Eloge de l'amour (Godard, 2001)
Godard's In Praise of Love is a tragic masterpiece. In a career of sad films, this is perhaps his most heartwrenching and yet it sneaks up on you unexpectedly and powerfully in the closing moments. It is a film about memory, and the fear that we can't ever remember for long. It is a eulogy to love, through the inability for "adults" to put aside their lives and love another.
Edgar's search is one for a story worth telling, and his inability to find it in face of pressures from the outside(America) and the inside(his own misunderstanding and fear of love). It is combined with politics, art and life. In the tradition of all the great works of the Western world, it is dense and rewards the viewer for the work you put into it.
The photography of Paris is nostalgic of his New Wave work, and that of the countryside brims over with the most beautiful colors. In Praise of Love is his most beautiful film.
Godard defines clearly that which he is against (Spielberg, Titanic, Julia Roberts) and has much to say about what he is for (a meaningful art, love). The tragedy of the film stems from his own sadness that the former is causing the later to disappear.
My 10 favorite films of all time:
1. Citizen Kane
2. Eloge de l'amour
3. Dekalog
4. Rashomon
5. A Woman Under the Influence
6. Playtime
7. Dr. Strangelove
8. The Royal Tennenbaums
9. Au Hasard Balthazar
10. Hannah and Her Sisters
Godard's In Praise of Love is a tragic masterpiece. In a career of sad films, this is perhaps his most heartwrenching and yet it sneaks up on you unexpectedly and powerfully in the closing moments. It is a film about memory, and the fear that we can't ever remember for long. It is a eulogy to love, through the inability for "adults" to put aside their lives and love another.
Edgar's search is one for a story worth telling, and his inability to find it in face of pressures from the outside(America) and the inside(his own misunderstanding and fear of love). It is combined with politics, art and life. In the tradition of all the great works of the Western world, it is dense and rewards the viewer for the work you put into it.
The photography of Paris is nostalgic of his New Wave work, and that of the countryside brims over with the most beautiful colors. In Praise of Love is his most beautiful film.
Godard defines clearly that which he is against (Spielberg, Titanic, Julia Roberts) and has much to say about what he is for (a meaningful art, love). The tragedy of the film stems from his own sadness that the former is causing the later to disappear.
My 10 favorite films of all time:
1. Citizen Kane
2. Eloge de l'amour
3. Dekalog
4. Rashomon
5. A Woman Under the Influence
6. Playtime
7. Dr. Strangelove
8. The Royal Tennenbaums
9. Au Hasard Balthazar
10. Hannah and Her Sisters
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