LE MÉPRIS (Contempt) directed by Jean-Luc Godard (France 1963)
“Film is strange – show women a camera and they show their behinds”.
This observation by Paul Laval (Michel Piccoli) may be flawed as a universal law of cinema but clearly has an element of truth in the circles Jean-Luc Godard moved in during the sixties.
To prove the point, the archetype auteur begins the movie with Brigitte Bardot as Camille stretched out languorously on a bed, stark naked, running through an inventory of her body parts to check that Paul, her husband, admires them all – feet, ankles,knees, thighs, buttocks, breasts, nipples, shoulders, arms, and face (mouth,eyes,nose & ears).
She could have saved him and us a lot of time by asking the last question first – “Do you love me totally?”
After having given his unconditional approval of her anatomy, he assures her that his love is absolute: “I love you totally, tenderly, tragically”.
This scene was tagged on at the end when the producers complained that audiences needed to see more unclad shots of Bardot – suggesting that she wasn’t chosen purely for her acting ability! Continue reading
