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Chicago – The notoriously confounding new film from Jean-Luc Godard baffled many critics during its 2010 premiere at Cannes. The legendary director was conspicuously absent from the festival, leading some to believe that his refusal to give interviews was reflected in the film’s final title card, “No Comment.” Yet after a careful analysis of “Film Socialisme,” it’s clear that Godard has plenty to say.

This is the sort of picture that functions more as a two-hour museum projection than a feature film. It’s bound to transfix some onlookers, while quickly repelling others into the next room. As a call for unity in the Mediterranean, Godard runs the risk of alienating the very people he intends to reach with his message. Only film buffs and Godard experts will be able to piece together this fragmented collage after an initial viewing. Everyone else will have to do their homework, but I...

Reviewed by Jay Antani

(June 2011)

Directed/Written by: Jean-Luc Godard

Starring: Catherine Tanvier, Christian Sinniger, Jean-Marc Stehlé, Patti Smith, Robert Maloubier, Alain Badiou, Nadège Beausson-Diagne and Élisabeth Vitali

Jean-Luc Godard’s “Film Socialisme” is likely to be an unbearable experience for anyone other than Godard himself and his most hardcore adherents. The veteran filmmaker has pieced together a prohibitively obscure free-association polemic on his pet theme of politics (the politics of nations, races, religion, relationships, communication, gender — essentially the entire fabric of postcolonial civilization) and how it’s processed through the meat grinder of postmodern pop culture.

The first half of “Film Socialisme” takes place on a Mediterranean cruise ship, the second in and around what is presumably a family-run gas station. The visual texture of the first half ranges from the clean, crisp high-def views of sea, sky, the ship’s decks and cabins to the degraded surveillance-camera images found,...

Reviewed by Jay Antani

(June 2011)

Directed/Written by: Jean-Luc Godard

Starring: Catherine Tanvier, Christian Sinniger, Jean-Marc Stehlé, Patti Smith, Robert Maloubier, Alain Badiou, Nadège Beausson-Diagne and Élisabeth Vitali

Jean-Luc Godard’s “Film Socialisme” is likely to be an unbearable experience for anyone other than Godard himself and his most hardcore adherents. The veteran filmmaker has pieced together a prohibitively obscure free-association polemic on his pet theme of politics (the politics of nations, races, religion, relationships, communication, gender — essentially the entire fabric of postcolonial civilization) and how it’s processed through the meat grinder of postmodern pop culture.

The first half of “Film Socialisme” takes place on a Mediterranean cruise ship, the second in and around what is presumably a family-run gas station. The visual texture of the first half ranges from the clean, crisp high-def views of sea, sky, the ship’s decks and cabins to the degraded surveillance-camera images found,...