden, a woman's watchful eyes, the political injustice currently burning in the filmmaker's conscience, or the fact that he may be eating an apple. For Godard, it's all good.

One may be flooded by the amount of information and by the ideas that are being explored. It is not to be viewed by the lazy. 

Jean-Luc Godard's most spiritual film is also his most opaque (1991). But the beauty of his work is often breathtaking.

Filmed at a Swiss lake, "Helas Pour Moi" looks beautiful. With music by Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, it sounds exquisite. It will be a surprise to anyone who thinks of Jean-Luc Godard as a cold and cerebral film maker. Here he is warm and cerebral, and more quietly provocative than he has been in years.