Contempt
from Notes on Language
We just watched Contempt, the Godard film. I'd never seen one of his movies before, and I wasn't expecting to like it. I'm generally impatient with French movies--it took me a whole week to make it through Amelie. But I couldn't stop watching Contempt. It was 100 times more beautiful than I'd expected, and stylish: I could imagine all the decorators at Dwell fainting over the interiors, especially over the apartment; all the art directors at W dreaming up Contempt-themed shoots in the house on Capri.
It made me crave a life that at the same time I can't imagine living: the cool pressed cotton shirts, the ties, the clean desks with only a few well-placed books and an ashtray, the total neglect of food except when it's served on sunny street-side tables. Made me want to be thin, well-dressed; to be rarely hungry; to be writing all the time.
March 7, 2003
further reading:
- Salon review of 'Contempt'
- "'Contempt' evokes an era when the belief that movies mattered was an article of faith, when there seemed no turning back from the endless potential of movies, and when an eager (if not always large) audience existed for the directors ready to realize that potential."