The wide shots in office that allow us to see many rooms at once, is conceptually the same as Wes Anderson's shot in The Life Aquatic with the boat. When the boat is introduced and we see the many rooms at the same time. It is also similar to his Cingular commercials. Do you think Wes had seen this film, and that is what inspired him, or could it just be a matter of his aesthetic being in-tune with Godard?
shareI think he's probably seen this film. But I am not sure if he had it in mind when he chose his shots for The Life Aquatic.
shareI definitely thought of Wes Anderson when watching the film. Along with the office wide-shots you mentioned, I also noticed a character who looked and dressed very similar to Ben Stiller's character in The Royal Tenenbaums.
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I thought exactly the same thing - I haven't seen the entire movie, but many scense including the one mentioned seem to be inspiration for much of Wes anderson's work. It'd be interesting to look into it more - probably a real Wes Anderson fanatic would know the answer.
shareWes Anderson is one of my favorite directors and after reading up on him a while back, he said that Godard and many of the New Wave filmmakers have influenced him greatly. The scenes are pretty memorable so I think that he would have had this film in mind (possibly paying homage to one of his idols).
The stylized dress and set design of the New Wave also probably had a big influence on Anderson's filmmaking tendencies.
The Wikipedia article on this film mentions that a similar technique was used some 19 years earlier in the Jerry Lewis film, The Ladies Man. From my own experience, it seems to have its roots in devices used on the stage earlier that this as well.
shareIt is completely possible. I read an interview with Wes Anderson in Purple magazine earlier this year (great interview, and if you can get your hands on that issue, do so) and it's revealed that Wes is quite the authority on French cinema. Otherwise, it's a trick I've seen in other films (there's a scene like that in Absolute Beginners). I have yet to see Tout va bien, you're probably right. Godard + Jane Fonda in the early 70s (hot!!!!)? I must check this out!
shareIt was absolutely an homage to Godard. In another scene of the film, Steve says "Not this one, Klaus," which is an almost exact quote from another Godard film, Pierrot le fou. Anderson's definitely seen Tout va bien.
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Anderson's films are so New-Wave-y and post-modern that there's absolutely no way The Life Aquatic scene wasn't an homage. Anderson's obsessed with French cinema (his permanent residence is Paris now, for Chrissake) and his style has the bluntness and theatricality of Godard's New Wave cinema.
From an interview with the NY Times: "People talk about how the early French New Wave movies were so free, and the camera was so liberated and everything, especially in comparison to the films that came before them," Mr. Anderson said. "But not like this. In 'Small Change,' the camera is even more free. I think Truffaut makes a kind of point of not obsessing about anything involving light, or anything like that. The whole movie had a real documentary feel to it. It makes you realize how meticulous some of those earlier New Wave movies really were."
So yeah, of course he's seen Tout va Bien.
I would say that the supermarket scene seals the fact that Wes Anderson is very familiar with this Godard film. The clean bright look, coloration and lighting in the supermarket in "The Fantastic Mr. Foxx" is near identical to the scene in "Tout Va Bien". The overall image coupled with the sentiment that the food is free for the taking signifies purposeful linkage, beyond just stylization, to include a socio-economic and philosophical connection.
shareI always thought "Not this one Klaus" referred to "Jules and Jim."
shareI definitely can see the influence, and I'm not even that familiar with Wes Anderson. I saw this film in a film class I took once and I thought the same thing.
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