Jean-Luc Godard

All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl.

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I pity the French Cinema because it has no money. I pity the American Cinema because it has no ideas.

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The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea.

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To be or not to be. That's not really a question.

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Every edit is a lie.


Filmaker Jean-Luc Godard sure has some interesting ideas. I can't tell you how in love I am with his movie I saw last month(A Bout De Souffle). I've decided to seek out more of his work and personal philosophy.

Wikipedia says of his Marxist leanings: "A constant refrain throughout Godard's cinematic period is that of the bourgeoisie’s consumerism, the commodification of daily life and activity, and man’s alienation — all central issues of Marx’s condemning analysis of capitalism."

Alienation? Hello. Everytime I turn a CanLit theory page it seems someone's referencing this modern poet or that and their "nature vs. man" "alienation vs. modernity", etcetera. We're all alone. I get it. The woods echo our grief. Yadayada.

But, interesting about Godard's Marxist-wing. I wish I could be a Marxist. But I know it's just nogood-nomore. It's only partly good. I could be a small "m" marxist. But only on odd days of the week. Or, I could adopt socialism. Wait, I already mostly do. Which is also why Poor Things is so fantastic a book. But I do own a car. It's a very little car, but I know some socialist folk would not take kindly to that. Or maybe I'm thinking of the bohemians. (do they still exist? or have they sadly only become small "a" activists...)

If I had money, any money at all, I'd want to make a French film. (After buying that new guitar I'd want, of course.)