Godard Mon Amour (Le Redoutable)

The future belonged to him.

He was respected worldwide,

adored as much by Jean Renoir as by the Beatles,

as much by Fritz Lang as by the Rolling Stones,

unanimously regarded as the most gifted of his generation.

He was the Nouvelle Vague.

Jean-Luc Godard.

His very name embodied a certain idea of Cinema.

Indefinable, wild, fascinating,

funny, unpredictable, disconcerting,

political, charming, impertinent,

young, free.

And I loved him.

I was lucky enough to admire my lover,

who had left a print on me.

This man, who had revolutionised film ten years earlier,

had shaken up my life too,

and was about to revolutionise himself.

I always knew she'd leave.

I didn't know when, or how, or even why. But I was right.

This girl, probably too beautiful,

too young, too bourgeois,

will soon be 20.

I'm in love with her.

This image is from 1967.

My first footage of her.

The film is La Chinoise, and she plays a Maoist student.

In real life, she studies philosophy.

She's the granddaughter of a famous conservative author.

Rebelling against her background, youthfully carefree,

she dared love a man like myself.

Her name is Anne,

and she's the one who has decided to tell our story.

Here, she sees me as successful,

confident and seductive,

but I am no longer that Godard.

Mozart died aged 35, and he got it right.

Artists should die at 35, before becoming old farts.

In a few months, I'll turn 37.

So, are you pleased?

Very. Anne is wonderful.

She brings spontaneity and youth to the film.

I'm amazed.

You amaze me, Anne.

No really, I'm thrilled.

I'm planning a Chinese tour after Avignon.

The Chinese are going to love the film.

You'll be a revolutionary icon.

Mauriac's granddaughter, lauded by Mao...

- Yes. - And your grandfather?

- Is he aware of the film you're making? - No. But he can say what he likes.

I'm proud to do this film.

If he can't see that, tough. Nobel prize or not.

I adore my grandfather, but I'm in love with Jean-Luc.

- He must accept that. - All that, and only 19!

- So are you going to America? - Yes, after shooting's finished.

Harvard first. I'm giving a lecture.

Then two days in New York.

Only two days in New York? Why so little? Pity.

It's not New York Pity, it's New York City.

And Anne must study, she's back at university next year.

I want her to get a good political education.

She's an actress now.

Yes, an actress... I'm not sure It's a real job.

Real actors are dumb. They're beneath contempt.

They cry and laugh on demand,

even crawl...

I find that grotesque.

They aren't free.

If you tell an actor to say actors are dumb, I bet he'll do it.

SHEILA, HAPPY AT LAST

Here, silence is the rule.

Like a huge, grey metal whale,

the submarine the Redoubtable, launched today, March 29th,

establishes its silent supremacy at a depth of several hundred metres...

Calmness and serenity reign

in this 128 metre-long cylinder.

135 submariners are given 70-day missions.

They must not be claustrophobic, and they need hard heads.

In the maze of staircases,

ceilings are low, corridors are narrow, and obstacles numerous.

To stay sane, and to carry out their mission successfully,

the men must deal with the daily nuisances philosophically.

Everyone mucks in,

and the many leisure activities

are aimed at keeping morale high.

An anticyclone of 1028/1000 bars

is spreading to the east of France with little change.

The southwest Atlantic current

is still moving to the north of Ireland and Scotland.

- Hello. - Hello.

A revolutionary creature,

the submarine the Redoubtable

glides along peacefully, conscious of its strength.

Although it's always ready to attack,

it is through its calmness that the Redoubtable distinguishes itself.

Such is life on board the Redoubtable.

"Such is life on board the Redoubtable."

- This is unbelievable! - What?

The births column. A Mr and Mrs Me have had a daughter

and they've called her Mary.

Mary Me?

Yes, my darling. Marry me.

On the contrary To be pro the cons

Always never agreeing

- Shall we go out? - To do what?

I don't know. Just go out, like everyone else.

Just because everyone else does?

You know what that's called?

- Alienation. - Oh, yeah?

Well I'm like everyone else, and it won't stop me living.

Very spiritual. But unlike you, I don't feel I have to be like everyone else.

I don't have to, precisely because I'm living.

Look, I feel like walking backwards.

So I Will.

I like doing what other people don't do,

you see, everything which isn't allowed, or isn't the done thing.

I like this precisely because no one else does it.

Apart from you, the great Jean-Luc Godard.

- I know what you like. - You do?

I know what interests you.

You want to live

like they do in the movies.

But that's impossible. Look.

In real life, people forget their keys, catch buses...

In real life, there's no voiceover saying,

"Anne loved Jean-Luc."

In real life, you don't "love Jean-Luc".

You do other things.

You eat, see a film, go shopping.

But if you love me, you do things differently.

And you do things differently because you love me.

You don't need a voiceover.

Anne loved Jean-Luc,

but he talked too much.

At times, she was surprised by his desire to be different.

As her friends said, she'd picked an oddball.

What are you doing? You're not ready?

Halt, amigo!

It won't do you any good. There's three of us.

Hey, you!

You know you got a face beautiful enough to be worth $2,000?

Yes.

But you don't look like the one who'll collect it.

Come on, amigo, a couple steps back.

MAO'S ALL GREEK TO ME

Alice in Swann's Way.

Don't Mess with the 40 Thieves.

Ali Baba and Virginia Woolf.

Love and a Country Priest.

24 Hours in 80 Days.

1001 Midsummer Nights' Dreams.

The Rise of the Three Little Pigs.

You lose!

- The Three Little Pigs isn't a book. - Really?

What is it then? An opera?

No. A fairytale. Not a book.

You always change the rules.

Yes, I do change the rules. So?

That's the advantage of Marxist-Leninist rhetoric.

It gets you out of anything.

In spite of my role in La Chinoise,

my bourgeois education kept me far from Chairman Mao's aphorisms

and General Lin Bao's analyses.

Jean-Luc had finally been invited to the Chinese Embassy

to arrange the film's tour of China.

- Hello, my love. - Hello.

Are you OK?

No.

The Chinese said my film was shit.

What? Which Chinese?

Which Chinese? I have no idea which Chinese!

I didn't catch their names. Chinese names are very complicated.

The Chinese at the Chinese Embassy.

- Oh, no. - You said it.

What did they say?

They said it was the work of a reactionary imbecile,

that I misunderstood the revolution,

and that if they could,

they'd ban the film from being called La Chinoise.

Those Chinese are crazy!

Stop with the Chinese!

The Chinese aren't the problem.

Yes. Sorry.

I suppose the tour...

Well, the tour will be limited to the Avignon Festival.

Don't worry, darling.

I love your film. I'm proud to be in it.

Yes, I am.

I'm sure plenty will love it.

Really? I wonder who.

Don't worry.

Such is life on board the Redoubtable.

You got married in Switzerland?

Is it true you married Mauriac's granddaughter?

Wait for the press conference. We'll talk then.

Like the Beatles. We're not the Beatles.

So, the Avignon Festival is proud to welcome a world premiere,

at the Palais des Papes, for the first time ever,

film director Jean-Luc Godard.