Godard vs. Truffaut
As the film illustrated,their films throughout the sixties were quite similar,then after `68 their paths diverged. But did the film seem to be biased in favour of Truffaut?
shareFirst, I thought this was an awful documentary. Second, why do you say that? The most insightful thing for me was the excerpts from the last two letters they wrote to each other. I think they both made valid points.
While I prefer Truffaut's films to Godard's I really didn't see any bias in the documentary.
Main surprise to me was how quickly the New Wave seemed to fizzle out.
This film itself seemed quite Godardian in style. I like Truffaut and agree with his stance that an artist should be an artist first and not let politics over take his art. I find Godard's post 1968 work mostly a bore. The antidote for cinema's faults are not boring films.
Ayn Rand-the philosopher of the intellectually bankrupt.
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Well i was paraphrasing but the 2 men split in the early 70s & never reconciled. Truffaut made his films without politics involved (even his Fahrenheit 451 seems unpolitical & more about self discovery).
Post 68 Goddard films I've seen:
La Gai Savoir, One Plus One, Tout va bien, Letter to Jane, Every Man for Himself, First Name: Carmen, Hail Mary, King Lear, Nouvelle Vague, Germany Year 90 Nine Zero, Notre musique.
Feel asleep on Jane & Germany 90. The others have their moments but drag on & give me a bunch of intellectual claptrap. He's disappointed to see East Germany come to an end? He liked the Stasi? Even if you are a communist, you are an idiot if you thought Eastern Europe was A OK from 1945-1989. The only film of these I liked was Tout van bien, that was about something.
He hates the US which is odd since Hollywood is what turned him on film in the first place. He's bitter that the far left is gone even in Europe. He stands for some things I agree with but his need to eliminate all the tings in cinema that he thinks distract us from understanding like plot, characters, action, events, etc. are what cinema is all about. That opening bit to Notre Musique was great but he should have ended it there. The rest was more sitting around saying things that are semi-profound & solving zero problems in the world.
I love most of Godard's 60s work but Truffaut was more the cinephile to me. maybe some of his films are merely quaint or cute but he had the qualities of the great directors.
Expansion to your ego.
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Godard can do anything he wants just don't expect my liking it. I like how Godard can criticize the US all over the place but when he criticized the Algerian War in The Little Soldier, he was censored & never took up the topic again. Where's Godard on the treatment of Muslims in France?
Politics enters just about any film on some level. Stolen Kisses has the hooker complaining about not getting enough business the week after payday. Hitchcock wasn't very overtly political. He had stories of Nazi or communist spies being thwarted but those were his way of telling a good story. The MacGuffins didn't matter, how the hero & heroine get away & fall in love do. Truffaut admired Hitchcock & Renoir & Hawks. That shows thru in his films, in early Godard's too.
I like the films of Costa-Gravas, those are political films that detail real world problems & the injustices that need to be corrected. A bunch of intellectual word play does nothing for me. Hollywood likes to avoid controversy so they steer clear of politics if possible. Or they do easy to understand the little guy triumphs over the powers that be type stories. I would like them to do more but at the same time, there's nothing wrong with a film that "merely" entertains.
Expansion to your ego.
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