MovieChat Forums > 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967) Discussion > 'I woke up at eight o'clock. I have haz...

'I woke up at eight o'clock. I have hazel eyes.'

posted 15 years ago by Joe_Chip_627

This line is spoken fairly early on, and while perhaps something was lost in translation, to me it was a signal that I was not going to enjoy this film. Boy, was I right.

Now I've been a pretty big Godard fan, and of the 11 of his films I had seen prior to this one, there were only two that I didn't rate at least "good" (7/10). There's no doubt in my mind that he's an incredibly talented filmmaker, but "2 or 3 things I know about her" is nothing short of a categorical failure. The main reason is that it is 90% documentary and 10% actual story. Why not just make this a documentary about the evils of capitalism? Michael Moore's done a pretty good job at that, and with Godard's creativity I've no doubt he could have churned out something both insightful and memorable.

Instead, what we have is essentially a series of interviews, tedious conversations, and insipid encouncters surrounding a Parisian housewife who works as a call girl. I've always had a love/hate relationship with Godard's dialogue-sometimes it works for me, other times it doesn't-but here I literally cringed at some of the lines. Either they make no sense, don't sound realistic, or both. It didn't help that the actors weren't particularly good, either (this also strengthens the case that it would have been better as a documentary).

While I'm not going to disregard the rest of Godard's work, which includes some truly splendid films, it's hard to forget just how bad this one is on all levels. I gave it a rating of 4 (a "C") mainly because it was only an hour and a half. If this was a two hour film, I don't think I would have lasted until the end.

"2 or 3 things I know about her" was released right around the same time as another French film about a housewife-turned-prostitute, "Belle de Jour". Both were made by masters of their craft, yet while one is in my opinion one of the 25 or so greatest films ever made, the other is an utter bomb.

Positively shocking.

"I just posted on IMDB, and all I got was this lousy signature."