COMPETITION – Godard’s language takes shape

Goodbye to Language, but not to Cannes. Jean-Luc Godard this year sees his seventh feature film selected for the Festival, in which the elder statesman of the Competition delivers an original screenplay and confounds expectations with a film in 3D.

Photo of the film © RR

In 3x3D, a film made up of a series of sketches, the 84-year-old filmmaker directed the Les 3 Désastres section, sandwiched between those of Peter Greenaway and Edgar Pêra. The title says it all: rather than using the tool to make a graphic point,  Godard turned the issue on its head and asked what might  become of this new filmmaking technology.

The master of the New Wave had already expressed reservations about the arrival of digital technology, and so his use of 3D in Goodbye to Language is surprising to say the least. However, beyond the technological aspect, the images in the trailer hint at an atypical film, with a narrative that’s non-linear and above all poetic.
 

From 1960s masterpieces to 3D films, Godard’s work has kept pace with the changes in filmmaking. The director made his first appearance at the Festival in 1980 in Competition with Slow Motion. This was followed by Passion, Nouvelle Vague and In Praise of Love, a handful of films typical of his oeuvre, always in search of new narrative forms, ever exploring new genres, from spy films to musical comedies. Daring and provocative works, which suggest that  Goodbye to Language will in turn herald a new exploration, a new cinematographic paradigm.
 

Tarik Khaldi

SCREENINGS

Wednesday 21st May / Grand Théâtre Lumière / 4:00 pm
Thursday 22 mai / Salle du Soixantième / 2:30 pm
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