La Chinoise (1968)

Jean-Luc Godard presents one of his most contentious and political films focusing on a small group of French students who want to change the world by using any means necessary. After studying Mao and the growth of communism in China the students decide that they must use terrorism to ignite their own revolution. Starring Jean-Pierre L aud Juliet Bertho Anne WiazemskySystem Requirements:Running Time: 93 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/FRENCH UPC: 741952311591 Manufacturer No: KLF-DV3115 Product Description

Brilliant

Godard's misunderstood film about a cell of Maoist students in 1967 France is not so much an endorsement of revolutionary politics as it is an exploration of it. Although the film clearly contributed to the revolt at Columbia uprising, and later the student May uprising of 1968, this is in fact a highly nuanced account of the variegated tendencies of radicalization among the French youth. We encounter an outdated renunciation of Marxism-Leninism, which sadly converted large swaths of radicalizing youths to Mao in the 1960's, and still has some resonance on the left today. This is a delightful mixture of politics and pop culture as only Godard can provide, that is, with passion and form. July 8, 2008

Where's the End Title

Great movie. Decent,not exceptional transfer. Nice extras. However, where is the end title to the film that Richard Brody mention in his new Godard biography. After the shutters are closed their should be an end title that reads "The End Of A Beginning." It has gone missing. This is why Koch Lorber is not Criterion. Can any of you Godard experts out there help with this? Thanks. May 17, 2008

Godard's Revolutionary La Chinoise.

Jean-Luc Godard made La Chinoise (1967) at the end of his most celebrated period, 1960-67, a period that also included his films Breathless (1960), Band of Outsiders (Bande à part) (1964), Pierrot le Fou (1965), and Weekend (1967). La Chinoise is Godard at his political best. Released just before the May 1968 student rebellions in Paris, and loosely based on Dostoyevsky's The Possessed, the political comedy tells the story of five disillusioned French students, including Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud), Yvonne (Juliet Berto), Véronique (Anne Wiazemsky, Godard's wife at the time), Henri (Michel Semeniako), and Kirilov (Lex Di Bruijin), who form a radical Maoist cell called the "Aden Arabie." Lovers Véronique and Guillaume discuss changing the world through terrorism, violence, and political assassination, if necessary. When Véronique's feelings for Guillaume fade, she declares her "unlove" for Guillaumeto teach him a Maoist lesson of "struggle on two fronts," before setting off on a political assassination. Yvonne works as a prostitute for money to purchase consumer goods. Ultimately, La Chinoise is a film about the late 1960s left-wing political interest in the cultural, political, and historical issues of the day. The film has a prophetic quality, in that it was made one year before the violent New Left student protests in France.

Many critics (including Pauline Kael) have included La Chinoise among Godard's best work. Much like Pierrot le fou and Week End, the film represents Godard's renunciation of "bourgeois" narrative filmmaking. Filmed in almost surreal primary colors, perhaps representing the 60s pop culture, the newly-restored print long overdue on DVD features a few extras: Venice Film Festival press conference footage; an interview with Anne Wiazemsky; an introduction by Colin MacCabe (author of Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy), and the original theatrical trailer. Highly recommended, and essential to any fan of Godard.

G. Merritt

May 5, 2008

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