MovieChat Forums > Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962) Discussion > Question to Godard Enthusiasts about one...

Question to Godard Enthusiasts about one Scene

posted 10 years ago by jmiller1918
2 replies | jump to latest

Towards the end of the film, when the pimp is driving Nana to the planned exchange or "deal" with another pimp, the question of not having relations with certain potential "clients" comes up...Nana says something like "it would be degrading" (to have sex with odious johns?)...but the pimp very authoritatively states "there's where you're wrong", without further explanation.

Is this some kind of pimp's "code of professionalism"? A critique of commodified relationships? A refusal to let Nana sugar-coat her means of livelihood? A statement of misogynistic relish in having the girl degrade herself in the first place? Or a simple underlining of the power dynamic between pimp and girl (i.e., her lack of autonomy)?

I got the feeling it was important, but would like to get some idea of what Godard was getting at. Thanks!

[–] zwot 10 years ago

I took it to be an attempt to assert some control over her life, per the film's title. Of course, as we soon see, it's a futile attempt. For Nana, as for Joan of Arc in the incorporated film clip, death was her only deliverance from her imprisonment. Bleak guy, that Godard fellow.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5947) 4 years ago

It was explained during the Q&A that she is not allowed to turn down anyone. Unsaid is that Raoul gets all the money. Saying no all the time would cut into his profits.