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Godard's latest cinematic adventure r is as playful as his last few films, alt shown at previous Melbourne Film. Festivals. Bound to infuriate audiences expecting a conventional, classic 'Godardian' experience, Soigne ta droite engages the viewer on its own modest level as the loquacious Godard offers a few thoughts on life and death. Again he plays a major on-screen role, wandering through scenes as part-Chaplin, part-Tati character spilling cans of film and tipping his hat to strangers in a generally lighthearted manner. |
In his usual disconnected way, Godard intercuts three principal continuities, which involve some musicians in a recording session (in an echo of his 'Sympathy For The Devil' with the Rolling Stones); a chubby worker who tries to connect with various couples; and a group of travellers, Godard among them, taking a chaotic plane trip under the care of a pilot who is reading a 'how-to book' on suicide.
In this fantasia for actors and cameras, each is trying to find its own place on earth. Some by making music, others by travelling or, tike Villeret, simply looking for a chair to sit down on. 'I wanted real actors - players in the Moliere sense of the term.' The film has a budget of French Francs 3.5 million. 'I've always tried to make films at reasonable budgets, taking into consideration the average wage of the time. Pierrot le fou and Vivre sa vie cost around FF300,000 each at a time when an average feature cost FF1 million. I want a Renault 5 or a 205, not a BMW or a Mercedes." -Jean-Luc Godard.