Caught a screening of Godard Mon Amour at The Landmark at 57 West. I’m a great admirer of writer/director Michel Hazanavicius’ talent for pastiche; whether he’s lampooning the Connery-era Bond movies with his OSS 117 series or celebrating the Golden Age of Hollywood with The Artist (which earned him an Oscar), he always perfectly captures the overall look and tone of his chosen subject matter. In his latest release, this penchant for mimicry serves a more significant narrative purpose: the central conflict revolves around French New Wave auteur and self-professed revolutionary Jean-Luc Godard’s inability to separate his personal life from his work and his work from his political ideals—thus, the frequent references to the genuine article’s cinematic techniques and stylistic flourishes represent his fictionalized counterpart’s attempts to escape into a reality over which he can exert some measure of control. The resulting character study isn’t necessarily Hazanavicius’ best effort, but it’s definitely his most thought-provoking.
[Originally written May 1, 2018.]