Contempt

I was inspired to search out Jean-luc Godard's Contempt (1963) after reading this article on Slate that suggests that it is the coolest film of all time.  I'm not sure I can fully concur, but it s a very stylish film starring Bridgett Bardot, Jack Palance, director Fritz Lang, and Michel Piccoli. It was enough tot get me to seek it out for consideration. It seems that Scorcese and Tarantino are both fans of it. This film is well-known for drawing the ire of the American producer who wanted Bardot naked in the film, so Godard shot the opening sequence after completing the film. I made a point of seeing Lang's M, after learning that he had a major role in the film. The film is beautifully shot, by frequent Goddard collaborator Raoul Coutard in CinemaScope. This is a sort of in-joke, in the film Lang states that it is great for "snakes and funerals." The sequences in Capri are amazing to behold. It is essentially the story of a disintegrating marriage, but it is also about the film making process. The Criterion edition includes audio commentary from film scholar Robert Stam, The Dinosaur and the Baby (1967) a conversation between Godard and Lang, Encounter With Fritz Lang (1963) a short film by Peter Fleischmann, two 1963 documentaries by Jacques Rozier, featuring Goddard on the set of Contempt: Bardot Et Godard and Paprazzi, 1964 Godard interview excerpt from French TV program Cinepanorama, and a video interview with cinematographer Coutard.