Ethan_Ford

It looks fabulous.Production values seem very high and this must be the most expensive film Claire Denis has ever directed.The basic plot,however,concerning a spaceship consisting mostly of dangerous prisoners coerced into a suicidal mission to try to harvest the energy of a black hole,is at once preposterous and rather derivative of a bad sci-fi film. But this is the problem with the film.It references too many great sci-films without ever being as successful or original. The opening scenes featuring a hydroponic garden bring to mind "Silent Running," whilst the sex-deprived prisoners take refuge in a machine suspiciously like the orgasmatron from "Barbarella". The main point of reference ,however,seems to be "Solaris" with many swooning shots along deserted corridors where potential dangers lurk and the feeling of being constantly suspended between reality and hallucination. While Juliette Binoche,in a part perhaps intended for Isabelle Huppert,is good as the research scientist,the revelation of the film is the performance of Robert Pattinson who is mesmerising in the difficult part of one of the prisoners who has a young child and who carries the film before the other prisoners are introduced in flashback. If the film had been more like "Silent Running" or "Moon" and had concentrated solely on his plight it might have succeeded.As it is it becomes increasingly incoherent and pretentious.

It was eagerly awaited for years,the trailer which was the whole film in fast motion looked ravishing, and it seemed as if in this,perhaps his last film,Godard would deliver his final testament,a summation of all the themes which have run through his work for the last fifty years.From the beginning it looks absolutely stunning.In its high def cinematography the colours are gorgeous,the Mediterranean setting recalling that of Le Mépris ,but whereas the latter film was a profound meditation on European culture and civilisation,here the characters spout banal platitudes about politics or philosophy as the ship sails along past various cities; in the Spanish section there is a scene of a bullfight,in the Italian section a clip from a Rossellini film,it's that predictable.

In the final section the film switches to one of Godard's favourite subjects,the daily routine of a family with young children who run a petrol station and have for no apparent reason a pet llama.Here finally the film shows some kind of rapport with its characters but it is already too late.Yet despite its faults it still exhibits all the hallmarks of Godard's style,the brilliance of his framing and editing,the crucial way sound plays against image,but the feeling persists that perhaps he has no longer anything to say.