Le Mepris- Contempt 1963

Last meeting, we watched a film entitled Le Mepris, which is an adaptation of an Italian novel, II disprezzo. Directed by Jean-Luc Gidard, the film was all about marriage, love and relationship issues between Camile, Paul and Prokosch. The story circulates about Jeremy Prokosch hiring an Aussie director, Fritz Lang, to make an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. However, Prokosch was not satisfied with Lang's treatment in the film so he hired Paul Javal to do the script again.  As the story goes on, we find that the life of Paul, Camille( his wife) and Paul, corresponds to Penelope, Ulysses and Poseidon patterned to the story of Odyssey itself.

The film started with a scene between Paul and his wife Camille lying in a bed, indicating that they just finished having sex. Camille asked his husband how much he loves her and how much he is willing to give anything for her. From the very start of the movie, I can already say that Camille's behavior can be likened to people with narcissism and bipolar disorder, because there are lot of scenes in the movie wherein she hurts her husband. It revolves around the topic of feminism, which emphasizes Camille as the center point of man's erotic fantasy. Godard sums up the whole film by connecting life and art. 

I enjoyed the whole film because it depicts the reality of life. The story of Odyssey, which was written in the past, is not merely just a fictional love crisis but rather, a story patterned in reality and how much humankind can suffer when entangled up in love affairs. For me, it is a story of sadness and the bitterness of life, wherein people needs to confront their problems and accept the contempt in every individual's life. Problems such as love and marriage issues can really contribute to the misery of life, which no one of us can escape. 

Godard's montage is truly a masterpiece and a legend of his time because of it's state of the art production and script writing. It's a film which involves much revelation and contempt to its characters and shows the reality of life. Godard used many symbolism in this film such as the used of orange and dusky sun-faded shooting location which indicates the sadness and bitterness of life.

I rate this movie 4 out of 5, for its stunning production and much acclaimed plot.