Speaking about Godard 9780814786666

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Speaking about Godar d

Speaking about Godard Kaja Silverman an d Harun Farock i

with a Foreword by Constance Penley

NEW YOR K UNIVERSIT Y PRES S New York and Londo n

NEW YOR K U N I V E R S I T Y PRES S New York and Londo n Copyright © 1998 by New York University All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dat a Silverman, Kaja . Speaking about Godar d / Kaja Silverman an d Haru n Farocki : with a foreword b y Constance Penley . p. cm . Includes bibliographical references . ISBN 0-8147-8065-2 (hardcove r : alk. paper). — ISBN 0-8147-8066-0 (pbk . : alk. paper) 1. Godard , Jean Luc, 1930- —Criticis m an d interpretation . I. Farocki , Harun. II . Title . PN1998.3.G63S56 199 8 791.43'0233'092—dc21 98-1270 1 CIP New Yor k University Press books are printed o n acid-fre e paper , and thei r binding materials are chosen fo r strengt h an d durability . Manufactured i n the United State s of America

Contents

Foreword b y Constance Penle y Acknowledgments 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Nana I s an Animal My Life to Live/Vivre sa vie (1962) In Search o f Home r Contempt/Le Mepris (1963) Words Lik e Love Alphaville/Alphaville, une eirange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965) Anal Capitalis m Weekend/Le Week-End (1967) 1 Speak , Therefore I' m No t Gay Knowledge/Le Gai Savoir (1968) In Her Place Number Two/Numero deux (1975) Moving Picture s Passion (1981) The Same, Yet Other New Wave/Nouvelle vague (1990) Notes About the Authors

vii xiii 1 31 60

85 114 143 172 199 231 246

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Foreword

If you are going to speak about Godard , o r at least try to speak abou t Godard—it's no t easy—yo u woul d d o well t o begin b y seein g th e beauty of Harun Farocki and Kaja Silverman's conversational gambit . The filmmaker an d th e fil m theoris t decide d t o construc t a dialogue around a close reading of eight Godard films, i n chronological order , beginning wit h My Life to Live (1962) an d endin g wit h New Wave (1990). Like Gay Knowledge's Emil e Rousseau an d Patrici a Lumumba , played b y Jean-Pierre Leau d an d Juliet Berto , they se t themselves a program o f analyzin g sound s an d images , o f collectin g an d cri tiquing. Bu t Farocki's an d Silverman' s projec t i s far mor e inductiv e than tha t carrie d ou t b y the character s o f Godard' s 196 8 film, th e discussion of which forms the hinge chapter of this book. Their close reading follows the unfolding o f the films as if the two were sitting at a flatbed, wit h th e benefit o f a filmmaker's ey e for th e forma l issue s of shootin g an d editin g an d a theorist's attentio n t o th e relatio n o f text and interpretation . By adopting thi s viewin g strateg y Farock i an d Silverma n foun d that film s contai n man y scene s tha t d o no t fi t smoothl y int o th e kinds of arguments one normally makes about them. To speak abou t a whol e film , an d no t merel y th e element s tha t hel p groun d a n VII

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interpretation, allow s fo r a productive contradictio n betwee n tex t and interpretation . Th e dialogue form richl y dramatizes that contra diction, showin g interpretation t o be not so much a matter of empirical correctness, but rhetoric , philosophy, an d politic s as well. And it is a form tha t is especially appropriate for speaking about films mad e by Godar d becaus e h e i s a directo r wh o alway s trie s t o fin d th e "argument" fo r a fil m b y approachin g i t fro m severa l directions , without a pregive n intention . H e discover s th e argumen t i n th e recorded sound s an d image s instead o f producing i t through them . The dialogu e for m als o offers a way to approac h th e fil m fro m sev eral directions, an d allow s for th e faile d attempt s a s well as the successful one s to be kept. As earl y a s th e mid-seventies , fil m analys t Raymon d Bellou r declared tha t th e clos e analysis of film ha d become a n ar t without a future. "Analysi s in Flames " states bluntly ye t elegiacally : "I n trut h there ar e no longer , o r shoul d n o longe r be , an y analyse s o f film. " What's behin d thi s wis h i n th e guis e o f a prediction? First , there' s the parado x o f having t o sto p the movin g imag e to stud y i t an d o f only being abl e to documen t th e stylisti c an d narrativ e complexit y of the film throug h selecte d "stills. " And then there' s the problem of how t o writ e i n suc h a way a s t o freez e th e imag e i n th e reader' s mind an d the n mak e it move again . Finally, there's the difficult y o f deciding whether one' s close analysis is too close . Film analyses ar e not ofte n goo d reads , weighe d dow n a s the y ar e b y al l th e lists , charts, an d diagram s necessar y t o giv e a complete inventor y o f th e film's element s an d thei r interactions . Ho w d o yo u determine , i n each particular instance , "ho w to make the strateg y of analysis com ply with it s stakes"? After a certain point , i t becomes a mere acade mic exercis e (althoug h stil l fascinatin g an d fu n t o d o i n a fil m classroom) t o demonstrat e tha t on e ca n an d ha s constructe d a ful l and accurate catalog of a film's elements . But Bellour is a dreamer, s o he lets himself drea m o f a future for m o f close analysis, perhaps no t on pape r bu t o n vide o o r film , i n whic h strateg y an d stake s ar e matched, an d tha t woul d contribut e t o advancin g fil m theor y a s well as cinema itself. Speaking about Godard comes as close to that drea m o f film analy sis as anything w e can imagin e o n th e contemporar y critica l scene . Yes, the movemen t o f Godard' s film s doe s get reduced t o "stills " i n this book , bu t th e lovingl y detaile d descriptions—wit h on e voic e building on th e other , agreeing , demurring , qualifying—mak e the m

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move again . And th e strateg y o f analysi s complie s beautifull y wit h the stakes: we come away from th e reading of any one chapter with a three-dimensional menta l map in our head, a virtual geography of all the film' s images , sounds , an d dizzyingl y comple x motifs , rhymes , counterpoints, an d patterns . We also understand th e artistic , philo sophical, an d politica l question s an d answer s tha t ar e being pose d and resolve d throug h tha t figurativ e an d narrativ e patterning . Farocki and Silverman' s clos e analyses ar e exhaustive withou t bein g exhausting, an d jus t close enough no t t o become didactic formalis m on the one hand o r speculative interpretation o n the other . As one read s through Speaking about Godard, i t becomes clea r tha t the dialogu e strateg y emerge d fro m th e natur e o f th e objec t itself , again inductively . I t takes tw o t o analyz e a filmmaker wh o alway s proceeds b y twos . Her e ar e jus t a fe w o f th e pair s tha t organiz e Godard;s films: sound an d image, light and dark , stillnes s and move ment, structur e and chance , male and female , fictio n an d documen tary, classicis m an d modernism , acto r an d character , ric h an d poor , heterosexual an d homosexual, victim and agent, secularit y and spirituality. A s philosopher an d fil m analys t Gille s Deleuz e point s out , Godard i s not a dialectician. Hi s preferred conjunctio n i s not "or, " but rathe r "and" : "Wha t count s wit h hi m i s no t tw o o r three , o r however man y yo u like , it' s AND , the conjunctio n AND . . . . The AND is neither th e on e o r the other , i t is always between th e two, it is the boundary . . . . Godard's ai m i s to 'se e the boundaries ' . . . t o make th e imperceptibl e visible. " Godard' s politics , Deleuz e says , is no longe r a macropolitics o f larg e groupings bu t a whole micropoli tics of boundaries. Farock i and Silverma n ma p man y o f th e bound aries an d muc h o f th e territor y betwee n boundarie s i n Godard' s cinema. But their discours e itself als o dramatizes the infinity o f ways in whic h "and " ca n signify . Together—ye t apar t b y sex , language , nationality, an d training—the tw o authors of this book disprove th e most fundamenta l la w of mathematics: they sho w that on e an d on e can sometimes add up to much mor e than two . Why choose to spea k about Godard ? For Farocki, whose filmmak ing ha s been sai d t o combin e th e poetr y an d visua l imaginatio n o f Chris Marker with th e rigo r o f Alexander Kluge , Godar d ha s alway s been a guide. It is crucial, fo r him , tha t Godar d doesn' t defin e him self agains t commercia l cinema ; rather , h e ha s tor n dow n th e wall s separating ar t an d business . A t th e sam e time , Godar d i s als o th e only Frenc h filmmake r wh o wa s permanently affecte d b y May '68,

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never returnin g t o makin g th e kind s o f films h e was making befor e '68. Farock i als o finds Godard' s particula r kin d o f auteuris m exem plary: wherea s othe r director s requir e a n elaborat e technolog y t o make a city, a landscape o r a n apartmen t thei r own , Godar d need s only hi s imagination; w e must onl y loo k through hi s eyes to fin d a city o f th e futur e i n Pari s of th e past , o r a murder i n a pair o f over sized scissors . Farock i als o feel s tha t h e learne d mos t o f wha t h e knows about quotation fro m Godard . Generally films either coloniz e the text s the y cite , o r fai l t o integrat e them . Godard , however , always permit s th e book s an d painting s fro m whic h h e quote s t o maintain thei r autonomy , while at the sam e time making it possibl e for the m t o reverberat e i n ne w ways . Finally, Farock i i s moved b y Godard's fidelity—b y hi s return i n fil m afte r fil m t o th e sam e con cerns, whethe r tha t i s shootin g wit h natura l light , th e enigm a o f human movement , o r th e us e o f repetition . And , a s in ever y goo d relationship, each return i s both a renewal and a transformation . For Silverman, a semiotic and psychoanalyti c fil m theoris t whos e passionate scholarshi p ha s discovered som e of the most origina l an d compelling relation s betwee n visualit y an d sexuality , th e choic e of Godard is a natural. No other contemporary filmmaker ha s carried on such a sustained o r aesthetically ric h exploratio n o f the psychic an d social implication s o f sexua l difference . Bu t Silverma n als o value s Godard becaus e o f his remarkable capacit y t o surpris e us out o f ou r usual way s o f thinking . N o othe r contemporar y filmmake r ha s s o challenged th e interpretiv e strategie s o f fil m scholar s wh o want t o understand the relation of the shapes and flickerings o n the screen to the subjectivity o f the spectator, t o the institutions o f cinema, an d t o the social context in which film s ar e produced an d consumed . Silver man wanted thi s challenge. She wanted t o work with a body of film s capable o f cuttin g th e theoretica l groun d ou t fro m unde r he r ow n feet, ove r and ove r again. To maximize th e destabilizing potential of Godard's films, sh e began readin g them i n exactly the way he make s them. Sh e gave up tryin g to know i n advanc e where sh e was going, and opene d he r eyes and ears. And before lon g she found hersel f i n a strange an d wondrou s land , wher e th e quotidia n lead s t o th e sub lime, where the fall never happens once and for all, and where it is by displaying a woman's naked buttocks rather than coverin g them tha t one best protects her against the advances of strangers. It shoul d no t g o without mentio n tha t thi s boo k i s by, for, an d about unabashe d cinephiles . Th e lov e o f fil m suffuse s Godard' s

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work fro m th e beginning , firs t America n cinema , the n th e film s o f revolutionary comrade s aroun d th e world , an d mor e recentl y th e films o f hi s immediat e predecessor s i n Frenc h ar t cinem a suc h a s Tati an d Duras . Bu t we'v e alway s know n abou t Godard' s lov e o f film. Farock i an d Silverma n hav e thei r ow n fai r shar e o f cinephili a and the y pu t i t t o work i n analyzin g thes e eigh t films . Whe n the y speak about Godard, they are concerned above all else with the performance of the text, with the unfolding, ove r time, of that complex an d never-to-be-repeated structur e o f inimitable sound s an d image s tha t comprises eac h o f hi s films . Farock i an d Silverma n attemp t t o d o something tha t ha s seeme d nearl y impossible : to theoriz e throug h description. The y as k us t o think , wit h them , through color, light , music, movement, face . This book not onl y show s us anew what i t means t o love cinema , it also reveals the startlin g degree to which Godard' s film s ar e abou t love itself, especially when they are most insistently political. And by the en d o f Farock i an d Silverman' s conversatio n abou t Godard , b y the tim e you hav e realize d tha t thes e dialogue s ar e love letters, yo u can't hel p but be persuaded b y their implici t argumen t tha t Godard the-modernist's tur n t o classicism an d ethic s has only deepene d th e political dimension o f his filmmaking practice . This may seem a surprising claim . But those who rea d thi s book t o the en d ar e likely t o find tha t thei r notio n o f the "political " will never again be the same. CONSTANCE PENLE Y

University of California Santa Barbara

Acknowledgments

We would lik e to than k Eri c Zinner fo r hi s unwavering suppor t fo r this book, whic h bega n eve n before eithe r o f us had a clear concep tion o f what i t might be. We would als o like to thank ou r exception ally overqualified researc h assistants, Amy Zilliax and Greg Forter, for their resourcefulness , assiduity , editoria l acuity , an d passionate intel ligence. The y hav e earne d th e righ t t o hav e researc h assistant s o f their own . Finally, we are indebted t o Marian Stefanowski , wh o produced the film still s included i n this book. A shorter versio n o f chapte r 3 appeare d i n Text zur Kunst no . 2 7 (1997): 21-40, a s "Wort e wie Liebe. " A slightly differen t versio n o f chapter 6 was published i n Camera Obscura no . 3 7 (1996) : 93-12 2 under th e titl e ''I n He r Place. " A few paragraph s o f chapte r 7 come from a piece entitled "T o Love and t o Work to Love: A Conversation about Passion/' published i n Discourse vol. 15 . no. 3 (1993): 57-75.

XIII

one Nana I s an Animal My Life to Live/Vivre sa vie (1962)

HF: My Life to Live (1962) consists of twelve episodes telling the story of Nana (Anna Karina), a young woman whose beauty—as Patrici a Highsmith would say—is dangerous, but only to herself . Pimps , Johns, and artists find i n he r face and bod y th e incarnatio n o f their dreams . As a consequence, Nana's life is not her s to live.

KS: At the beginning of the film, Nana works as a shopgirl in a record store, bu t earn s s o littl e tha t sh e can' t pa y he r rent . Sh e dream s vaguely o f becoming a success in th e movie s o r theater, bu t befor e long slide s into prostitution . A s is customary i n th e movies , Raoul , her pim p (Sad t Rebbot) , doe s no t trea t he r well . Not surprisingly , then, Nan a fall s i n lov e with someon e else , and decide s to break of f her relationship with Raoul . But before sh e can do so, Raoul sells her to som e othe r pimps . A quarrel ensues , an d Raou l an d on e o f th e other pimp s casuall y eliminat e Nana . Th e fil m end s wit h a two minute-long close-u p of her corpse, which ha s been brutally reduce d to a few seconds in the American version . HF: Unexplaine d omission s occu r betwee n an d withi n th e twelv e episodes. These are not omissions of the usual sort, which delete unimportant moments , o r creat e significan t gaps , bu t mor e th e kin d on e 1

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encounters i n a documentary film. With them, the film says something like: "We did not see our heroine during the next two weeks. When we met her again, she was . . . " They confer upon what we are shown the status of found fragments, rathe r than produce d elements. As a result, no scene is subordinated to any other. Instead , every sound and image is equal. Our analysis should respec t this democracy o f being.

Credit Sequenc e KS: The thre e shot s ove r whic h th e credit s ar e displaye d sho w u s Nana's hea d firs t i n lef t profile , the n fro m th e front , an d finall y i n right profile. In each of these shots, Nana's neck and the edges of her profile ar e illuminated, bu t he r fac e i s heavily shadowed . B y shooting fro m thre e differen t sides , the camer a attempt s t o penetrate th e mystery suggested by this darkness. HF: The lightin g i s studied i n this sequence , as in art photography . I t makes an image ou t o f Nana' s face. However , th e sequenc e ha s one strikingly documentary feature, which is the unprofessional flare of ligh t with whic h i t ends. Such a flare would normall y b e edited out of a fiction film, bu t is often included in a documentary film as a way of establishing the verisimilitude o f it s images. By virtue of this feature, as well as of the camera's attempt t o b e exhaustive i n the views it provide s of Nana's face, these shots represen t something lik e police photographs , or a physiognomic study . They offer a documentary o f a face.

KS: Insofar a s the thre e credi t shot s represen t a documentary o f a face, they tilt the film i n the direction o f Karina rather than o f Nana. It is the mystery of the actress rather than th e mystery of the character which i s being plumbed. Bu t these image s ar e not purel y docu mentary; the y are also elements within a fiction film . Consequently , it would be more appropriate t o say that i t is the mystery of Nana as the mystery of Anna Karina which i s a t issu e here . I n thi s respect , these thre e shot s ar e emblematic o f th e fil m a s a whole. More tha n any othe r work , My Life to Live proves th e trut h o f Godard' s clai m that, sinc e "an actor exists independently o f me . .. I try to make use of that existenc e an d t o shap e thing s aroun d i t s o that h e ca n con tinue t o exist " within th e characte r h e plays. 1 But Godar d doe s no t base the "truth " o f Nana o n the "truth " o f Anna Karina because, like

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Brecht, h e abhor s metho d acting . Rather , h e typicall y ask s o f hi s actors that the y let their "realit y suppor t hi s [fiction]/' 2 Godard con strues the categor y "reality " differently fro m fil m t o film, bu t her e it would see m to designate somethin g like "soul." HF: As in the passport photo, the "truth" of Karin a is assumed to reside in her face—or, mor e precisely , he r eyes. Godard seems to believ e the old adag e that th e eyes are the window t o th e soul . O n several occasions i n th e film , th e camer a studie s Karina' s fac e i n thi s way , an d sometimes sh e looks back. I n so doing, she defends herself , bu t sh e is simultaneously exposed.

KS: Over th e las t o f th e thre e credi t images , Godar d write s Mon taigne's maxim: "II faut sepreter aux autres et se dormer a soi-meme" HF: To me, this means: "You'd better take care of yourself o n earth, for there i s no higher force who will do i t for you, and no heaven in which your tragedies will b e redeemed."

KS: The translation i n the Englis h subtitle d version o f My Life to Live renders th e maxim : "Len d yoursel f t o other s an d giv e yourself t o yourself," whic h privilege s th e sel f ove r others . Literally translated , Montaigne's word s would b e better rendered : "On e mus t len d one self to others and give oneself t o oneself," which weakens somewha t the hierarch y o f sel f ove r other s implici t i n th e Englis h translation . However, i n a n intervie w abou t th e film , Godar d offere d a gloss o n Montaigne's aphoris m whic h completel y transform s it s meaning . He said, "My Life to Live will prove Montaigne's sayin g that you hav e to giv e yourself t o other s an d no t onl y t o yourself." This glos s no t only eliminate s th e distinctio n betwee n "lend " an d "give, " but—i f anything—privileges th e othe r ove r th e self . This productive mis reading o f Montaign e wil l be crucia l t o ou r understandin g o f th e film. 1 A cafe. Nana wants to leave Paul. The pinball table KS: In th e firs t sho t o f th e fil m proper , Nana/Karin a sit s with he r back to u s at a restaurant counter . W e thus no w se e her hea d fro m

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the onl y sid e not depicte d i n th e credi t sequence , an d s o complet e our tour o f that par t o f her body. We also pass almost imperceptibl y from actres s to character, fro m documentar y t o fiction . HF: Most o f th e res t o f thi s tablea u consist s o f alternatin g shot s o f Nana and he r estranged husband , Paul (Andre S . Labarthe). Bot h are sitting a t th e restauran t counter , an d bot h hav e thei r back s t o th e camera. Sometime s w e ca n se e Nana' s reflectio n i n th e mirro r i n front o f her , an d onc e Paul' s a s well, bu t i n neithe r cas e distinctly . Because their face s ar e withheld, there i s also an interestin g divorc e of soun d an d imag e i n thi s scene . Th e dialogu e doesn' t see m t o come from th e characters; Paul's and Nana' s words hove r over them, without a bodily grounding . The exchange a t the counter represent s a conversation o f perhap s twent y minutes , bu t i t summarize s th e events o f thre e o r fou r years . We lear n tha t the y hav e a child, wh o has remained wit h Paul ; that Pau l is chronically poor ; tha t Nan a ha s begun workin g i n a record shop , bu t ha s show-business ambitions ; and tha t Nan a starte d learnin g English , bu t gav e u p afte r a time—unlike Paul , who ha s continued wit h hi s music. Years of quar rels are also reprised in the acrimonious words they exchange, partic ularly i n Nana' s "It' s alway s the same thing," an d "I' d just betray you again."

KS: We also discove r somethin g ver y crucia l abou t Nana : we lear n that sh e wants to be regarded as special. Paul is disappointing in thi s respect; he thinks that "everyon e is the same/ ' HF: Twice this scene makes a creative us e of the "pickup. " A pickup is when th e sam e lin e i s spoken a t the en d o f on e shot an d the begin ning o f th e next , an d i t i s used by filmmakers whe n shootin g t o giv e themselves mor e flexibilit y durin g th e editin g process . Jus t befor e complaining tha t Pau l doesn't regar d he r as special, Nana twice says: "You're mean , Paul"—onc e a s we loo k a t hi s back , an d onc e a s we look at hers. Shortly afterward, when Pau l remarks that hi s parents like her, Nan a responds : " I bet. " W e see her lookin g ou t o f fram e i n hi s direction, a s she asks : "What' s tha t loo k for? " A momen t later , sh e repeats the same question, as Paul looks out o f frame i n he r direction. These repetitions ar e a bit lik e reverse jump-cuts, underscoring the fictiveness of the narration . Also, by utterin g th e same words twice, Paul and Nan a emphasiz e them ; i t i s as if they ar e so important tha t the y

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warrant a violation of the rules of filmmaking. A device which i s usually purely technical become s semantic.

KS: These repetitions indicate a desire to communicate which is generally missing from this exchange. Although the conversation provides a crucial exposition, i t is for th e mos t par t a striking example o f wha t might be called "empty" or "narcissistic" speech. 3 Except for these two pickups, the characters do not really address each other. On both sides, the conversatio n i s characterized b y a bitter egoism , eac h characte r insisting on his or her rights and grievances, and scorin g points at the other's expense . Thi s i s formall y signale d i n severa l ways . First , although in other conversational situation s in My Life to Live the camera insistently pans and dollies from on e participant to another, here it shows Nana an d Pau l in separat e shots , as if to stres s their isolatio n from on e another. Also, one character's body fills up the frame i n each shot, a s if to suggest that ther e is no room for the other. In each one , then, Pau l or Nana say s "me, not you" to the other. Finally, the insistence with which th e camera shoot s them fro m th e back encourage s us to see that Pau l and Nana have also turned thei r metaphoric backs to each other. Nana at one point says: "The more we speak, the less the words mean." Significantly, i n light of the Montaigne epigraph , Nan a does not offer anythin g to Paul in this scene, but rather requests a loan of two thousand francs fro m him . He, of course, refuses. HF: Godard's decision to leave these characters' faces out of most of this scene also represents a striking example of that art of omission to which My Life to Live is dedicated. The film is like a drawing which consists only of a few lines , yet i n those line s we can see an entire body , o r a complete landscape . This i s a kind o f via negativa—a portraitur e throug h negation, through what isn' t there, rather than through what is.

KS: At th e en d o f Episod e 1 , thei r quarre l ended , Nan a an d Pau l move to the fron t o f the restaurant , wher e they play a game o f pin ball. This event is shown with a single shot, which—in keepin g with their temporary reconciliation—includes bot h o f them . HF: Nowadays , ou r ear s hav e grow n accustome d t o hearin g a dense sound backgroun d whe n w e g o t o th e movies , but—apar t fro m th e voices of Paul and Nana—in this shot we hear only the pinball machine , or perhaps the steps of a waiter in the background. The silence is aston-

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ishing — it's as if Pau l and Nan a ar e under water , o r i n another worl d from our own.

KS: As Nana takes her turn at the pinball machine, Paul recounts perhaps th e mos t crucia l o f al l th e film' s stories , althoug h w e won' t understand tha t unti l later . Th e stor y wa s writte n b y on e o f hi s father's pupils , an d consist s o f th e words : " A chicken i s an anima l with a n insid e an d a n outside . Remov e th e outside , there' s th e inside. Remove the inside, and you se e the soul." 4 HF: Paul introduces hi s anecdote with th e words: " I don' t kno w why , but suddenl y I remember a story father told. " Godar d als o does no t know why , an d doe s no t wan t t o kno w why , thi s stor y finds it s way into My Life to Live. Inspiration , not premeditation , is his artistic credo . And "inspiration " mean s allowin g thing s t o com e togethe r fro m th e most surprising sources.

KS: Before Pau l recounts this story , the camer a pan s to the lef t unti l Nana i s i n cente r frame , an d Pau l exclude d fro m th e image . An d after Pau l finishes speaking , it holds o n Nan a fo r approximatel y te n seconds, before fadin g to black. During these ten seconds, the silenc e deepens. In both of these ways, the film insists upon the relevance of this story to the figure o f Nana. HF: I agree, bu t th e specia l wa y i n whic h th e face o f Nan a an d th e story about the chicken ar e put together shoul d no t b e forgotten. My Life to Live gathers togethe r differen t elements— a cli p fro m a film, lines from a Poe story o r a pulp novel—an d quote s fro m the m i n a way which maintain s thei r difference . On e could compar e th e film i n this respec t to a Picasso image, in which a feather representin g a bird lies side by side with a piece of wallpaper designatin g hair . Such objets trouves can b e pu t t o analogica l purposes , but—becaus e the y stil l insist upo n thei r specificity—th e result i s alway s a bi t startlin g o r "weird." Althoug h undeniabl y connectin g Nan a with th e chicken, My Life to Live shows u s how miraculou s i t i s that on e thing i n the worl d should be able to explain another .

KS: W e wil l se e late r tha t th e fil m accommodate s relationship s between th e mos t divergen t o f terms , sinc e i t doe s no t predicat e those relationships o n the basis of identity .

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7

2 The record shop. Two thousand francs. Nana lives her life KS: Episode 2 consists entirely of one extende d sequenc e shot . Som e days have perhaps elapsed sinc e the previous episode, but we are not told anythin g abou t them . W e are show n onl y a few consecutiv e minutes i n on e o f Nana' s workin g day s a t th e recor d shop , durin g which nothin g o f particular importanc e happens . Yet from thi s sin gle shot we learn that Nana is broke, that sh e takes no interest in he r work, and that sh e yearns for a different life . HF: At the same time, the camera does not reall y "characterize " Nana ; it is more interested in how she moves. It says: "If we can find out ho w she moves, that will b e enough." And i t does something lik e an experimental dance with her .

KS: The camera seem s more narrativel y motivate d tha n tha t t o me . In an earl y interview, Godar d maintaine d tha t th e camer a i n My Life to Live does no t spy , trap , o r surpris e Nana , bu t "simpl y [follows ] her."5 However, it often doe s much more than that. It pans to the lef t in Episod e 1 in orde r t o be in place before Pau l tells his story. It is as if the camer a know s eve n before h e begins that th e stor y will be significant fo r Nana. And in Episode 2, the camera starts tracking to th e right eve n before Nan a ha s taken a step in tha t direction , i n confi dent anticipatio n o f her doin g s o a moment later . At another poin t in this episode, it pans to the right by the record stacks, more quickly than Nan a ca n g o there, agai n certai n tha t sh e will follow. Eve n i n life, prediction s ca n quickl y tur n int o determinations . Withi n cin ema, there can of course be no question of "free will" on the part of a character; th e enunciatio n alway s dictate s ever y ste p a characte r takes, and ever y word she utters. But the enunciation ca n be "for" o r "against" th e narrativ e which i t induces , and , i n th e cas e of My Life to Live, we would hav e t o sa y that somethin g lie s ahead fo r which i t can't wait, literally, and perhaps metaphorically . HF: Bazin privileged the long take because he believed it to involv e less discursive intervention tha n montage—t o b e less freighted with signification, and therefore mor e "real." 6 The sequence shot i n Episod e 2 is the ver y opposit e o f this ; i t no t onl y anticipate s Nana' s movement s rather tha n simpl y following them , bu t i t als o generates a surplus o f

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meaning. Nana has only to walk back and forth a few times behind the record counter to indicat e everything that he r job entails, and how lit tle interes t sh e takes i n musi c an d he r customers . Bu t a t the en d o f Episode 2, as the othe r shopgir l read s aloud from th e pul p novel , the camera pan s rapidl y first to on e window, wher e i t remain s for abou t ten seconds , and then t o another , wher e i t stays even longer . No w i t exercises no control ove r what come s within it s field of vision. Most of My Life to Live seems almost timeless, but the two windo w pan s offer the unstaged reality of a particular da y in 1962.

KS: Earlier i n th e film , th e documentary—Karina' s face—le d t o th e fiction—Nana's soul . Here the formul a i s reversed: the fictio n lead s back to the documentary . HF: In these two pans , the camera ha s a skillful neoprimitivis m aki n t o the earlies t day s of cinematography . I t stares wide-eyed throug h th e window, lik e a prehistoric animal . Now i t reall y does hope to captur e things i n their "virgina l purity/' 7 And that i s something which can only be see n with eye s from whic h th e scale s o f cultur e an d experienc e have fallen—eyes which hav e been, as it were, washed clean.

KS: Just before th e camer a effect s it s journey t o th e window , Nan a says of the book her colleagu e is reading: "That looks fabulous!" He r colleague responds : "The story is silly, but it' s awfully wel l written. " The words sh e read s sugges t tha t thi s i s a world o f purpl e prose , a world i n which th e character s achiev e tha t qualit y o f "specialness " or heightened realit y Nana craves. HF: Here we hav e another dramatizatio n o f the objet trouve principle. One just has to open a book—even a n unknown one—and the words will spea k to you, like the faces of strangers , or the detail s o f a street. My Life to Live is full of such wonderful an d terrible moments , in which uncanny connections occur .

KS: Th e nove l fro m whic h Nana' s colleagu e read s i s als o abou t speech. The presumably femal e first-perso n narrato r triumph s ove r her masculin e interlocuto r wit h a well-conceived verba l formula . The tex t reads : "H e gaze d a t th e turquoise , star-lade n sky , the n turned t o me. 'As one who live s intensely, logicall y you . . .' I interrupted him : 'You attach to o much importanc e an d power to logic/ "

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9

For a few seconds, I was filled wit h a bitter sens e of triumph. Forgot ten, m y broke n heart . Forgotten , too , th e nee d t o pu t o n a brav e face. Yes , a distinctly elegan t wa y o f escapin g thi s dilemma/ ' Thi s represents anothe r strikin g exampl e o f empt y speech , analogou s i n its one-upmanship t o the conversation i n Episode 1. 3 The concierge. Paul. The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc. A journalist HF: This episode begins with Nan a trying to snea k into he r concierge' s booth t o gra b the ke y to he r own apartment . I t becomes immediatel y evident that she has been locked out due to unpai d rent. (Again, Nana neither gives nor lends. Instead, she owes.) A struggle ensues, first with the concierge, and then with he r mal e assistant. Meanwhile , two chil dren dance the twist. Their continuous movement s provid e somethin g like a time measurement , comparable to the pendulum o f a clock.

KS: Most o f thi s scen e i s filme d wit h a n overhea d camera , whic h pans first to the left, an d then to the right, as Nana runs with her key toward he r apartment , an d i s then dragge d back to the stree t by th e landlady's assistant . Again , th e camer a move s mor e quickl y tha n Nana does , its anticipation o f her actio n suggestin g both foreknowl edge and narrative impatience. The camera could even be said to spy upon an d t o tra p Nana , sinc e it s vantage poin t an d it s high-angl e pans associate it with a surveillance apparatus . HF: At the same time, the camera's overhead positio n i s indicative of a certain emotional distance from the feelings experienced b y Nana herself. It is laconic about the concierge drama, and does not share Nana's hope or disappointment .

KS: Nana ha s nowher e t o spen d th e night , an d decide s to g o to th e movies. But first sh e sees Paul, and he gives her some photographs of her son . Nana i s eager t o se e the photographs , bu t lose s interest i n them a s soon a s she determine s tha t th e chil d resemble s Pau l mor e than herself . HF: My Life to Live cuts to a shot o f a movie marque e with th e word s Jeanne d'Arc. A few seconds later, we see an arm placed around Nana' s

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Fig. 1 shoulders in a darkened movi e theater, bu t are offered n o clear imag e of it s owner, an d no narrative explanatio n a s to who he might be. Later, afte r lookin g a t images from th e scene in which Jeann e d'Ar c prepares for death i n Dreyer's version of her story, we see Nana walking with a man towar d a n illuminated restauran t i n a high-angle lon g shot. Again we are offered n o clarifying close-u p o f the man. Nan a says: "I've said good-bye/' The man responds: "I bought your cinem a ticket." Nan a answers , definitively : "To o bad." Astonishingly , wit h these few details Codar d tell s u s everything we need to know. Nan a has allowed a stranger to put his arm around her in a movie theater in exchange for her admission, and now wants to shake him off. The man is not individuated becaus e he stands for many me n — because Nana routinely solves her monetary crises with arrangement s of this sort. KS: The scene inside the movi e theater i s one o f the mos t importan t in My Life to Live. First, Jeanne d'Arc is a silent film. My Life to Live also aspires t o becom e a silent film . Second , lik e My Life to Live, Jeanne

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11

d'Arc is simultaneously a documentary o f it s actress's face, an d a fiction fil m abou t it s eponymous heroine . Mor e precisely , i t uses th e reality o f Mari a Falconetti' s fac e t o suppor t th e fictio n o f Jeanne's story. Finally, th e scen e Nana watche s fro m Jeanne d'Arc enacts th e same paradigm suggeste d by the stor y about th e chicke n i n Episod e 1: spiritual realizatio n throug h death . Ther e ca n no w be no furthe r doubt tha t thi s is the fat e awaitin g Nana. My Life to Live twice crosscuts betwee n a close-up o f Jeanne's fac e an d a close-up o f Nana's , much a s the camer a focuse s o n Nana' s fac e durin g th e narratio n o f the bir d story . Wit h th e secon d o f thes e close-ups , th e relatio n between th e tw o women become s mimetic : the tear s in Nana's eye s mirror the tears in Jeanne's (figur e 1) . The point at which this mirroring relationshi p i s establishe d come s immediatel y afte r th e pries t asks Jeanne what her deliverance will be, and sh e answers: "Death. " HF: The parallels between Nana and Jeanne seem more diegetic to me. 8 Nana know s that sh e is in a crisis, but sh e doesn't entirel y understan d why. She goes to the movies in the hope of finding out; after all, Jeanne d'Arc i s also a woman i n trouble. Bu t i n fact thi s i s not a situation i n which art comments upo n life, but only one in which lif e imitates art.

KS: My Life to Live shows the word "death" twice during the projectio n of Jeanne d'Arc—once before w e see Nana's tear-filled eyes , and onc e after. Th e secon d time , tha t wor d i s available onl y t o us ; it i s thu s Godard, no t Nana , wh o insist s upo n th e relatio n betwee n he r an d Jeanne. This repetition als o represents a n unequivoca l enunciator y intrusion i n a second way . The word "death " appear s onl y onc e i n Dreyer's film, and when it does so, it is printed in black against a white background. The second citation is added by Godard to the bottom of the image of Jeanne, as her lips form the word "death, " and it assumes a different form . On a second viewing of My Life to Live, this repetition represents th e mos t emphati c enunciator y anticipatio n o f what wil l later happe n t o Nana. I f the fil m ha s until no w given us nothing t o justify the metaphoric alignment of Nana with Jeanne, that is because it i s wha t Nan a wil l become , no t wha t sh e is , whic h link s he r t o Jeanne. It is also because Nana's soul or spiritual meaning will—eve n subsequently—be show n to exceed her. My Life to Live ultimately gives us access to something that is "of" her , but not "in " her. HF: The comparison, then, doesn't impl y an essential similarity.

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Nana I s an Animal

KS: Exactly. The equatio n whic h th e fil m set s up betwee n th e tw o women bypasses what is most specifi c to each as a person. HF: Perhaps one migh t sa y that th e relationshi p betwee n Jeann e and Nana i s at this poin t primaril y "morphological. " Bot h hav e "talente d faces." Wit h th e cinem a machin e whic h scrutinize s faces i n suc h a n unprecedented way , somethin g ne w ha s com e int o th e world : th e facial talent. Onc e Go d was believed to selec t a few peopl e for grea t and meaningfu l things—peopl e lik e the illiterat e Jeanne d'Arc. Nowa days one's appearance can be a vocation: a vocation which the beare r of the face cannot understand , but ha s to follow.

4 The police. Nana is questioned KS: Episode 4 consists of three frontal shot s of Nana's head agains t a brightly li t windo w i n a police station , intercu t wit h tw o revers e shots o f a policeman typin g up a report detailin g he r thef t o f som e money dropped by a stranger a t a newsstand. HF: In the first shot , we se e Nana i n mediu m close-up , with a great deal more "air " abov e her face than i s customary i n filmmaking today . She is as a result strangely decentered . With eac h of thes e shots, the camera move s closer to Nana , until he r face completely fills the frame. The policema n i s concerned wit h Nana' s identity—wit h he r age, her occupation, her address—but th e camera with somethin g very differ ent: her soul or "essence."

KS: This scen e end s whe n th e policema n asks : "Wha t wil l you d o now?" Nana doe s not provid e a direct answe r t o this question. Tha t answer come s instead i n the for m o f the nex t episode , in which sh e for th e firs t tim e turns explicitl y t o prostitution a s a way of solvin g her monetary crisis. Instead, Nana says: "I don't know . .. I . . . I is an other." Wit h thi s quotatio n o f Rimbaud' s famou s line, 9 Nana migh t be said a t least fo r th e momen t t o surrende r precisel y tha t categor y upon whic h sh e has until no w s o strongly insisted: the "me. " She at least diml y apprehend s tha t wha t mos t profoundl y define s he r i s a constellation o f relations which, althoug h interna l to My Life to Live, is externa l t o her . I t i s fo r thi s reaso n tha t th e camer a i s abl e t o

Nana I s an Animal

13

approach somethin g else , wha t w e hav e agree d t o cal l Nana' s strangely impersonal "soul. " HF: Like the credi t sequence , this scen e ends with a white flare . The arrest scen e refer s bac k t o th e credi t sequenc e i n two othe r way s as well: Nan a i s again filme d agains t light , an d a t on e poin t turn s he r head so that she is shown i n profile.

KS: Through thes e parallels, Godard onc e again reminds us of one of the ways in which Nana i s an "other" : we are obliged to look for he r "essence" in the face of Anna Karina . HF: This scene also plays with th e similarit y betwee n filmmaking an d police work. The noise of the mechanica l typewriter suggest s that i t is a difficult an d never entirely appropriate job to document life , whether in a police statio n o r o n a film set . And i n bot h settings , on e neve r knows when the meaningfu l wil l surfac e within th e murmu r o f every day life. Will i t b e when Nan a trades sexual favors for a bed, when she cannot pa y the rent , o r when sh e picks u p a bill which someon e ha s dropped on the street?

5 The boulevards. The first man. The room KS: Episode 5 for th e firs t tim e give s us a number o f point-of-vie w shots. Previously , th e camer a ha s alway s remaine d exterio r t o Nana—sometimes markedl y so , as in he r apartmen t courtyard . Thi s episode begins wit h a traveling sho t o f a street line d o n bot h side s with prostitutes. It is as if Nana is riding down the street in a bus or a taxi, an d considerin g wha t i t woul d mea n t o b e a prostitute. Th e camera makes a swish pan from th e left t o the right of the street, as if Nana has turned he r head. In the next shot , the camera dollies backward, facin g Nan a a s she walks. She looks t o th e right , and , a s th e sound o f her footstep s continue s t o be heard, w e see what sh e sees: first a white wall with graffiti, an d then (a s the camer a tracks furthe r in th e directio n Nan a i s walking) a prostitute standin g agains t th e wall. We are given anothe r sho t o f Nana walkin g an d looking , thi s time t o th e left , an d agai n w e then se e what sh e sees: a prostitut e standing agains t a wall. There is a fade, an d the n w e see Nana walk -

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ing once again down the street . Now she is more the object tha n th e subject o f the look. She is shown i n profile, agains t the wall, like the prostitutes sh e earlie r observed . A moment later , a customer asks : ''How about it?", and Nana agrees. HF: Wha t impresse s m e abou t thi s sequenc e i s tha t Nan a slip s s o imperceptibly fro m conventiona l lif e into prostitution . We never kno w at which poin t in this sequence she makes the decision to begi n selling her body . I t i s as though Godar d mean s to blu r th e dividing line—t o suggest that i t i s not so easy to determin e where conventional huma n interaction ends , and prostitution begins .

KS: A number o f earlier events in the film coul d even be construed a s prostitution, suc h as Nana's exchange of sexual favors fo r a roof ove r her head, or the transaction with the movie spectator. But the film itself insists in the intertitle s tha t thi s man i s officially he r first customer , obliging us to mark the moment that she acquiesces to this solicitation as the beginning of her career as a prostitute. Given that, what is most striking about this sequence is that it contains another dramatic example o f enunciator y anticipation . I n shootin g Nan a agains t th e wall , even before the man enters the frame, i t might even be said thereby to "make" her a prostitute. This would of course be true in any case, but few films would acknowledge their complicity so directly. HF: Part of this shot cannot b e immediately incorporate d int o the narrative, again encouraging u s to loo k with freshly-washed eyes. Before we see the first prostitute at whom Nan a looks as she walks down the street, our loo k travels with her s slowly acros s the white expans e of the wall , with it s mysterious graffiti. Like the unstaged shot of people walking o n the street outside the recor d shop in Episode 2, this is an image which somehow doesn't signify, an image which says only "wall," o r "graffiti."

KS: Inside the hotel room, there are three more shots from Nana's point of view: the shots of the turned dow n bed, the bar of soap resting on a folded towel , and the customer's hand insid e his trouser pocket (figur e 2). These three shots unequivocally signify "bough t sex." HF: At the same time, they pull away from the narrative in the way the wall an d th e graffit i do . The y ar e someho w autonomou s fro m th e scene in which they occur .

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Fig. 2

KS: It is almost a n obligator y featur e o f the legen d o f the prostitut e that sh e will give her body to anyone who can pay, but will kiss only those sh e loves. Nana als o attempts to withhold somethin g symboli c from th e sexua l exchange—to kee p part o f herself fo r herself . Wha t prostitution signifie s in the film is brilliantly rendered by the ensuin g struggle between Nan a an d th e man . I t means tota l egoi c surrender . Prostitution signifie s th e negation o f that psychi c entity which i s so conspicuously on display in the first few episodes: the self or "me." HF: The struggle betwee n Nan a an d he r customer i s shown i n a very stylized way. Nan a flutters he r eyelashes, and opens he r eyes unnaturally wide . Sh e i s Madam e Butterfl y i n Puccini' s opera , or—bette r yet—Louise Brook s in Pabst's Pandora's Box. Bu t this stylization precipitates in the spectator a very visceral apprehension of Nana' s panic.

KS: Godard say s somethin g i n a n intervie w abou t My Life to Live which would seem very germane to this moment: "Ho w can one render the inside? Precisely by staying prudently outside." 10

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6 Meeting Yvette. A cafe in the suburbs, Raoul. Gunshots in the street HF: Most o f this episode takes plac e i n a cafe, where Nan a talks wit h Yvette (Guylain e Schlumberger) , a professional prostitute , and meet s her pimp, Raoul. Yvette offers the standard liberal alibi of the prostitut e in the form o f a narrative of he r life: she was forced to sell her body b y economic circumstance s beyon d he r control (the disappearance of her husband, the hunge r o f he r children). But Nana refuses to defend her self through such an alibi.

KS: Instead, sh e use s th e occasio n t o mak e a radical declaratio n o f responsibility. Sh e tells Yvette: "I think we're always responsible fo r our actions . We're free. I raise my hand—I'm responsible . I turn m y head—I'm responsible. I am unhappy—I'm responsible . I smoke—I'm responsible. I shut my eyes—I'm responsible. I forget I' m responsible , but I am." This is a surprising speech in a film i n which the predeter mination o f the subject i s so fully foregrounded . Bu t through it , Nana effects a certain transcendence : a transcendence o f the libera l alibi , and—beyond that—o f th e role of victim. She assumes full responsi bility for her life in the face of her extremely limited agency, which is perhaps th e ver y definitio n o f ethica l being . Jeanne d'Ar c doe s th e same in the clip we see from Dreyer' s film. Submittin g herself t o th e death whic h i n he r min d i s decreed no t onl y by her captor s but b y divine will, as if it were a fate of her own choosing, she makes her martyrdom a victory, and her death a liberation. HF: Nana goes on to insis t upon what migh t b e called the ''thingness " of things. Sh e tells Yvette: "Everything i s good. You only hav e to tak e an interest in things. After all , things are what they are. A message is a message. Plates are plates. Men are men. And life is life."

KS: The subtex t is : "And a prostitute i s a prostitute—regardless o f how she came to be one." HF: Nana is also saying: "Don't le t yourself b e seduced. There is no resurrection. Things are themselves, not metaphors for some higher meaning. And there is freedom in this knowledge. We can liberate ourselves in understanding that our world is not a trope for a world to come."

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KS: This is because, although My Life to Live is a very spiritual film, it s spirituality is strangely secular . It is of course only under suc h a condition tha t a Christia n marty r an d a prostitut e coul d b e mad e mimetic of each other . HF: Nana's little speech also represents an implicit commentar y o n al l those image s i n the film whic h w e are encouraged t o loo k a t wit h newly-cleansed eyes—upo n al l those image s which resis t narrative or symbolic incorporatio n int o the film, such as the shot of the white wall with the graffiti, or the unstaged street scene. Of course, as My Life to Live shows, such moments never last very long. After Nan a finishes speaking, Yvette goes to get Raoul, and the interpretive machine begins again. Significantly, wha t start s th e wheel s rollin g onc e mor e i s a song . At moments of difficulty, songs always seem very existentially meaningful. KS: The theme o f the son g is something lik e "poo r but i n love. " It is the stor y o f a n ordinar y coupl e who wor k i n a factory an d liv e in a shack by the railroa d tracks , but whos e personal happines s irradiate s even th e lowliest detai l of their lives . As the son g begins, Nana look s first a t a man an d woman sittin g at a table across from he r who seem the ver y embodimen t o f thi s couple . Sh e then glance s t o he r right , and see s a young ma n standin g a t th e jukebox , wh o seem s to hav e chosen the song. He, too, seeks such happiness, and Nana could hel p him fin d it . Finally, her loo k falls o n tw o figures representin g a very different se t of heterosexual options : Raoul and Yvette. The choice is clear: money or love. And once again Nana choose s money . HF: There i s a very skillfu l choreograph y i n this scene . As Yvette and Nana enter the restaurant, and sit down a t a table, the camera hold s on Raoul , playing pinbal l b y the door. Consequently , we don't kno w anything abou t th e room. I t is crucial tha t it s spatial dimension s be mapped out for us, since near the end of the episode, the camera wil l do somethin g whic h woul d otherwis e b e illegible: i t will simulat e a shooting gu n through a series of rapid-fire jump-cuts whic h mov e us from th e table where Nan a i s sitting t o the door. So , after givin g us time to register Raou l as a new but significant presenc e in the film, the camera firs t pan s quickl y t o the left, ove r th e restaurant counte r t o Yvette and Nana , and then—as Yvett e walks over to kiss Raoul—fro m Nana bac k ove r th e restaurant counte r t o Raoul . I t thereb y clearl y delineates the space between Nana' s table and the door.

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KS: The moment whe n th e camera becomes a firing gu n represent s a startling slippin g of the enunciatio n int o th e diegesis . For a few seconds, i t i s practicall y a n agen t i n th e narrative . Thi s slippag e i s emblematic o f th e fil m a s a whole, i n whic h ther e i s an extraordi nary blurring o f th e distinctio n betwee n fictiona l an d enunciator y determination. HF: For a moment, after the firing-gun sequence , we become involve d in a parallel narrative , much a s we do durin g th e playin g o f the "poo r but i n love " song— a narrativ e abou t politic s o r gangsters . Then w e exit this narrative, and are back in the main story. In later Godard films, this digressiv e predilectio n wil l b e give n muc h free r reign , an d wil l sometimes almost engulf the main narrative.

KS: Near th e en d o f thi s scene , Raou l insults Nan a i n orde r t o fin d out i f sh e is a "lady" o r a "tramp." More specifically , h e assail s he r image o f self , he r "me. " "Yo u parro t anything, " h e says , "You'r e ridiculous. . . . You look stupid , an d you r hai r look s awful. " Nana , who has journeyed considerable distance from th e egoism of Episode 1, laughs unoffendedly, thereb y provin g tha t sh e is a "lady," or—a s the film will later put it—"good. " 7 The letter. Raoul again. The Champs Elysees HF: Episode 7 takes place entirely at a table in a unidentified restaurant . At the beginning, Nana sits alone at this table, facing the camera. She is writing a letter to the Madame of a brothel, asking for a job. Behind her is what appear s a t firs t t o b e a window openin g ont o th e Champ s Elysees, but late r can be seen to b e photographic wallpape r replicatin g such a view. At the momen t tha t we understan d thi s trompe I'oeil, th e photograph cease s t o functio n a s a representatio n o f th e Champ s Elysees, and become s a signifier fo r Pari s i n it s entirety . Th e sho t o f Nana writing then says something like : "Paris. A woman. A letter."

KS: In classi c cinema, th e lette r i s often a privileged vehicl e fo r con veying th e interiorit y o f a character. I f it serve s that functio n i n My Life to Live, w e woul d hav e t o conclud e tha t Nana' s interiorit y i s astonishingly banal , hingin g upo n suc h concern s a s how tal l sh e is,

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19

and ho w quickl y he r hai r grows . The content s o f th e lette r ar e completely incommensurate wit h th e tragedy of Karina's face. This scene helps us to understand bette r why, as we are told i n th e bird stor y in Episode 1 , the sou l can be found onl y when th e insid e a s well as the outside has been taken away . HF: Again, Nana confides he r desire to be special. But Raoul respond s that there are only three kind s of women: those with on e expression, those with tw o expressions, and those with thre e expressions . This is his way of telling Nan a that onl y superficia l distinction s separat e one woman who sells her body fro m another—i n othe r words , that the category of specialness does not obtain within the class of prostitutes. KS: Significantly, however , whe n Nan a ask s Raoul what h e think s of her, he answers: "I think you ar e very good. You have great goodnes s in your eyes." My Life to Live thus places the categories of "goodness " and "specialness " i n diametri c oppositio n t o eac h other . I t als o makes "prostitution " a synonym fo r "goodness, " thereby clarifyin g how that activit y ca n be posited b y the fil m a s the agenc y of Nana' s spiritual realization. But what th e categories of "goodness " and "spe cialness" signify i s not yet entirely clear . HF: After Raoul sits down across from Nana, the camera pans from left to right, and right to left, sometimes lining up Nana's face with the back of Raoul's head, sometimes separating them. The camera is a chance generator here . It explores some of the possible constellations availabl e in the give n "tw o people sit across from eac h other an d talk together. " Later, it takes up a position to the right of Nana and Raoul, and pans back and forth between them, exploring other visual possibilities implici t in this given. After Raou l asks Nana to give him a smile, and she mani fests resistanc e t o doing so , those tw o characters engag e i n a "loo k fight," to see who will win. Now the camera occupies a position midwa y between them, as if to avoid taking sides until the fight has been decided. But when Nana smiles, it pans so that she alone is in center frame. KS: Nana ha s los t a t th e leve l o f th e diegesis , but wo n a t tha t o f th e enunciation. HF: At the end of Episode 7, Nana asks Raoul: "When do I start?" Over a nocturnal imag e o f traffic o n the Champs Elysees , Raou l answers ,

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melodramatically: "Whe n the cit y light s go up , the streetwalker's end less beat begins."

8 Afternoons. Money. Washbasins. Pleasure. Hotels KS: This episode begins as an apparent extensio n o f the conversatio n at the en d o f the previou s one , i n tha t Nan a continue s t o as k questions abou t prostitution , an d Raou l continues t o answe r thes e questions. However , certai n difference s immediatel y mak e themselve s felt. A t the beginning o f Episod e 8 , it i s daytime, no t evening , an d Raoul and Nan a ar e driving through th e street s of Paris , not leavin g the restaurant . Mor e importantly, Raoul' s voice-over her e ha s non e of the melodramatic inflectio n o f the preceding episode. HF: This accelerated montag e offer s something lik e a cinematic user' s manual—a "Ho w t o B e a Prostitute i n Pari s in 1962" film. Bu t we lear n less about prostitutio n itsel f tha n the ritual s and activities surroundin g it: medica l inspections , taxes, varying rates , time restrictions , sanitar y precautions, birth control and pregnancy, etc. Once again, reduction is an important organizin g principle . Although ther e ar e more shots i n this episode than i n any other, the camera is throughout ver y discreet: it i s always stationary, and the enterin g an d exiting o f character s fro m the frame emphasize s tha t ther e ar e restriction s o n wha t i t ca n see. The world o f prostitutio n i s only available between the shots.

KS: Prostitution i s also a socioeconomic institution , an d that—fo r the mos t part—i s th e view which i s offered here . Still, it's clear tha t this aspec t o f prostitutio n i s not primaril y wha t interest s Godard , any more than th e corporeal transaction. My Life to Live is concerned with prostitutio n a s a mechanism fo r enforcin g a particular psychi c condition. "Mus t I accept anyone? " ask s Nana, ove r a n imag e o f a n older ma n kissin g he r neck . "Th e prostitute mus t alway s be a t th e client's disposal, " respond s Raou l ove r th e sam e shot . A s the fil m cuts t o a n imag e o f a younger ma n undressing , Raou l continues : "She must accep t anyon e wh o pays. " As My Life to Live helps u s t o understand, acceptin g anyon e wh o pay s doe s no t merel y impl y assuming as one's own the desires of the culture or Other, somethin g which ever y subjec t necessaril y does . Rather , i t mean s havin g n o

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Fig. 3

desire but to satisfy th e desire of any other.11 It signifies th e end of all personal desire, and so the demise of subjectivity a s such. 12 HF: But her customers don' t see m to gai n muc h i n the process . They are scarcely even individuated. After Raou l says: "[The prostitute ] mus t accept anyone who pays," he adds "this one . .. [or ] this one" over the image of the undressin g man , as Nana goes in and out o f frame. The implication i s that th e me n with who m Nan a sleep s are so indistinguishable from on e anothe r tha t a n imag e o f th e sam e ma n ca n b e used to signify several men. In this respect, they are like the stranger i n the movie theater.

KS: Godard deindividualize s Nana' s clients in anothe r wa y as well. A moment afte r th e undressing shot, Raoul repeats the words "this on e . . . [or ] thi s one, " ove r a sho t o f Nan a standin g i n extrem e righ t frame befor e a wall, o n whic h a hanger i s suspended. W e see onl y part o f he r hea d an d shoulder . A t first ther e i s no signifie r o f mas culinity with which to associate the words "this one." Only with th e final repetitio n o f thos e words doe s a male han d reac h int o fram e and plac e itsel f o n Nana' s shoulde r (figur e 3) . Again, th e categor y

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"customer" undergoe s a radical devaluation . I t i s a s i f a symboli c male han d rest s at al l times upon Nana' s neck , whic h ca n b e indiscriminately actualize d by any male hand . HF: Whereas events in My Life to Live generally unfol d i n real time, in Episode 8 there is an incredible speeding up of the narrative. Weeks or possibly eve n month s ar e covered. Also, although Raoul' s voice tell s Nana what she can expect from a life of prostitution, the images show her alread y livin g tha t life . The soundtrack describe s the future, and the imagetrack depicts that future as if it were already happening. KS: The camer a can' t wai t fo r Nan a t o liv e throug h th e remainin g hours o r day s befor e sh e full y accede s t o a lif e o f prostitution . I t demands that sh e begin immediately .

9 A young man. Luigi. Nana wonders whether she's happy HF: At the beginning o f Episode 9, Raoul describes in voice-over wha t happens during a typical day off in the life of a prostitute. The rest of the episode shows us the very different kin d of day off to which Nan a has become accustomed: her pimp doesn' t take her to the country to visit a child, nor does he later take her out to dinner o r to the movies. Instead, she is obliged to accompany hi m to a bar where he has a business meeting, and wait for him till h e has finished hi s conversation. This scene makes very clear that Raou l does not regard Nan a as in any way special. KS: However, i t introduce s a new character , th e youn g ma n (Pete r Kassowitz), fo r who m Nan a is special. When h e find s ou t tha t sh e would lik e a cigarette, h e provide s he r wit h a box o f Gitanes . An d Nana responds with a dance which represent s the onl y diegetic realization o f her show-busines s dreams , as well—significantly—as he r moment o f greatest self-affirmation . HF: Nana i s not the only performe r i n this scene . Luigi (Eri c Schlum berger), a character who ha s no other narrativ e function than to cheer Nana up when he r pimp ignore s her on her day-off, offer s his virtuoso rendition o f a boy blowing u p a balloon. It is typical o f the nouvelle

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vague to give an actor free space in this way to show what h e can do, and to revel in the resulting overflo w o f exuberance. Raou l Coutard' s camera eve n move s backward s a s Luigi blow s u p the imaginary bal loon, so that i t has room to expand. These two performances operat e at the expense of the narrative. In fact, we almost forget i n this scene that we are watching th e story o f a woman's slid e int o prostitution . And durin g th e performance, ther e i s a moment whic h escape s not only narrative , but semantic determination , a moment whic h i s completely surreal. The camera cuts from a shot of Nana dancing to a dolly shot of a wall, a window, and a radiator. It moves vertiginously aroun d the room , as if intoxicated, coming to another wall , anothe r window , and—finally—Raoul an d Luigi conversing a t their table . Retroactively , we understan d tha t th e shot record s Nana' s poin t o f vie w a s sh e dances around the room, but for some seconds we gawk again in that wide-eyed way at the sheer "thingness" of the walls, the windows, and the radiator .

10 The Streets. A bloke. Happiness is no fun KS: As in Episode 5, Nana is once more shown waiting for a customer on th e street , an d then—havin g secure d him—discussin g th e pric e of he r service s with hi m i n a hotel room . An d jus t a s the custome r earlier complained "There' s never an ashtray," here he objects: "The y could hav e supplie d chairs. " However , wherea s i n Episod e 5 Nana was like a traveler i n a strange country , whos e languag e sh e coul d hardly speak , no w sh e i s a long-time residen t o f tha t land , wit h a professional comman d o f th e idiom ; sh e keeps up a steady patter o f conversation wit h th e ma n a s sh e attempt s t o determin e wha t h e would lik e her t o do , an d manifest s n o surpris e whe n h e ask s for a second woman . HF: Nana goes down the corridor o f the hotel i n search of one, opening on e door afte r another . N o eroti c secret s ar e reveale d i n the process. The female inhabitant s ar e for the most par t naked , but pose more like artists' models than prostitutes . KS: A few moment s later , Nan a return s wit h anothe r woman , wh o discusses money discreetl y off fram e wit h th e man , whil e we look a t

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Nana beginning to undress in front o f an illuminated window. Nana asks: "Shall I strip too?" The man responds , off-frame : "No , it's no t worth it. " "S o I'm t o d o nothing?" Nan a protests . " I don't know, " answers the man ambiguously . Nana's wish to be special here finds a powerful revers e expression . No t onl y doe s sh e belong t o th e cate gory of prostitutes, which i s earlier established a s a profound levele r of differences, bu t sh e is even passed ove r in tha t capacit y for some one else . When thi s scen e i s pu t sid e b y sid e wit h th e shot s ove r which Raoul' s voice utters "thi s on e . . . (or) that one, " prostitutio n again emerge s a s the mos t extrem e for m o f subjectiv e negation : a s the eradication both o f desire and the self. HF: Nana sits down in profile before the window, her head a small shape in the bottom of the frame, and lights a cigarette. Her insignificant position i n the imag e seems an index o f he r general unimportanc e i n th e eyes of he r client. Then the camera reorders the priorities of the scene: it dollies toward Nana, and tilts down, until she fills the center of the frame.

KS: Once again , Nan a lose s at th e leve l o f th e diegesis , but win s a t the level of the enunciation . HF: After a long hiatus , we onc e agai n hea r the suggestiv e note s o f Legrand's music , which saturat e Nana' s image with pathos . Not man y details are disclosed about Nana' s lif e in this episode, but we hav e the feeling that we are learning something profound .

KS: Now, at last, we understand wh y prostitution represent s the very quintessence o f "goodness. " Th e meanin g o f th e stor y abou t th e chicken which Pau l recounts i n Episod e 1 is also retroactively avail able: the "soul " can emerg e only afte r th e "outside, " or demands of the body, and the "inside, " or "me," have been removed. This double eradication implies death as inexorably as being burned a t the stake. 11 Place du Chdtelet A stranger. Nana the unwitting philosopher HF: This episode takes plac e almost entirel y i n a Paris restaurant, an d consists o f a conversation betwee n Nan a an d a philosophe r (Bric e

Nana Is an Animal

25

Parain). The camera cut s bac k and forth betwee n the two conversationalists over an extended perio d of time, with only one variation: at a certain poin t Nan a look s at the camera. At the beginning o f the conversation, she is wearing th e fin-de-siecle black velve t an d white fur coat she earlier wears on her day off. However, she is not accompanied by Raoul , and at a certain poin t sh e introduces the topic o f love, with great emphasis , suggestin g tha t somethin g ha s changed i n her life since she sat dejectedly on the bed in the hotel room. KS: Thi s scen e alread y point s ahea d t o th e nex t one , i n whic h the youn g ma n read s alou d t o Nan a fro m Poe' s The Oval Portrait. Nana seem s t o b e happil y i n love , whic h i s th e condition , pa r excellence, o f "specialness. " This reversion t o he r earlie r obsessio n is Godard' s wa y o f suggestin g tha t on e doe s no t acced e with out protes t o r resistance to the egoi c surrender suggeste d by the previous episode. We begin t o understand wh y a certain amoun t o f textual violenc e i s necessar y t o brin g abou t th e enactmen t o f tha t paradigm. HF: The conversation begin s when Nana , havin g joine d th e philosopher at his table, finds herself immobilized in her attempt to speak by a certain self-consciousnes s abou t wha t sh e wants to say. In response, the philosophe r recount s a story fro m Dumas' s Twenty Years Later about Portos , a character who thinks for the first tim e i n his life afte r setting a bomb i n a cellar, and is as a result kille d by the falling debris . In so doing, h e adds anothe r objet trouve to the large collectio n of found object s in My Life to Live. KS: I like to think tha t thi s stor y is somehow reflexive . Porto s is like the Hollywoo d actio n film , whic h woul d b e destroye d i f i t stoppe d for a moment t o register the processes of thought. My Life to Live, on the othe r hand , i s a film whic h ca n accommodat e a philosophica l conversation withou t being incapacitated . HF: It also helps u s to believe that a prostitute ca n think abou t ho w to put on e foot i n front o f the other withou t losin g the power t o walk. Indeed, this scen e has so many realisti c details—bot h characters , for instance, sometime s spea k a t the same time , o r one interrupts the other b y speaking mor e loudly—tha t i t make s on e imagine tha t a prostitute and a philosopher actually are speaking together about what

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words mean . But when Nan a look s at the camera , we remembe r tha t we are seeing Anna Karin a at work.

KS: Nana's anxiet y tha t he r words will not communicat e he r inten t reintroduces a topic whic h wa s firs t introduce d i n Episod e 1 : th e topic o f empt y speech . Nana tell s the philosophe r tha t i t would b e better t o liv e without speech , sinc e th e mor e w e talk, th e les s th e words mean . Thi s is almost a n exac t repetitio n o f what sh e say s t o Paul. But the philosophe r object s tha t w e can't liv e without speak ing, not onl y because without speec h we couldn't communicate , bu t because without words we couldn't think . H e then advance s an existential model for approachin g "true " speech. 13 'True" speech is what the philosopher describe s as speaking "i n a way that i s right, doesn' t hurt, say s what ha s t o b e said , doe s wha t ha s t o b e don e withou t hurting o r bruising," o r what Nan a call s "[speaking] i n goo d faith. " Significantly, th e philosopher's verba l ethics once again entail s spiritual realization through th e death of the everyday. This death mean s "detachment," a signifier whic h implie s th e withdrawal o f cathexi s from th e thing s tha t normall y engros s us most fully : th e world an d the self. In other words, it signifies somethin g like the abandonmen t of desire and the abdication o f the "me. " HF: Here, however, the agency of death or detachment i s not prostitution, bu t silence . The philosophe r tell s Nana : " I believ e on e learn s t o speak wel l onl y whe n on e ha s renounce d lif e for a time. That' s th e price . . . one mus t pas s through th e death o f lif e without speec h . . . there i s a kind of ascetic rule that stops one from talking well unti l one sees life with detachment. " Silenc e does not involv e the kin d of subor dination t o th e will o f anothe r implie d eithe r b y prostitutio n o r deat h at the stake.

KS: And th e extinctio n abou t whic h th e philosophe r speak s is no t final, lik e that whic h await s Nana, bu t lead s to "resurrection" ; i t is the conditio n fo r livin g again , mor e profoundly . Fro m "everyda y life" on e rises , throug h th e deat h o f silence , t o a lif e whic h th e philosopher call s "superior. " I t is somehow surprisin g tha t thi s con versation occur s here , sinc e th e possibilit y whic h i t hold s ou t i s seemingly negate d i n th e nex t episode . At the en d o f th e film , w e find no t "true " speech, but unbroke n silence ; and no t th e deat h o f the everyday, but Nana's literal demise.

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27

12 The young man again. The oval portrait Raoul trades Nana HF: In Episode 12 , My Life to Live's aspiratio n to becom e a silent film is finally realized . The first scen e in this episod e consist s o f thre e parts , separated b y fades, in which Nan a and the young ma n converse wit h each other i n a hotel room . I n the first an d th e last , what the y sa y is communicated throug h intertitles , referring u s back to Dreyer' s Jeanne d'Arc.

KS: But the silenc e of this episode is not th e silenc e about which th e philosopher speak s in th e previous one , or even th e silenc e of litera l death. Her e there i s linguistic communication , bu t i t i s represente d via the graphic rather than th e phonetic signifier. HF: Significantly, this i s also the onl y scen e in My Life to Live to drama tize an amorous relationship. I t seems that Godar d mean s us to under stand the silence through which Nan a and the young me n converse as the languag e o f love . The middl e par t o f th e hote l scene , i n whic h silence give s wa y t o speech , woul d thu s see m t o b e definitionall y "unloving."

KS: In that sectio n o f Episode 12 , a male voice reads aloud from Poe' s The Oval Portrait Since the young ma n i s shown readin g fro m a Poe volume, we at first assume that we are hearing his voice. However, the speaker suddenl y identifie s himsel f a s Godard b y addressing Karin a directly, a s her husban d an d director . The Oval Portrait "is our story, " he says, "a painter portraying his love." 14 As you have just suggested , the crucial concept here is not "love, " but something which is at least in this context implicitly opposed to it: "portraying." The Oval Portrait tells the stor y of an artis t who paints hi s wife's portrait , an d thereb y robs her o f life. Godar d seem s to be telling us that he , too , seek s t o subsume his wife to a mortifying representation . HF: There is another reaso n why Godar d compares the Po e story to his and Karina' s story : i n bot h cases , there i s a rigid rol e division. I n The Oval Portrait, th e ma n paints , an d th e woma n i s painted . Similarly , Godard films, and Karina is filmed. And, during the brie f interlud e dur ing which Godar d an d Karin a ar e present i n perso n i n My Life to Live, the ma n talks, and the woman listens . There i s a Svengali, or rathe r a

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Sternberg ide a at work here : the woman ha s "talent," bu t sh e herself does no t understan d it . Onl y th e mal e artist ca n conjure th e timeles s masterpiece out of the woman's quotidia n flesh.

KS: W e hav e o f cours e hear d th e Oval Portrait story man y time s before i n My Life to Live. The narrative s abou t th e chicken , Jeann e d'Arc, the artist's wife, and Nana herself ar e all about the same thing, what migh t b e called th e "unmaking " o f a subject. Th e philosophe r could also be said to offer a version of this tale, but his version differ s significantly fro m th e others. Not only is the death he celebrates voluntary an d temporary , an d no t onl y i s it th e vehicle fo r arrivin g a t "true" speec h an d a superior kin d o f subjectivity , bu t i t i s also no t gendered. I n th e stor y which i s usually relate d i n My Life to Live, on the contrary , deat h i s involuntary an d permanent ; i t provides acces s neither t o "true " speech no r a higher for m o f subjectivity ; an d i t is inflicted b y a man o r a group o f me n upo n a woman. A woman's subjectivity i s eradicated by and for a masculine other . HF: When Godar d say s "thi s i s our story, " then , h e woul d see m t o mean no t onl y The Oval Portrait, but My Life to Live in it s entirety. H e would see m to b e comparing himsel f no t just t o Poe' s artist, bu t als o to Raoul , and Nana's nameless clients.

KS: Godard als o liken s himsel f t o thes e mal e figure s ever y tim e h e shows his camera runnin g ahea d o f Nana. He says: "I cannot wai t fo r the momen t a t whic h Karin a ha s bee n subsume d t o m y imag e o f her—the momen t a t which th e las t brush-stroke ha s been painted , and th e portrait i s complete. I long for the moment i n which special ness will yield to goodness, in which Karina will be completely Nana." HF: But in this episode, there i s often a poor matc h o f text an d image. Karina is not always filmed i n a way which permit s u s to alig n he r with the words Godar d read s aloud (figur e 4) . This frustrates ou r attempt s to creat e a n analogy betwee n Nana , the artist' s wife, and Karina , on the one hand; and Raoul, the artist, and Godard, on the other .

KS: In Episode 1 2 of My Life to Live, Godar d dramatizes his attempt t o "speak" o r "paint " Karina—t o subordinat e he r subjectivit y t o hi s meaning. H e even literalize s th e firs t o f thes e metaphors b y readin g aloud i n a n otherwis e silen t scene . But unlike th e painter/husban d

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Fig. 4

in Poe' s story, the filmmaker/husban d canno t completel y assimilat e his model t o hi s art . Cinema' s abstraction s ar e never a s absolute a s those o f painting; a film ca n giv e us the "portrait " o f a woman onl y in th e guis e o f th e "model. " An d becaus e Karina' s body an d voic e provide th e necessar y an d ineradicabl e support s fo r Nana' s fiction , she, too, becomes on e o f the enunciator s o f My Life to Live. Godard himself suggest s a s much i n Episod e 12 . Through th e nonmatc h o f Karina's bod y wit h th e Po e text , h e allegorize s al l o f th e way s i n which sh e might b e said to "tal k back" from th e sit e of Nana, trans forming th e authoria l monologu e int o a n intersubjectiv e dialogue . Godard als o reverse s th e Po e stor y a t th e en d o f My Life to Live. Whereas i n The Oval Portrait it is the wif e who dies , and he r artisti c equivalent wh o survives , here the formul a i s reversed: Nana i s murdered, but Karina lives on. HF: In the las t sequence of My Life to Live, Raou l is shown driving Nan a and the other pimps toward the location where Nana will be exchanged for a n agreed-upon price . Along th e way, we ar e shown mor e documentary details : the Ar c d e Triomphe, shopper s o n a Paris street, a

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Fig. 5 crowd line d u p outside the screening o f Truffaut's Jules and Jim. Thes e images say: "This is a true story. These events really happened."

KS: And then documentar y once again emphatically gives way to fiction. Lon g before Nan a an d th e other s arriv e at the locatio n fo r th e rendezvous, the camera has taken up residence there. It rushes to the scene o f Nana's death , a s if toward a long-awaited fulfillment , an d waits for the narrative to catch up with it . HF: Within minute s of Nana's arrival, she has been first exchanged, and then indifferentl y murdered , in the mos t radica l denial imaginabl e o f her "specialness" (figure 5). Raoul drives away, leaving her lifeless body behind. The other pimp s do the same. Only the camer a remain s wit h Nana, and for two lon g minute s it pays homage to he r "goodness. "

KS: Nana i s an anima l wit h a n outsid e an d a n inside . Remov e th e outside, there's the inside. Remove the inside, and you see her soul.

two In Search of Home r Contempt/Le Mepris (1963 )

KS: Contempt (1963), a film sho t i n cinemascope , tell s the stor y o f a group of people who are involved in the making of a movie based o n The Odyssey: a producer , Jerr y (Jac k Palance) ; a scriptwriter , Pau l (Michel Piccoli) ; the scriptwriter' s wife , Camill e (Brigitt e Bardot) ; a translator, Francesc a (Georgi a Moll) ; and a director, playe d by , an d named after , Frit z Lang. It derives its basic story line from a novel by Moravia, A Ghost at Noon. HF: The produce r i n Moravia' s nove l believe s tha t th e Anglo-Saxon s have the Bible , bu t th e Mediterranea n countrie s hav e The Odyssey ] This i s a strang e idea ; i t allow s Frenchme n an d Italian s t o clai m Odysseus a s their prototype , bu t tell s American s tha t the y mus t b e content with Adam.

KS: It is in keeping with this subdivision o f the cultura l heritage tha t Moravia's producer decide s to shoo t th e fil m i n Ital y rather tha n i n Greece. But early in the novel , we learn tha t h e has commissioned a German filmmake r t o mak e th e fil m (p . 76) . It seem s that text s d o not respec t geographical boundaries . HF: Godard appropriates this detail from Moravia , and gives it a narrative rationale: He has Jerry explain to Pau l early in Contempt that a film 31

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about The Odyssey must hav e a German directo r becaus e Schlieman n discovered Troy. Classical Greec e can apparently onl y b e reached via contemporary Germany . And h e make s the scriptwrite r French , and the producer American. In Contempt, The Odyssey thus travels even further than it s protagonist .

KS: Godard borrow s mor e tha n th e narrativ e premis e o f Contempt from A Ghost at Noon; much o f th e film' s dialogu e als o comes fro m that text . Bu t almost everythin g derivativ e undergoe s a sea-chang e in the proces s of being transferred fro m nove l t o film. Godar d ofte n gives lines to on e characte r whic h ar e spoken by another i n A Ghost at Noon. 2 H e als o reconceive s th e relationshi p betwee n th e write r and hi s wife, an d dramaticall y transform s th e semanti c fiel d o f th e narrative. HF: Contempt could b e said to offe r a cinematic translation of A Ghost at Noon. In this respect, it mimics the story it tells, within which a book is als o transforme d int o a film. Bu t Contempt challenge s ou r usua l assumptions abou t translation . I t show s that a translation i s not th e same text i n another language , but rathe r something entirely new .

KS: The difficulties i n adaptin g a book t o th e scree n ar e at the fore front o f Contempt's narrative . Here , w e lear n no t onl y tha t ever y translation produce s a new text, but als o that ever y attempt t o iden tify th e meaning of the origina l tex t i s doomed t o fail. The producer , director, an d write r canno t agre e abou t ho w The Odyssey should b e filmed becaus e eac h ha s a different ide a o f what tha t boo k i s about . As Godard say s i n a shor t essay o n Contempt, 3 tha t fil m coul d b e called "I n Searc h o f Homer" ; The Odyssey is for al l intents an d pur poses irrecoverable, disseminated int o a cluster of competing transla tions. Contempt ends before th e Odyssey film ha s been completed , s o we never lear n which on e finall y prevails . But this doe s not matter , since it is finally Contempt itself, rather than the film within the film , which provides Godard's cinematic translation o f The Odyssey. HF: Contempt begins with a n image o f a studio compoun d i n Rome . Raoul Coutard i s producing a shot. This image tells us : "Contempt is a film abou t the magi c of cinema." I n the same way, a film openin g wit h a shot of a man waiting i n an alley with a revolver proposes : "This i s a film abou t crime. " Raou l Coutar d move s o n hi s camera doll y slowl y

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down a vertically place d track, accompanied b y a sound-boom opera tor and two assistants. To his left are the buildings of the Cinecitta compound, an d behin d hi m th e hill y suburb s o f Rome . Coutard an d hi s Mitchell camera are filmed from a low angle, much like an approaching train i n a Western. This i s a surprising us e of Contempt's cinemascope lens, since it emphasizes the vertical over the horizontal axis.

KS: Coutard shoots Francesca, who walks toward us in a line parallel to the track, reading aloud from a text. In the English version of the film , all we hear are the tragic chords of Georges Delarue's music, but in th e French version a male voice-over speaks the credits to Contempt HF: When rea d i n thi s way , th e credit s see m t o becom e par t o f th e filmic narration , as if a narrator were to say: "This is the story of Camille and Paul , and ho w thei r live s changed whe n the y entere d th e mag netic field of the movie business." Francesca disappears from the frame as Coutard's camera approaches the extra-diegetic camera ; clearly, this camera i s positioned t o film no t her , bu t Coutar d an d hi s Mitchell. At the end of the shot, the mal e voice-over confirm s tha t cinem a itsel f is the object of this shot: " vThe cinema/ sai d Andre Bazin, 'substitutes for our loo k a world which conform s to ou r desires/ Contempt is the story of this world."4

KS: After comin g to a halt, Coutar d pans with his camera, which als o has a scop e lens , unti l h e i s facin g us . Th e extra-diegeti c camer a shoots him a t this point from a low angle. Coutard then tilts his own camera down until we seem to be looking directly into the lens. Contempt cuts to Camille and Paul in bed (figur e 6) . They are shot from a high-angle position , exactl y lik e that assume d b y Coutard's camer a in th e previou s shot . Camill e an d Pau l thu s see m t o com e a s th e reverse shot to the shot which ends with a close-up of Coutard's lens, and with th e words promising us a world conformin g t o our desires. It is as if the first sho t of Contempt signifies "camera, " and the secon d "image." An d o f cours e wha t figure s her e a s "image " i s primaril y Camille, i n al l of he r nake d beauty . He r reclining bod y eve n seem s made to order for the scope format . HF: To make the equatio n betwee n Camill e an d spectacl e eve n mor e emphatic, sh e begins almos t immediatel y drawin g visua l attention t o the part s o f he r body . Sh e asks Pau l to loo k a t eac h o f thes e bodil y

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Fig. 6

parts, either directl y o r i n an out-of-frame mirror , an d to tel l he r i f he likes it. The two see m to b e repeating a lingual gam e they hav e ofte n played before; the words they speak are a mantra proving the existence of their corporea l love . But Camille's bod y connote s "art " mor e tha n "sexuality"; the camera transforms i t into a reclining sculpture, and the red and blue light i n which the first and last parts of this scene are shot locate Camille in a world apart from our own. The pan also conveys this aura of otherworldliness i n the middle, when Camille is displayed in full color, since the illuminatio n i n which he r body i s bathed i s so unnaturally brilliant . Godar d thereby subverts the demands o f the producers , Carlo Pont i and Joseph Levine, who wanted hi m to mak e Bardot erotically available to th e spectator. 5 Although h e shows her nude, he protects her against the overtures of strangers.

KS: This scene , whic h consist s o f a singl e shot , als o perform s a n interesting inversio n o f a traditional for m o f praise: the blazon. The blazon ha s been use d by poets fo r centurie s to describ e the beautie s of th e huma n body . Conventionally , i t proceed s throug h a mal e anatomization o f a woman's charms , and coul d be said to be territorializing i n effect . Here , however, th e woma n perform s th e anato mization herself , an d orchestrate s th e praise . And , althoug h th e blazon for m i s generally assume d t o be at the servic e of fragmenta tion, tha t i s not it s function here . Camille anatomizes he r body no t in orde r t o divid e i t int o a collection o f par t objects , bu t rathe r t o establish tha t i t is adored i n ever y detail—as Pau l says, "totally, ten derly, tragically. " Throug h he r self-blazon , Camill e dream s o f a n Edenic plenitude: of a love adequate to the desire for love, and a language capable of expressing it.

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35

HF: But there i s something ambiguou s abou t thi s paradise . No t onl y does the adjective "tragically " soun d a discordant note , but when Paul touches Camille she also says: "Gently, Paul ! Not so hard." I n addition, neither Camill e no r th e camer a seem s to spea k with a n unfalle n lan guage. Bot h the words sh e utters an d the image s they generat e pro claim their insufficiency .

KS: The blazon for m i s by very definition postlapsarian , sinc e it proceeds through analog y rather than assertion . Before the Fall, language was referential: Go d spoke , an d i n speakin g created ; Ada m named , and i n naming spok e things in their essence . A rose was a rose was a rose. Bu t i n th e worl d w e inhabit , i t i s only possibl e t o tal k abou t things throug h referenc e t o what the y ar e not (lip s through rubies , breasts throug h snow , teet h throug h ivory) . The blazon for m thu s articulates th e trut h abou t languag e a s we kno w it : it , too , alway s works through translation . This is made especially evident here, since the transfe r i s not fro m on e word t o another , bu t rathe r fro m imag e to word. Sinc e language alway s carries us away from wha t i t speaks , Camille's dream of a prelapsarian languag e is just that: a dream. 6 HF: In the first two shot s of Contempt, the aestheti c cod e or pretex t is determinative. Ever y detail in the opening shot signifies "cinema, " an d seems calculated to violate the imperatives of the scope image. And, in addition t o bein g inspire d b y sculpture an d the blazo n form, the second shot i s organized throug h th e three color s which wil l reappea r i n every subsequen t scene : red , yellow, an d blue. 7 Bu t Contempt als o includes shot s which coul d b e called "documentary"—shot s wher e life, rather than art, provides the inspiration.

KS: For Godard, "documentary " signifie s abov e al l "contingency" — the "unplanned. " Contingenc y occupie s a privileged position withi n his aesthetic ; h e alway s hopes , a s h e himsel f put s it , t o fin d "th e definitive b y chance." 8 Hence hi s insistence upo n natura l light , hi s refusal t o write a final scrip t before shooting , hi s reluctance t o direc t his actors , and—a s w e saw in th e las t chapter—hi s hop e tha t the y will bring their "truth " t o his fiction. Hence , too, those shot s i n My Life to Live which insist upon th e "thingness " of things. HF: The third shot in Contempt dramatizes another way in which documentariness ca n come int o pla y i n Godard's cinema : the narrativ e can

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be elaborated on the basis of the options suggested by the location. In this shot , Francesc a meet s Pau l at Cinecitta, the film studi o outsid e Rome, and tells him that the film industr y i s in bad shape. They mov e from lef t t o right , i n search of Jerry, the camera followin g them . As they approac h the studio, the camera tilts u p to the words "Teatr o n. 6," which were written at some time in the past above the doors of the studio. Here is the inspiration for everything that follows. Jerry emerges from th e building, and begins hi s declamation abou t the end of cinema ("Only yesterday, there were king s here , kings and queens, warriors and lovers, all kinds of real human being s . . . now they're goin g to buil d five or ten stories of Prisunic. This is my last kingdom!") Whil e delivering thes e lines , he walks bac k and fort h o n the two levels of a ramp, which become s hi s impromptu stage . Jerry has a deep voice, which reverberate s off the bare stone walls, further helpin g to create the outdoor theater already suggested by the location. KS: In this shot , th e vertical axis is once again strongl y marked. Pau l walks down a hill toward Francesca , who come s to greet him o n th e set of Cinecitta . The street o n whic h h e walks extends fro m th e rea r center fram e t o the fron t cente r frame . Godar d enjoy s playin g wit h the scop e format i n this way, making it accommodate wha t i t would seem to exclude. HF: But the spaces to the right an d left o f the street o n which Pau l and Francesc a wal k ar e canceled ou t by the shadows o f Cinecitt a buildings. Althoug h h e breaks th e compositional rule s i n a litera l sense, Godar d thu s metaphoricall y obey s them . H e diminishes the breadth o f the scope imag e i n this wa y for muc h th e same reaso n that ther e are sometimes moment s of silence in an opera. The scope image represent s a kind o f "crescendo, " an d a crescendo require s the contras t o f a diminuendo. A moment afte r closin g th e theatre curtains i n this way , Godar d open s the m u p again. Jerry walks bac k and fort h o n the elevated ramp , deployin g th e full breadt h o f the scope image. KS: Interestingly, Frit z Lang will suggest a few moments later that th e scope format i s only good for snakes and burials. He thereby puts the second scen e of the film , i n which th e scop e format i s so splendidl y utilized, onc e agai n unde r th e sig n o f th e Fall. So far, th e worl d o f Contempt seems more Christian tha n Homeric .

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HF: The Cinecitt a scen e contain s anothe r referenc e t o th e Fall , thi s time routed through Goethe' s Faust Jerry offers Paul a job for which he will hav e to sel l hi s soul, an d h e accepts it . Fo r a $10,000 check , h e agrees to rewrit e Frit z Lang' s Odyssey script alon g mor e commercia l lines. Later, Camille will refe r to the period before Paul's involvement i n the movi e busines s a s a lost paradise . Watching thi s transaction , we should b e fortified agains t temptation . Yet we, too, canno t hel p bu t succumb to the seduction of the movi e business. We watch enthralled, as Jerry drives hi s red convertible the few meter s from hi s studio to hi s screening room , and those same meters magicall y expan d int o the lit tle forest through which Pau l and Francesca walk.

KS: In th e Cinecitt a scene , Pau l speak s French , Jerry English , an d Lang ofte n German . Francesc a convert s thi s babbl e int o sens e b y translating wha t eac h ma n say s to th e other. 9 Bu t communicatio n often seem s based upon misunderstanding , sinc e Francesca's transla tions ca n deviat e dramaticall y fro m th e original . "Yesterda y I sold this land," say s Jerry, and Francesc a translates: ""Hier, il a vendu tout" ("Yesterday, h e sol d everything") . Jerry says , "Thi s is my las t king dom!," and Francesca translates: "C'est la fin du cinema" ("It's the en d of cinema") . A t on e point , th e translatio n eve n anticipates—an d perhaps inspires—th e original , indicatin g tha t th e relatio n betwee n the two can be reciprocally determining . HF: While at Cinecitta, Paul meets Fritz Lang, and sees the latest rushes from the Odyssey film. Eve n before the screening begins , producer an d director ar e quarreling abou t th e meanin g o f Homer' s text. Fo r Lang, it's abou t th e conflic t o f individual s agains t circumstances , an d fo r Jerry, abou t Penelope' s infidelity . Afte r th e screening , thi s quarre l assumes another form. Jerry complains that what h e has seen is not "i n the script. " "Naturally , becaus e i n the script , i t i s written, and o n th e screen it' s pictures , motio n pictur e it' s called," respond s Lang . Again, Godard insist s upon the nonequivalenc e o f words and images.

KS: Later in the film , Lan g will make clea r that hi s is an aestheti c of pure mimesis . "Th e worl d o f Home r i s a real world, " h e tell s Pau l approvingly, "an d th e poe t belongs t o a civilization whic h i s developed i n accor d an d no t i n oppositio n t o nature. " Th e cinemati c adaptation o f The Odyssey shoul d b e guide d b y th e sam e aes thetic—by " a belief i n nature such as it is." Lang, too, seems to thin k

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he is living in a prelapsarian world . As we would by now expect, thi s fantasy o f perfect commensurabilit y betwee n cinem a an d natur e i s not realized in the rushes. Rather than representations of nature, they provide representation s o f representations: shot s o f statue s of Penelope, Minerva, Neptune , an d othe r Gree k gods. Even the three shot s near th e en d o f th e rushe s sequence , which depic t actor s instead of statues, ar e heavil y stylized . Lang' s flesh-and-bloo d Penelope , fo r instance wears heavy eyeshado w aroun d he r eyes , and dee p red lipstick on he r lips . She also stands agains t a yellow wall, reprising th e three primar y color s whic h figur e s o centrall y i n th e sho t wher e Camille and Paul lie in bed. In his original treatment o r "scenario" for Contempt, Godard wrote that the frame stor y should be filmed with as much natura l ligh t a s possible, an d th e character s i n i t onl y lightl y made up . Th e cinemati c adaptatio n o f The Odyssey, on th e othe r hand, shoul d be full o f colors of a much greate r brilliance, contrast , and violence . Th e overal l effec t shoul d b e o f a Matisse o r Braqu e painting i n the middl e o f a Fragonard composition , o r an Eisenstei n shot i n a film b y Rouch. 10 The end result canno t b e described i n precisely these terms, since the frame narrativ e does not always derive its inspiration fro m "chance. " However , Lang' s rushes ar e every bit a s artificial a s a Matisse painting or a shot from a n Eisenstein film . HF: The shots o f th e Gree k statue s could als o b e rea d no t a s a literal quotation o f the image s of Lang' s film, bu t a s Godard's dramatizatio n of th e proces s o f makin g a film fro m materia l foun d i n a book o r a museum. It is as if Jerry has told Lang , "Make the images in a museum move, giv e the m fles h an d blood, " an d wha t w e ar e show n i s th e beginning of that process. In the first image of the rushes, the statue of Penelope is animated through a zoom. In the second, the bust of Min erva i s shown turning first to th e left , an d then bac k again, as if coming t o life . I n the thir d sho t o f th e rushes , the camer a zoom s int o a low-angle close-u p o f Neptune , again suggestive o f motion . The statues are also partially painted , indicating tha t th e marbl e i s beginnin g to yield to flesh. Eventually the statues are replaced b y human figures, as if the transition to lif e has been successfully effected.

KS: But this reading still underscores the incommensurability o f original and translation: whether we translate from lif e to art, or from ar t to life , th e en d resul t i s something new . Your reading als o suggest s that what passes for the original may itself be a translation.

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HF: After the shots of the statues come four of the most "documentary' ' shots i n the whole film: the two shot s of the mermai d i n the Mediter ranean Sea; the shot of Odysseu s swimming towar d th e rock ; and the final shot of sea and rocks. Here the camera is subordinated eve n mor e fully tha n i n the Teatro n . 6 scene to wha t i t films; the densit y o f th e water and the slipperiness of the rocks pose a strong resistanc e to cinematic control. These four shot s differ s o much from th e stylization an d artificiality of the others, that they seem to belong more to a film abou t the making of Fritz Lang's Odyssey than to that film itself .

KS: In the rushes sequence, the character s no t onl y look at represen tations o f th e gods , bu t als o tal k abou t them . Whe n seein g th e images o f Gree k gods , Jerr y says : "O h gods , I lik e gods ! I kno w exactly how they feel." He seems to think that he , as producer, i s the twentieth-century equivalen t o f Zeus. HF: Lang respond s reprovingly , "It' s no t th e god s who hav e create d men, but me n who hav e created the gods." This remark is in par t nar ratively motivated : Lan g hope s with i t to depriv e Jerry of hi s spurious divinity. Bu t the diegetic directo r als o speaks here for hi s extra-diegetic counterpart. Godard , too, wants to revers e the creation story.

KS: Contempt makes the god s a metaphor fo r a principle whic h ha s been variously interpreted acros s the ages, and which migh t perhap s best b e characterized a s "fatality. " Fo r the Greeks , this principl e o f fatality was in every sense exterior. For Lang, as we learn in the scen e where Camill e read s in th e bathroom , i t i s both interna l an d exter nal—"circumstances, " but als o "conventions. " Fo r Freu d an d fo r many other s i n th e twentiet h century , fatalit y i s an interio r force , which migh t b e called th e "drive " or the "unconscious. " However , even i n thi s las t capacity , fatalit y retain s man y o f th e daemoni c attributes o f th e Gree k gods, sinc e i t ofte n impel s u s to ac t agains t our ow n interests. 11 To say that me n creat e th e god s which gover n them complicate s thi s model. It suggests that w e alone ar e responsible for th e destin y to which w e are nevertheless full y submitted . Bu t it is not yet clear what this destiny represents in Contempt HF: Lang, who typically communicates i n quotations from grea t poets, thematizes the gods at one point in this scene through a passage taken from Holderlin' s "Vocatio n o f the Poet." 12 The passag e h e quotes has

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three variants. The first suggests that ma n nee d hav e no fear "s o lon g as Cod isn' t there/ ' Th e secon d propose s tha t ma n wil l b e safe "s o long a s Go d i s there. " I n th e thir d an d definitiv e variant , i t i s th e "absence" o f Go d which reassure s man. 13 Whatever th e god s repre sent i n Contempt, i t i s something tha t w e simultaneousl y need , and fear. The various reference s i n the film t o Athena an d Poseidon—th e one Odysseus's protectress, the other hi s enemy—suggest th e same.

KS: Paul remain s aloo f fro m th e discussio n o f th e gods , joinin g i n only to complete a Dante quote. The conversation seem s to touch n o answering emotiona l chord . Bu t a t th e ver y en d o f th e Cinecitt a scene, Godard intercut s a shot o f the Poseido n statu e into the fram e narrative, a s if to indicat e tha t th e god s also preside ove r his story. The immediately succeedin g events make the sam e point, eve n mor e forcefully. Afte r th e screenin g o f the rushes , Paul introduces Jerry t o Camille, and Jerry invites the two of them to his house for a drink. He claims that ther e is room onl y for Camill e in his car, and proposes t o Paul tha t h e tak e a taxi. Camill e register s he r discomfor t wit h thi s arrangement, bu t Pau l insists that sh e go with Jerry (figur e 7) . As the red convertibl e race s ou t o f th e image , Camill e crie s "Paul, " an d he—with equa l bu t a s yet uncomprehendin g anguish—responds : "Camille." A shot of Poseidon follows, reiterating what their cries also communicate: "This is a fateful moment , the moment when a malign destiny seizes control of Paul and Camille's lives." HF: I t take s Pau l hal f a n hou r t o reac h Jerry' s house , an d b y the n Camille seem s quit e estrange d fro m him . Pau l say s tha t h e i s lat e because o f a n automobil e accident , bu t h e narrate s thi s stor y s o unconvincingly tha t neithe r Camill e no r Jerry believes it . Pau l repeat edly asks Camille what i s wrong, but h e doesn't reall y want to know .

KS: Through action s blindly committed , an d word s half-consciousl y uttered, Pau l seems to hav e set the fat e machin e i n motion . And , as is ofte n th e case , on e mistak e seem s t o precipitat e others . Know ing—and a t the same time not knowing—that Camill e is angry with him, Pau l nevertheless flirt s wit h Francesc a insid e Jerry's house . A second infidelit y reinscribe s the first . Tw o flashback sequence s sug gest tha t th e ne w difficultie s betwee n Pau l an d Camill e ar e com pounded b y thei r radicall y differen t way s o f understandin g th e events of the last hour .

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Fig. 7 HF: In both flashbacks, the image of Camille bein g helpe d int o Jerry's car b y Paul figures centrally . Godar d need s to repea t thi s ca r image because he films it the first time roun d so casually. In a Hitchcock film , the importanc e o f such an action i s always heavil y underscore d a t the moment i t occurs. We see the look of agitation o n Scotty's face per haps fiv e time s befor e Madelein e jump s int o th e ocean i n Vertigo (I958). Suc h shot s mak e tha t even t happe n i n slow motion , an d s o give u s the time we need to grasp it s significance. Bu t in Contempt, there i s nothing i n the original stagin g o f the car scene to tell u s that this moment will be the starting poin t for the res t of the film. KS: Th e secon d flashbac k i s anchored t o Paul' s poin t o f view , bot h because it includes memories available to him, but not to Camille, and because it takes place immediately afte r h e has asked Francesca where the bathroom is . In this flashback, th e image of Camille entering th e car appears onl y once, an d seem s of no greate r importanc e tha n th e rest of the memories, which are all from event s of the same day. HF: When Pau l recall s thi s image , h e should kno w tha t he' s not in a low-budget Hollywoo d film ; h e won't b e able to wake up, as if from a dream, and say: "It was just a B-picture." Bu t once again, he refuses to understand. Instead , he tries to recall everythin g tha t ha s happened since hi s loving conversatio n wit h Camill e i n the morning, a s if to locate the problem elsewhere. KS: Th e firs t flashback , o n th e othe r hand , seem s t o deriv e fro m Camille, sinc e i t follow s directl y fro m a shot o f he r starin g reflec tively into space , with he r back to us. It refers twic e to the ca r scene, as if to suggest that Camill e already imputes heavy significance t o it .

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In one of these images, Jerry reaches out greedily for Camille , and i n the other Paul seems to give her to Jerry, making clear precisely what that even t meant to her. The other images do not connec t up to anything els e in the film . The y see m to refer t o earlier , idylli c moment s with Paul . I say "idyllic/ ' becaus e i n eac h o f thes e image s Camill e offers hersel f t o the look , jus t a s she does in the secon d sho t o f Contempt. As if to mak e th e analog y between thes e image s an d th e sec ond sho t o f th e fil m mor e emphatic , i n severa l o f the m Camill e looks int o a mirror . Her e w e hav e a ver y classica l heterosexua l tableau: th e ma n love s th e woman , an d th e woma n love s hersel f through th e man's love for her . HF: During the ensuing quarrel in their apartment, Pau l again repeatedl y asks Camille what th e proble m is . And agai n thes e question s ar e really requests to her to provide some explanation othe r than the salient one. KS: It is clear t o us , if no t i n th e fulles t sens e t o Paul , that Camill e thinks tha t h e ha s used he r a s a sexual lur e to consolidat e hi s business relationship wit h Jerry. But she is not ye t entirel y certai n wha t this mean s fo r thei r relationship . What Pau l say s at an y moment o f the quarre l ca n ti p th e scal e unpredictably i n on e directio n o r th e other. Throughout thi s scene , both Camill e and Pau l pick up a book for a while, an d rea d alou d fro m i t a t random , withou t knowin g what kin d o f provocation i t will introduce int o thei r dispute . Twice the phone rings , and introduce s mor e contingenc y int o th e quarrel . There i s even a diversionary incident : Camille' s mothe r calls , an d Paul involuntarily reveal s that h e believes Camill e t o be having a n affair. Thi s man, wh o s o casually leaves his wife alon e with a potential rival , nevertheles s worrie s abou t ho w sh e spend s he r fre e time . Over the thirt y minute s thi s scen e lasts, Camille fall s i n an d ou t of love again and again , until suddenl y the die is decisively cast agains t the continuatio n o f th e relationship . Here , w e hav e a narrativ e enactment o f the emergence of the definitive ou t o f chance. HF: This scene is more psychological than is usual in a Codard film, bu t nevertheless it remains true to one typical principl e of Godardian composition: a refusal of conventiona l predication . Codard doe s no t say: "Paul an d Camill e quarre l for hal f a n hou r ove r hi s failure t o protec t her against the sexual advances of a strange man , but neithe r o f the m ever articulates the mai n issue. " Instead , he says: "Man i n hat . Ma n i n towel. Blond woman. Woman i n blac k wig. Sheet s on couch . Sheets

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off couch . Dishes on table. Dishe s off table. Love . Anger. Contempt . Tenderness/' Thi s reluctance to "declare" run s counter to the psychological aspect s of the scene. It is as if Godard wante d t o film al l the possible variations on the theme: a man and woman fight . KS: I think th e astonishin g arra y of emotions an d mode s o f interact ing which thi s scen e dramatize s i s also mean t t o conve y th e com plexity o f a feelin g lik e "love, " o r "disappointment. " Lov e ca n modulate fo r a moment int o ange r o r eve n contemp t withou t ceas ing to be love. And disappointment alway s secretly harbors the hop e that thing s will somehow turn ou t differently . HF: Yes, I agree, but I had something differen t i n mind. It is perhaps better illustrate d b y what Godar d doe s with th e bathroom door . This door ha s no glass, which multiplie s it s possibilities. Godar d exploit s them all , in a kind of declension. Pau l first open s the door, goe s int o the next room, and closes the door. The next time he steps through the opening i n the door, without openin g or closing it. The third time , he moves the door, but still steps through it. The larger scene works according to the same principle. The architecture of the apartment offer s Paul and Camill e a certain numbe r o f path s for going fro m on e room t o another, as well as a certain number of positions from which the camera can see them, and they proceed to exhaust these possibilities. KS: The door woul d see m to work, then , somethin g lik e the "Teatr o n. 6 " sign in the Cinecitt a scene . HF: The whole apartmen t provide s this kin d of documentary provoca tion. I t figures as a nonunderstandable space , one whose topograph y cannot b e cinematically mastere d or even deciphered. The characters are always appearing i n unexpected places , as if from a labyrinth, so Godard must abandon the tracking shots he uses elsewhere in the film. The apartmen t i s not a stage—it i s not subordinate t o the author's intentions, but rather dictates what happen s and what we see. KS: This scen e seem s a t firs t fa r remove d fro m th e projec t o f Lang' s film. However , thi s impressio n i s shown t o be dependen t upo n a n implicit identification wit h Paul , who "sees" without "seeing. " In his and Camille' s apartment , ther e i s a vaguel y neoclassica l femal e statue. At one poin t durin g th e quarrel , h e hit s th e statue , firs t o n

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the breasts, and the n nea r th e genitals . As he doe s so, he sa y inconsequently: "Sh e doesn't soun d the same all over." For him, the statu e is only a hollow piece of base metal. But because of its neoclassicism, and also because all of the other statue s in Contempt represent divin e figures, th e statu e canno t hel p bu t signif y somethin g lik e "house hold god. " And Paul's violence toward i t seems to prefigure an d per haps even predetermine the moment o f greatest sexual aggression i n his quarrel wit h Camille , when h e slap s her o n th e face . I t appear s that i n th e worl d o f Pau l and Camille , a s in th e world o f Odysseus , one mus t b e carefu l no t t o ange r th e gods . With th e sam e indiffer ence, Pau l rummage s throug h a book o n Roma n eroti c art . It , too , says nothing t o him . Bu t Jerry has given Pau l the book t o help hi m write th e Odyssey script. An d unconsciously , Pau l ha s wrapped hi s bathtowel aroun d himsel f i n the styl e of a Roman toga. Albeit mediated by other texts, and even other cultures, The Odyssey is somehow present. HF: In the bathtub , Camille read s aloud from a book about Frit z Lang. The passag e is one i n which Lan g argues against crime s of passion ; it solves nothin g t o murde r a sexua l rival , h e maintains . Again , The Odyssey speaks through thi s text. And a moment late r we realiz e tha t Odysseus i s not the only characte r i n Contempt who migh t b e said to have a sexua l rival , an d fo r who m th e questio n o f a n adequat e response is begged. Again, The Odyssey speaks through a n apparentl y unrelated text.

KS: But Paul does not see m to register th e relevanc e o f Lang' s words to hi s ow n life . H e continues t o thin k o f himsel f a s someone wh o produces texts , no t someon e wh o i s produce d b y them . A s i f t o emphasize thi s point , Pau l a t on e momen t durin g th e quarre l sit s down a t the typewriter, an d begins to compose a passage of a novel. Significantly, par t of what he writes comes almost verbatim fro m th e main narrativ e of A Ghost at Noon.14 HF: The quarrel scene is one of the longes t scenes in the histor y of cin ema. It takes up approximately one-thir d o f Contempt, an d it i s shown in something lik e rea l time. Astonishingly, i t nevertheles s sustain s our interest—not onl y becaus e of the endless variations which i t rings on a limited se t of themes, bu t becaus e of it s rhythmic modulations . Tw o shots are particularly significan t i n this respect . I n the middl e of tellin g

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the story about Martin and the flying carpet, Camille comes in her black wig to the door of the bathroom wher e Pau l is taking a bath. Sh e lifts her hands to her wig, and steps with he r left foot forward. The camera films this shot from insid e the bathroom. Contempt then cuts to a corridor sho t of Camille, standing i n the same position, and still liftin g her hands to her artificial hair. She turns around and walks out of the frame, and, with thi s movement , immediatel y quicken s the pace of her story. The rhythm of the scene is thereby dramatically altered. We experience this moment as a break, but not an ellipsis; the scene continues uninter ruptedly, but there has been a qualitative change. KS: Ther e i s on e interruptio n i n th e forwar d movemen t o f th e scene—that provide d b y the fantas y sequence . But like Paul's flash back, thi s sequenc e i s inserted int o a verbal exchang e which contin ues immediately after . Righ t before tha t sequence , Pau l asks : ''Wh y don't yo u wan t t o mak e lov e an y more? " Camill e responds , "Ver y well, come on , but quickly. " As she speaks , she throws of f th e towe l she ha s bee n wearing . Afte r th e fantas y sequence , Pau l cover s he r naked bod y onc e agai n with th e towel , while saying : "Don' t b e lik e that." Onl y a fe w second s see m t o hav e intervene d betwee n Camille's offer an d Paul' s response. HF: The fantasy sequenc e i s a "loop" whic h begin s and ends with an image o f Camille lyin g nake d o n a beige rug . Ever y one of its other images als o show s Camille , sometime s displaye d nake d o n a rug, sometimes fully clothe d and drinking a cup of tea, sometimes dresse d in outdoor clothe s and running through a landscape. KS: These images indicate t o us what Pau l and Camill e have in com mon, eve n a s thei r commonalit y i s lost : he r body . Surprisingly , though, the y don't alway s reprise earlier moments in the film. Sometimes they anticipate later moments . HF: The words spoke n b y Camille an d Paul are subject t o the same "loop" structur e a s the images. Bot h a t the beginning an d the end , Paul says: "I had often thought for some time that Camill e could leave me, I had thought o f that a s a possible catastrophe, no w I was in the middle of the catastrophe." Camill e the n adds : "On other occasions , everything ha d happene d as if i n a clou d o f unconsciousness , o f delightful complicity . Everythin g happene d with a n unplanned rapid -

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ity, mad, enchanted, and when I found mysel f onc e again i n the arms of Pau l I was unable to remembe r what ha d happened." This exchange is based upo n a passage from A Ghost at Noon (pp . 31-32) . I think Godard draw s upo n thi s passag e her e becaus e it i s so melodramatic . And h e uses it during a sequence which, due to it s extreme condensation, i s also melodramatic . Thi s sequence coul d b e a trailer for a film based on Moravia' s A Ghost at Noon. It shows that the beaut y o f char acters, situations, and location s ca n becom e very concentrated whe n they are pared down to their essentials.

KS: In this respect, the fantasy sequenc e is in marke d contras t t o th e scene into which it is inserted. During the quarrel, there are in a way no essential images . Every image ther e ha s a certain irresoluteness ; every imag e ca n b e undone an d ofte n i s undone b y the next . Th e black wig Camille don s a t one momen t an d remove s a t anothe r i s a metaphor fo r this volatility. HF: Generally , Godar d doe s no t distinguis h i n thi s wa y betwee n "essential" an d "inessential " images . Unlik e mos t fil m directors , h e doesn't us e some images as weak link s in a narrative chai n leadin g t o strong ones , but onl y image s which, in addition t o servin g a narrative function, als o hav e independen t value . Bu t th e quarre l scen e i s his attempt t o dramatiz e th e momen t prio r t o th e establishmen t o f "th e irrevocable"—the momen t when everything still seems possible, when anything could happen.

KS: The fantasy sequenc e offer s no t a n interna l monologue , bu t a n internal dialogue or duet, which—like a unicorn—is literall y impossible but imaginaril y necessary . This is especially remarkabl e i n tha t this due t occur s a t a moment o f estrangement ; i t is togetherness i n separation. The fantasy sequenc e als o dramatizes Pau l and Camille' s fall ou t o f ostensibl e immediac y an d int o self-consciousness . The y are no longe r punctuall y ''inside " either thei r relationshi p o r thei r bodies. As Paul says: "Even under the excitation of the senses, I could examine [Camille's ] gesture s wit h a cold observation , jus t a s she , without doubt , coul d in her turn observ e mine." HF: But as we noted earlier, there i s no prior momen t i n the film whe n they ar e fully "present " eithe r t o themselve s o r to eac h other. Eve n in

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the bedroo m scene , paradis e i s less an actualit y tha n somethin g t o which Camille aspires.

KS: Curiously, though , althoug h ther e i s no prelapsarian momen t i n Contempt, th e Fal l is itself subjec t t o a repeated reenactment . Pau l sells his sou l t o Jerry fo r $10,000 , and—a s w e will see—h e betray s Camille not once , but thre e times. In addition , a s I noted a momen t ago, the paradis e which Pau l and Camill e lose seems to lie as muc h in the futur e a s in the past. I n som e respects, this is a very Christia n idea: ther e ca n onl y b e origina l si n i f mankin d keep s sinning . I n order for th e Fal l to have happened, i t must g o on happening . Wha t is new in the telling of this story is the idea that that fatal even t nee d not b e reconfirmed; i t coul d als o be undone. Althoug h Paul' s original betraya l o f Camill e i s code d a s fatal , Camill e give s hi m tw o opportunities t o rewrit e history . Consequently , whe n h e fail s t o d o so, it is as though paradis e has been los t all over again . HF: I find i t od d tha t we are given acces s to Camille' s thoughts i n this sequence. In Moravia's novel, we never know what she is thinking. She remains as much an enigma to u s as she is to he r husband.

KS: Contempt i s very differen t i n it s treatmen t o f Camill e fro m A Ghost at Noon. Hers is in man y way s the organizin g subjectivit y o f the film. Contempt has already declared its allegiance to her by giving such narrativ e impor t t o th e momen t whe n sh e enter s Jerry's car , and b y encouragin g u s to rea d he r subsequen t recollectio n o f tha t moment ove r an d agains t Paul's . It doe s s o again i n thi s scen e no t simply o n one , bu t o n thre e separat e occasions . Whe n Pau l hit s Camille in the face , th e camer a stay s with he r rather tha n cuttin g t o him a s he justifie s hi s behavior. An d when Pau l object s t o Camill e using "dirt y language, " th e camer a give s he r th e opportunit y t o show tha t sh e ca n mak e obscenit y beautifu l b y holdin g o n he r i n close-up as she produces a list of taboo words. Finally, in the fantas y sequence, Contempt permits Camille to do what A Ghost at Noon does not: t o lamen t th e paradis e whic h sh e neve r had , bu t whic h — through Paul' s fatal act—sh e has nevertheless lost . HF: Certain shots in this sequence are evocative of the bedroom scene. Camille i s several times show n lyin g o n he r stomach horizontally , as

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she does i n the earlie r scene . But the fantasy sequenc e als o contain s two shot s i n which Camill e occupie s thi s positio n vertically , he r face toward th e camera . Again, Godard want s t o sho w tha t h e can over come th e constraint s o f th e scop e format. Lik e the condensatio n o f language and image, these exercises in horizontality and vertically distinguish th e fantasy sequenc e from th e res t of th e apartmen t scene . They have a legibility which the res t of the scene lacks.

KS: Only at the very end doe s the camera once again move in such a way as to exploit the rectangularity o f the scope format. I n this shot , Paul an d Camill e si t facin g eac h othe r acros s a table wit h a lamp. The camer a track s wit h a n inexorabl e mechanica l precisio n fro m one t o the othe r an d back again , eac h time pausing when i t reache s its destination. As it does so, Paul turns the lamp on and off . HF: The starting poin t for thi s sho t i s aesthetic rathe r tha n documen tary—the forma l cod e rathe r tha n chance . Althoug h th e camer a sometimes reveal s Pau l o r Camill e whil e h e o r sh e i s speaking , it s movements ar e for th e mos t par t unmotivate d b y what transpire s i n the conversation.

KS: The turning o f th e ligh t o n an d of f durin g thi s sho t ha s some thing o f th e dram a an d significanc e o f th e gam e i n whic h youn g girls pull petal s off a daisy, while saying : "He loves me, he loves m e not." The fateful momen t o f decision is about to arrive, the momen t that will set everything in granite. Whether th e light is on or off will be decisive in this respect . HF: Throughout th e scene, Paul has been wearing a hat. At the end of the scene, as he leaves the apartment, h e takes a gun with him . He is beginning t o understan d tha t h e i s insid e rathe r tha n outsid e th e world of texts, but h e still thinks that h e can choose what nove l he will inhabit. I n his mind, he is Dean Martin i n Some Came Running (1958).

KS: The nex t scene , which take s place inside a movie theatre , con tains anothe r horizonta l trackin g shot . Here , the camer a track s back and fort h fro m Pau l an d Jerry, wh o ar e sittin g t o th e righ t o f th e auditorium corridor , t o Lang and Camille , who are sitting to the left . They are all facing a stage, which woul d normall y mak e a conversa-

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tion difficult , bu t th e camera' s movemen t put s th e character s i n communication wit h eac h other . HF: Once again , the 35mm camer a i s a piece o f machinery , lik e an artillery cannon , a tool machine , or a crane. It does no t subordinate itself to what it films, but insists upon its own autonomy. On the stage, a woman sings , while couple s wander bac k and forth. Lan g and Jerr y are trying t o decide i f they wan t he r for the Odyssey film. Ever y tim e one of the main character s speaks , Godard extinguishe s the sound of the music. This is another code, like the turning on and off of the light . In addition, i t is Godard's wa y of comically obeyin g a rule of soun d mixing whic h h e almost alway s breaks : the rule tha t "background " noises should be lowered during conversations . KS: The camera also tracks to the right and left i n reverse shot, facin g the stage . But here it derive s its inspiration fro m contingency . I t fol lows the couples as they drift bac k and fort h o n the stage. HF: In the theatre, Pau l reverts to Jerry's interpretation o f The Odyssey: Odysseus take s s o long t o retur n t o Penelop e afte r th e Trojan War because her infidelity ha s made him unhappy. Lan g asks Camille if this is Jerry's versio n o f Homer' s tex t o r hi s own. The question i s mor e meaningful than it might at first seem. As Paul speaks, he appears for a moment to be reading The Odyssey through hi s own life . Is he not also a man who believes his wife to be unfaithful? KS: Of course, it is not onl y wives who can be unfaithful, bu t transla tions. I n tellin g th e stor y o f Odysseu s throug h hi s own , Pau l migh t be sai d t o b e producin g precisel y suc h a translation . An d a s i f i n immediate response , Lang now makes his speech o n behalf o f a pure mimeticism. Just a s Homer was faithful t o nature , w e must b e faith ful t o him . Th e "form " o f The Odyssey "cannot b e tampere d with. " We can only "tak e it or leave it." HF: Although Lan g insists strenuously upo n the necessity of remainin g true t o Homer' s Odyssey, he i s inadvertentl y th e mos t importan t spokesman i n the film for the impossibility o f doing so . In the rushes scene, he is able to give meanin g to the Greek notio n o f fate onl y by invoking first Dante and then Holderli n on the subject of man's relation

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to the divine, and thereby shifting from a pagan to a Christian frame of reference. KS: I n s o doing, h e suggest s tha t th e meanin g o f on e tex t doe s no t reside within it , but within th e world of other texts. Lang also makes clear that the Mediterranean cultura l patrimony canno t be separate d off fro m th e Anglo-Saxon. We read Genesis through The Odyssey, and The Odyssey through Genesis . HF: Jerry asks Camille why she contributes nothin g t o this story . She responds: "Becaus e I don't hav e anything to say/' Camill e is the only one of the four majo r character s who never offer s a verbal interpreta tion of The Odyssey—the onl y one who makes no claim to stand out side it, to relate to it from a distance. KS: Instead, sh e accepts her preassigned rol e from th e start , an d sim ply persist s i n it . Sh e is Penelope , whic h i s t o sa y th e wif e wh o expects her husban d t o slay the rivals . That i s her narrativ e functio n and raison d'etre. HF: That Paul , too, has a narrative function an d raison d'etre becomes more and more eviden t to us, if not to him. The "Capri" chapte r of Contempt begins with a shot of Camille sitting on a boat. She is shown in mediu m close-up , against the blue backdro p of the Mediterranean. The nex t sho t reveal s that som e meter s awa y from he r are two me n with the Mitchell camera we saw in the first scene. A shot later, we see Camille onc e again , now from a n overhead vantage . I n these thre e shots, there is an implicit exchange between the woman an d the camera technicians, as if both side s were thinking: "Well , her e is a woman and a camera, we could ge t busy." Pau l come s int o frame , asking : "What ar e you doing?" The scene is now shot from the position occupied a moment ag o by the camera. Paul announces tha t h e has been defending Jerry's theory—the theor y that The Odyssey is the story of a man who loves his wife, but who i s not loved in return. The Odyssey is now ver y close . There ha s been a virtual condensatio n bot h o f the diegetic an d extra-diegetic cameras , and of the Homeric an d Godardian couples. As if to make this yet more evident, Godard , in the guise of Lang' s assistant, tells Pau l and Camille to move away, since they are "in the shot." They proceed to the back of the ship, while preparation s are made to begin shooting Lang' s film.

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KS: At one moment i n this scene, Godard's camera once again asserts its autonomy fro m Lang's , but onl y s o as to reiterate it s devotion t o Camille. Sitting in a deck chair with hi s back to the Mitchell an d th e crew, Paul asks whether the actresses who have agreed to perform th e part o f mermaid s i n th e sho t fo r whic h everyon e i s preparing wil l "take off thei r clothes. " When Francesc a respond s in the affirmative , Paul exclaims : "Marvelous , cinema . [Normall y when ] on e see s women, they are wearing dresses, [but in] cinema, snap, one sees their asses." The diegetic camer a find s wha t i t is looking fo r i n th e thre e soon-to-be-naked mermaids , but Godard' s camer a show s them onl y in a n extrem e long-shot , stil l clothe d i n tunics , an d standin g wit h their backs to us. The extra-diegetic Mitchell remains with Camille. HF: Paul, of course, does not. A moment later , Jerry glances at Camille, and asks her to join him . Because he speaks in English, and has to wai t for th e translatio n an d the answer , h e ha s more tim e for hi s elegan t posing: a man holdin g ont o th e rope s o f th e ship , with th e rock s o f Capri behin d him . Fro m ou t o f frame , Camill e responds : "No , I'l l return b y foot wit h m y husband , in a bit." Jerr y repeats hi s invitation, more forcefully. We then se e Bardot i n close-up for th e first time since she has moved t o th e ster n o f th e ship . Sh e says "Paul! " This singl e word i s a n urgen t appea l fo r help . Sh e bow s he r head , perhap s ashamed, as Paul responds: "Go , Camille , go! It' s fine with me—go , Camille, go ! I'l l retur n b y foot wit h Mr . Lang . We're goin g t o spea k about The Odyssey/' After h e finishes talking, the camer a zooms i n o n him as he lights hi s cigarette and closes his eyes for a moment, i n a I ti— eralization o f hi s metaphori c blindness . Whe n h e open s them , th e action h e ha s precipitated ha s already begun . We catch onl y th e las t moment o f Camille' s departur e a s she grab s th e rop e whic h mark s access to the other boat , the one in which she will leave . The narratio n underscores thi s "leavin g he r to th e producer " muc h mor e emphati cally than the first time (figure 8).

KS: The firs t word s Lan g speak s t o Pau l afte r Camille' s departur e again effec t a n implici t conflatio n o f their stor y with The Odyssey: " I need t o hav e a t the beginnin g a scene where a council o f th e god s discusses firs t th e destin y o f me n i n general , an d the n tha t o f Odysseus in particular. " The actor who play s Odysseus move s acros s the ship , and th e camera follows hi m with a pan. Odysseu s and Pau l are now overtl y in th e sam e narrative space , and th e fat e o f the on e

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Fig. 8

has become th e fat e o f the other . The pan continue s pas t Odysseu s to the ocean, an d th e rapidly vanishing boat with Camill e and Jerry. It is followed b y a portentous sho t of the Neptune statue . HF: All of the talking betwee n Pau l and Camille ha s not prevente d th e repetition o f hi s tragic mistake . I t ha s no t eve n le d a s yet t o a consciousness of error : the camer a which pan s from Odysseu s to th e disappearing boat looks not from Paul' s point of view, but from a vantage point manifestl y exterior to it .

KS: In the tw o shot s that follo w th e boat pan , th e camer a assert s its independence eve n mor e strongly . I n the first , i t circle s from belo w around th e statu e o f Neptune, fro m a position whic h i s never narra tively available t o Paul . In th e second , i t crane s up t o disclos e Pau l standing in extreme long shot in a niche at the to p of one of Capri' s cliffs. Th e camer a seem s to want t o sho w us how distan t i t i s fro m him, in every sense of the word. HF: Pau l advance s a ne w readin g o f The Odyssey. Th e rival s wer e already ther e befor e Odysseu s lef t for th e Trojan War, h e tells Lang . Odysseus encourage d Penelop e t o b e cordial t o them , an d thereb y lost her love. When h e returned from hi s long journey, he realized that he must now slay them, or lose Penelope forever.

KS: Paul articulates the reinterpretation o f The Odyssey which hi s lif e has become; the rival s have finally emerge d a s the centra l issue, an d the narrativ e i s focused upo n tha t fatefu l momen t i n which a previous erro r wil l eithe r b e undone, o r reconfirmed . Pau l projects a s a real possibility th e actio n which woul d restor e to Camill e an d him -

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self th e paradise they hav e never had . Bu t in th e scen e that follows , he instead reenact s hi s initial mistake . He sees Camille kissin g Jerry, and onc e again fails to respond . HF: It would seem, then, that Contempt finally conceptualizes the prin ciple o f fatality i n textual terms . Becaus e Pau l and Camill e suddenl y find themselves caught u p in the cinematic adaptatio n o f The Odyssey, they begi n t o interpre t thei r ow n live s through tha t narrative , and i n the proces s embue certai n event s with a n ominous significance . Cul tural productio n i s always lyin g i n wait t o ambus h u s in this way—t o permeate otherwis e inconsequentia l moment s with profoun d import . But it is generally quite arbitrary which text comes into pla y in the ren dering-significant o f ou r lives . An y tw o thing s whic h ar e brough t together i n thi s wa y wil l com e t o see m relate d t o eac h other . And , even when the connection i s arbitrary, i t always comes to see m utterl y convincing and inevitable.

KS: I agree with you tha t Contempt makes fatality synonymou s wit h the influenc e whic h text s exercise over us. It is in thi s sens e that w e could be said to have create d th e god s which gover n us . But it doesn't see m altogethe r arbitrar y t o m e whic h text s com e int o pla y a t moments lik e those dramatize d b y Contempt. Every culture consist s of a range o f maste r texts . These text s provide th e overdetermine d narratives wit h whic h it s inhabitants mak e sens e of thei r lives , an d which—in th e process—mould , constrain , an d coerc e them . An d none o f us can escap e this fate . W e can n o mor e avoi d interpretin g our live s through referenc e t o thes e particula r text s tha n Odysseu s can avoid the help and hindrance s put i n his path by the gods. HF: But Contempt seems to sugges t that i f texts determine us , we also work transformatively upo n them. As we have seen, Paul and Camille do not merely reenact, but also rewrite the story of Odysseus and Penelope.

KS: Yes, Contempt makes clea r that maste r text s onl y maintai n thei r force b y being constantl y analogized . An d eac h analog y goe s awa y from th e term it comments upon, introduce s somethin g new. This is what "translation " finally means in Contempt. It is Godard's name fo r that agenc y throug h whic h th e bindin g forc e o f ou r maste r narra tives is relaxed—that agenc y whereby w e ourselves reconceiv e th e stories which determin e us.

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Fig. 9 HF: In the scene that take s plac e on the roof o f jerry's villa, Pau l and Camille reenact both of the versions of The Odyssey which Pau l has put forward. I n so doing, they chang e the form a s well a s the narrative of Homer's Odyssey. Th e first roo f scen e is staged les s in the guise of an epic poe m tha n a play. The roof i s elevated, like a stage; Camille and Paul must climb dozens of steps to reach it. And, like a nature theater , this stag e ha s as its spectacular backdro p th e sky, sea, an d rocks of Capri. Pau l and Camille also behave as if they were on stage. Camille waves with bot h arms to Paul as he returns from hi s walk, the oversized scale of her movements suggesting the need to communicate to spectators even in the back row of the theatre that she is Penelope welcoming Odysseus home from his twenty-year journey. Paul enters the stage, and calls loudly for Camille, although he can see that no one is there. A moment later , Camille kisses Jerry in front of one of the villa's windows, and thereby make s Penelope unfaithfu l to Odysseus (figure 9). As she does so, she displays hersel f for an implied spectator. The villa windo w is the inverted equivalent of a balcony on an Elizabethan stage. KS: I n th e ensuin g scen e insid e th e villa , Pau l finall y muster s th e energy to quit his job. However, he cannot bring himself t o sa y why he no longe r wants t o work for Jerry, and h e subsequentl y indicate s that eve n thi s decisio n i s less than final . Camill e goe s again t o th e rooftop, an d Pau l joins her a little later. HF: When Paul arrives, he finds her wearing a metaphoric fig leaf. Covering no t he r genitals , bu t rathe r th e buttock s s o lovingl y pho tographed by the camera both in the fantasy sequence and the second shot of the film, i s an open boo k (figur e 10) . When Pau l removes this fig leaf , Camille assumes a more ample one: a yellow bathrobe .

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Fig. 10

KS: Already durin g th e quarre l scene , Pau l fel t th e nee d t o cove r Camille's body, a s if it had someho w los t its innocence. Now nudit y has assume d a definitivel y postlapsaria n significance . Pau l tell s Camille that h e see s her a s if for th e firs t time—tha t th e scale s have fallen fro m hi s eyes. For the firs t time , he is also able to articulat e t o Camille and himsel f th e reaso n fo r thei r estrangement . Bu t it seem s that h e stil l see s withou t seeing . H e ask s Camill e t o decid e i f h e should writ e th e Odysseus script afte r all , an d h e offer s t o sta y o n with he r a t Jerry's villa . Wit h ever y utteranc e thei r estrangemen t becomes more absolute . The irrevocable i s finally mad e irrevocable , placed beyond the possibility of a redemptive reenactment . HF: When a misunderstanding become s s o profound tha t wha t on e person says can find n o interpretive commutation within what anothe r person says or thinks, no reconciliation ca n occur. That i s the situatio n at the end of the roof scene.

KS: Yes, Godard seem s to be suggestin g that i t is not a full an d ade quate language , bu t rathe r translation , whic h i s th e conditio n o f love. And faithlessness i n th e on e doe s not necessaril y signif y faith lessness in the other . HF: Does this principle obtain at the level of the enunciation, as well as at the leve l of the fiction? I s Godard's camer a faithful t o Camill e onl y by betraying her ?

KS: It seems to me that i t is. In a way, the film neve r say s "Camille," no matte r ho w the camer a linger s on th e imag e of her body. It says: "Eve," "Penelope," "Bardot. "

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Fig. 11 HF: Paul falls asleep on a rock as Camille swims in the Mediterranean . By the time h e wakes up , she has left with Jerr y on their fatal journe y back to Rome . "Au revoir," she writes i n the not e sh e leaves behind. The film doe s not allow for a literal translation of these words.15

KS: Homer's Penelope waits for years for Odysseu s to kill her suitors . Camille doe s no t wai t s o long. Sh e attempt s t o leav e th e worl d o f that text , to escape from th e "Penelop e function/' W e could sa y that Contempt doe s no t allo w he r t o d o so , that i t refuse s t o giv e he r a reality outsid e thi s function . O r we could sa y that he r deat h i s th e film's dramatization of the closing off of revisionary possibilities. But in eithe r case , th e condensatio n o f th e fram e stor y wit h th e fil m inside th e fil m i s undone. Withou t Camille/Penelope , Pau l ca n n o longer b e Odysseus . H e leaves Capri , an d Contempt end s wit h th e shooting o f Lang' s versio n o f th e retur n o f Odysseu s (figur e 11) . Once again , w e ar e back a t th e fatefu l momen t o f decision . Onc e again, Odysseus must determine what he is to do with the rivals. But now someone else is playing this part . HF: Contempt i s no t onl y th e stor y o f Pau l an d Camill e an d The Odyssey, bu t als o the story o f Italy . The theatre marque e i n the scene before th e Capr i "chapter " announce s a s much : Voyage in Italy. Godard ca n hardl y imagin e the movemen t from Rom e to Capr i with out citin g thi s 195 3 Rossellin i film. Th e title o f tha t film i s narrativel y significant, a s book an d film title s ar e so often i n Godar d texts . They help u s to understan d tha t Contempt is set in Ital y becaus e that i s the country wher e the pas t and the presen t mos t fully coexist . The refer ence to th e Rossellin i film i s also significant i n another way. I n Voyage In Italy, a couple rents a house not far from Vesuvius. From their terrace

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they ca n see some o f th e world' s mos t wonderfu l an d culturall y charged sights. But Rossellini edits the images of the landscape in short flashes, as if the couple i n the film ha d no eyes for their beauty . Lik e Paul and Camille, this couple thinks more about separation than Italy. 16 KS: But perhaps that's the wrong way of approaching this issue. Surely the couples in both films fully inhabit Italy , but not with their eyes. HF: Yes, maybe thei r voyage s nee d t o be thought abou t differentl y than the ones made by nineteenth-century tourists . In the past, people traveling through Palermo , Sorrento, and Capri often painted the landscape, or made sketches of it. They did so not to produce images , but to understan d the region better , just a s one understands musi c bette r by playin g th e piano. Th e couples i n Voyage in Italy an d Contempt experience Ital y mor e through thei r lives ; their persona l relationships , rather than paintin g or sketching, connect them to the landscape. Perhaps love is the artwork of today. But if Paul and Camille relat e to Italy existentially rathe r than via painting o r sketching, the camera remain s a nineteenth-century tourist . It still needs to make images. KS: Yes , bu t Godar d prevent s u s fro m imaginin g tha t thi s nine teenth-century "tourism " involve s a more authenti c relatio n t o Ital y than tha t enacte d b y Paul and Camill e by showin g us Capri alway s through th e frame o f The Odyssey. The red plaster building where th e final scene s of Contempt take place signifies no t Malaparte' s villa, bu t the hom e t o whic h Odysseu s wil l twic e return , an d fin d Penelop e waiting fo r him . An d th e dee p blue water o f th e Mediterranea n Se a with whic h th e fil m end s sing s like the siren s abou t th e adventure s of Odysseus . Contempt teache s u s tha t ther e ca n b e n o Pau l an d Camille without A Ghost at Noon; no word s without images ; and n o twentieth-century Ital y without classica l Greece . But althoug h par adise might see m to be lost al l over agai n with eac h o f these transla tions, somethin g much mor e important i s gained.

three Words Lik e Love Alphaville/Alphaville, une etrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965 ) Time uses words lik e love. —Paul Eluard, Capital of Pain

HF: In Alphaville (1965), Eddie Constantine play s Lemmy Caution, as he did i n dozen s o f Frenc h films i n the 1950 s and 1960s . He wears a hat and a trenchcoat, an d h e love s women, whiskey, an d money . Bu t i n this film, th e ma n with th e pockmarke d face also carries a volume o f poems b y Pau l Eluard. Lemmy Cautio n need s both gu n an d poetr y i n his battle against Alpha 60 , a computer whic h ha s established a totalitarian regime of reaso n in the city of Alphaville.

KS: He needs anothe r weapon , a s well: the lov e o f Natash a (Ann a Karina), daughter o f Leonard Vonbraun, th e scientist who develope d Alpha 60 . Alphaville prove s th e trut h o f Susa n Sontag' s clai m tha t "[in] the landscap e o f pain, onl y three . . . responses o f rea l interes t are possible; violent action , th e prob e o f 'ideas / an d th e transcen dence o f sudden , arbitrary , romanti c love." 1 However, i n thi s fil m these responses ar e not "unrelated/ ' a s Sontag claims they generall y are. Rather, the y compris e togethe r wha t Alphaville metaphorizes a s "light." HF: The film begin s wit h a close-up o f a round ceilin g lamp , whic h flickers ominously o n and off to the sound of what migh t b e called the 58

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Fig. 12 "Alpha 6 0 theme.'' Thi s i s the first o f a series of circula r image s wit h which Godar d will portra y th e compute r whic h control s Alphaville. By representing a computer advanced enough to wage atomic war on the world wit h a simple lamp , Alphaville signal s it s allegianc e t o thos e low-budget film s i n which a n ordinary tabl e plat e designate s a flying saucer.

KS: An identical image follows th e credits, accompanied by the sam e musical theme. Suddenly, the camera pans to the right, acros s a nocturnal cityscape. Luminous windows in high-rise buildings form beacons in th e darkness . As the camer a pans , it picks up speed , until i t finds wha t i t i s looking for : th e headlight s o f a Ford Galaxy . In th e next shot , th e camer a pan s t o th e left , an d tilt s up an d dow n a skyscraper, a s the Galax y pulls up i n front . Th e voice of Alpha 6 0 says: 'There are times when reality becomes too complex for oral commu nication. Bu t legend give s it a form b y which i t pervades th e whol e world."2 Alphaville cut s t o a medium close-u p o f th e drive r o f th e Galaxy. At first, w e can se e little mor e tha n th e steerin g wheel, an d

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the shadow y for m o f someon e sittin g behind it . Bu t the n Lemm y Caution simultaneousl y illuminate s himsel f an d hi s cigarette with a cigarette lighte r (figur e 12) . A moment later , i n th e di m ligh t pro vided by the cityscape , Cautio n take s his gun ou t o f the glov e com partment, adjust s it , an d put s it in his pocket. The legend ha s mad e its appearance. HF: Lemmy Caution i s ostensibly a secret agent, but—becaus e h e has no apparen t institutio n backin g hi m — he functions mor e a s a private eye. His legend is the legen d of the detective hero , created in America in the 1930s and 1940s, when the rackets became a metaphor for polit ical an d economi c power . Th e detectiv e i s a melancholy figure ; h e maintains hi s morality , bu t i t i s a moralit y base d o n old , doome d ideals. He became a topos for film noi r cinema, and her e mutates int o the old-fashioned her o sent to the city of Alphaville to battl e the forces of compute r technology . An d althoug h Alphaville is ostensibly a science fictio n film , i t i s shot wit h a film noi r camera ; ever y ligh t ca n become a falling star or a planet from the milky way.

KS: Godard claime d i n a n intervie w tha t "Lemm y i s a person wh o carries the ligh t t o people who n o longe r kno w what i t is." 3 At first , this is a surprising claim . Light is very important t o the inhabitant s of Alphaville . They depen d upo n electricit y fo r th e sourc e o f thei r energy; without it , the y canno t live . However, the y hav e forgotte n the sacred origins of light. With his cigarette lighter, Lemm y seeks to reignite thei r memories . He is Prometheus onc e agai n carryin g fir e from th e god s t o humanity . An d i t i s i n th e radianc e o f tha t leg endary flam e tha t th e cityscap e o f Alphaville assume s its extraordi nary poetic qualities. HF: As if to underscor e further th e mythica l value of Lemmy' s cigarett e lighter, Godar d relie s upon i t almost exclusively to illuminat e this shot. In most films, unseen hands switch on a dozen extra-diegetic lamp s at the moment that a diegetic lam p is switched off, bu t Godard is content to let darkness once again descend when Lemmy extinguishes its flame.

KS: Fo r th e voic e o f Alph a 60 , Godar d use d a ma n whos e voca l chords were destroyed i n th e war, an d wh o subsequentl y learne d t o speak fro m th e diaphragm . A s Richard Rou d suggests , h e wante d "not a mechanica l voice , bu t on e whic h [had ] been , s o t o speak ,

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killed."4 Thi s i s because Alph a 6 0 is at leas t hypotheticall y a voice without consciousness . Bu t the compute r ofte n say s very surprisin g things. Here, for instance , i t attest s to the powe r o f the Cautio n leg end, thereb y alignin g itsel f wit h poetr y rathe r tha n reason . A t moments like this, it seems more friend tha n foe . HF: When the computer does figure unequivocally as Lemmy's adversary, it i s always associate d wit h th e presen t tense . I n Alphaville, i t i s altogether forbidden t o dwel l i n the past , and every effort i s made to pla n for an d predic t the future i n ways which subordinat e i t to th e present . Temporality is banished in the name of the eternal return of the same.

KS: A moment afte r Alph a 6 0 speaks for th e first time , we hear a second mal e voice-over—thi s tim e tha t o f Lemm y himself . Ove r another pan o f the nocturnal cityscape , which agai n catches up with the Galaxy , Lemmy says : "It was 24 hours 1 7 minutes Oceani c Time when I arrived at the suburbs of Alphaville." This remembering voice is drawn fro m fil m noir , but her e i t assumes a new function . I t put s the fil m a s a whole unde r th e sig n o f th e past , rathe r tha n (a s on e would expect from it s science fiction premise ) the future. 5 I t also suggests that th e battle between Lemm y and Alpha 6 0 will turn i n som e central way upon time . HF: Whe n Lemm y arrive s a t hi s Alphavill e hotel , Raou l Coutard' s hand-held camer a follows hi m throug h th e revolvin g door , an d the n enters a n adjacen t glas s elevato r a s Lemmy make s hi s ascen t t o hi s room. Light is refracted through glass in both of these shots, becoming more expressiv e tha n functional . Godar d continue s hi s experimen t with ligh t as Lemmy follows Beatrice , the Seductress Third Class, down the hall. Here, the only source of illumination i s diegetic: ceiling lamps, and—for a moment—Lemmy's lighter . Becaus e the overhea d lamp s are space d a t distan t intervals , Lemm y an d Beatric e ar e manifestl y always either approachin g a light source , or movin g awa y from one . Illumination give s way to darkness , and darkness once again to illumi nation. The result is a drama of ligh t and shadows.

KS: Both in the hallway and i n Lemmy's hotel room, Beatric e creates a constan t flo w o f words : "Thi s way, sir. " "You r case , sir. " "You'r e tired, sir? " "You'd lik e to tak e a little res t . . . sir?" Later, Beatrice' s replacement wil l us e th e sam e word s a s sh e lead s Lemm y t o hi s

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room. The residents of Alphaville engage in a form o f utterance composed mostly of endlessly reusable formulas, which attes t to the predominance o f th e typ e ove r th e individual , an d t o langue ove r parole.6 Language i s rationalized an d stabilize d t o a n almos t mathe matical degree . Alpha-speech als o circles back upon itself , eviscerat ing language o f it s intersubjectivity. Th e most frequentl y repeate d formula, "I' m ver y well , than k you , you'r e welcome/ ' completel y forecloses a n answer . HF: The hotel roo m i s an important locatio n i n detective fiction—a n anonymous plac e fo r love , a drink, a suicide. Lemmy' s roo m i s n o exception. I t is the site, in quick succession, of seduction, violence, and romance. Lemm y ha s n o soone r dispose d o f a n intrude r an d a n unwanted woman than the ravishing Natasha Vonbraun makes her dramatic appearance . But this particula r hote l roo m als o has one unusua l feature, which Godar d will inventivel y exploit : two differen t door s lead in an d ou t o f th e bathroom . A s Lemm y enter s throug h on e door , another characte r ca n unexpectedly appea r i n the bathroo m throug h the other. After Alphaville shows Beatrice and Lemmy entering and exiting the bathroom i n every possible combination, it depicts the intrude r coming int o that roo m from the left , as Lemmy approaches it from th e right. The ensuing fight i s shown i n a mirror, an d the musi c from th e jukebox almos t drown s ou t th e sound s o f struggle . I n thi s scene , Alphaville manages to giv e back the memor y o f a Lemmy Caution film. But it offers the gesture, rather than the intrigue, of such a film.

KS: As Lemmy approaches the outskirts of Alphaville, he sees a traffi c sign reading "Silence. Logic. Safety. Prudence/' Lemmy' s own behavior i n th e firs t hote l scen e i s in ever y respec t th e opposit e o f thi s credo. The firs t attribut e wit h whic h th e fil m characterize s hi m i s violence. Lemmy not onl y dispatche s th e intruder , bu t als o rough s up Beatrice . A proclivity fo r violenc e migh t see m a t odd s wit h Lemmy's rol e a s th e savio r o f mankind , but—a s w e lear n ver y quickly—his morality has little to do with the traditional virtues. He stands for everythin g within humanit y which i s resistant t o Alphaville's technocratic vision , whether i t is commensurate wit h wha t w e usually thin k o f a s goodnes s o r not : affect , danger , finitude , th e unpredictable. And Lemmy's violence is informed b y all of these values. It is one of the qualitie s which mos t separat e him fro m th e nar cotized world o f Alphaville.

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HF: As the momen t where he shoots bullets through th e breast s of the Vargas nud e make s clear , Lemmy' s violenc e i s also a trope. H e tells Beatrice to hol d the poste r of the Vargas nude over he r head. We then see Lemm y lyin g o n th e be d readin g Raymon d Chandler' s The Big Sleep. Withou t puttin g th e boo k down , h e fires a t th e poste r twice . Godard thereby no t only pay s homage to the detective tradition upo n which he draws, but also puts quotes around Lemmy's violence. It is on the same level as his cigarettes, gun, and trench coat.

KS: Like al l Varga s girls , th e on e a t whic h Lemm y shoot s ha s th e same tranquilized qualit y as Beatrice. He could be said to be shootin g at the flesh-and-blood woma n throug h he r representational counter part. Bu t in a curious way, this aggression i s indicative les s of misogyny tha n sentimentality . I t says : "N o sensualit y withou t affect. " Godard indicate s tha t Lemmy' s violence paradoxically signifie s ten derness by cutting before an d afte r h e fires the gun to a car speedin g by outside, accompanie d b y the beepin g soun d tha t ofte n signifie s "censorship" in Alphaville. In this world, i t is not violence but emo tion which is prohibited. HF: Before Lemmy shoots at the Vargas nude, he takes Beatrice' s pho tograph. The camera with which h e does so is as constant a prop as his trench coa t and hat , but on e without a film noi r inspiration . The camera aligns Lemm y with Godard , and thereby remind s u s that th e passion o f th e on e represent s th e passio n o f th e other . Lemm y bring s sacred ligh t t o Alphaville , which know s nothin g bu t electricity . An d Godard brings diegetic ligh t to cinema, which ha s forgotten that there is an alternative to studio lamps.

KS: When Lemm y hold s th e vie w finde r t o hi s eye , h e als o draw s attention t o hi s look o r point o f view. His camera i s consequently a metaphor o f his eye/I: of what th e fil m call s "conscience." Althoug h both th e Englis h versio n o f th e fil m an d th e Englis h translatio n o f the scrip t translat e "conscience" as "conscience, " Godar d clearl y means "consciousness." And it is important tha t Lemmy's consciousness is once again associated with retrospection. Not only is the camera an apparatu s o f the nineteent h century , bu t Lemmy' s particula r version o f thi s apparatu s i s also characterize d a s old-fashioned b y one o f th e Alph a 6 0 technicians. I n addition , th e tens e with whic h the camera speaks is the past. It always says "this has been." 7

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HF: After Beatric e leaves , Alpha 6 0 announces th e imminen t arriva l of Natasha Vonbraun. While Lemm y waits for her , h e places his cigarette lighter o n the mantle , and light s i t b y firing a t i t with hi s gun. As the camera hold s on the cigarette lighter , Natash a asks from ou t of frame: "Do yo u hav e a light?" Whe n th e camer a cut s t o a close-up o f he r face, Lemmy responds: "I came 9,000 kilometer s to give it to you." For the first time , w e hea r th e romanti c note s o f th e "Natash a theme. " These tw o shot s furthe r expan d th e semanti c rang e o f th e wor d "light," or—i n th e French — "feu" ("fire") .

KS: Alphaville provides two different version s of what next transpires. Natasha says , in close-up , "M y name i s Natasha Vonbraun. " Fro m out of frame, Lemm y responds: "Yes, I know." His voice suggests that this knowledg e i s as old a s the universe . I t i s as if the y hav e bee n meeting ove r an d ove r sinc e th e beginnin g o f time . "Ho w d o yo u know?" she asks, in response a s much t o his voice as his words. She, too, seems on the verge of recollection. Then amnesia descends onc e again. Th e camer a adopt s a positio n showin g bot h Natash a an d Lemmy, whil e h e asks : "Mis s Vonbraun? " an d sh e responds , rou tinely, "Yes . I'm very well, thank you, you're welcome." HF: In Alphaville, people nod when saying "no," and shake their head s when sayin g "yes. " Whe n Natash a engage s i n thes e contradictor y movements, i t alway s suggests a certain resistanc e on he r par t to th e words whic h sh e speaks . Alphaville als o communicate s a simila r self-contradiction throug h th e sho t i n whic h th e camer a hold s o n Natasha's fac e while sh e talks abou t he r plan s for th e evening . The words coul d no t b e les s meaningful , bu t Natasha' s voic e an d demeanor communicate the sadness of the ages.

KS: W e ofte n sens e tha t Natash a i s psychicall y "elsewhere. " I n another text , thi s "elsewhere " would b e the unconscious . Here , it is always designate d wit h th e wor d "consciousness. " However , wha t Alphaville call s "consciousness " i s structurall y analogou s t o wha t Freud name s th e "unconscious. " Although subjec t mor e t o a social than a psychic repression, thi s consciousnes s ha s been "forgotten, " and ca n only be recovered through "recollection. " And in Alphaville, as in psychoanalysis , thi s forgettin g an d rememberin g i s specifie d in linguisti c terms . I n bot h cases , on e lose s th e capacit y t o recal l

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something whe n i t is denied linguisti c expression , an d succeed s i n recalling it through speech. 8 HF: As Lemmy and Natash a walk down the hote l corridor o n their way to th e elevator , Lemm y ask s her i f n o one ha s ever fallen i n lov e wit h her. "Love" i s the most forbidden word i n Alphaville, and therefore the one with th e greatest magica l power . Bu t her e the word onl y precipi tates a misunderstanding. Natash a ask s what i t means , and Lemm y assumes she's makin g a fool ou t o f him . With neithe r able to under stand the words of the other, the two laps e into silence. Godard extinguishes al l other sound s a s well — both th e music , an d th e soun d o f their footsteps. Lemmi e an d Natash a ar e together i n their silenc e i n a way that they haven't yet found i n language.

KS: Alphaville consistentl y privilege s noncomprehensio n ove r rea son—the "why " which i t is forbidden t o utter i n Alphaville over th e obligatory "because. " Th e "why " i s productive : i t ca n hel p on e t o understand tha t on e has forgotten, whic h i s the firs t ste p in remem bering. But Lemmy is not conten t o n thi s occasion to surrender him self t o bafflement. Afte r a moment, h e recall s that h e i s a characte r from a detective novel, where not knowin g ca n be fatal. "It' s always like that," Lemm y say s in voice-over, "On e neve r understands any thing. Then suddenly, one evening, you end up dying of it." He writes these words in his notebook, the verbal equivalent of his camera. HF: As Natasha an d Lemm y descen d i n the elevato r t o th e lobby , th e camera onc e agai n takes an adjacent elevator . At first, th e tw o glas s boxes ar e parallel. Bu t the on e carryin g Natash a an d Lemm y leave s first, an d for a moment th e camer a an d the narrativ e ar e disjunctive. Eventually, the second elevator catches up with the first, and the narrative is refound. This drama of loss and recovery is diegetically repeated, as Natasha walks slowly awa y from Lemm y t o th e counter , an d bac k again. She leaves room for desire to awaken.

KS: As they wal k t o Natasha' s car , Lemm y say s in voice-over , "He r smile and he r smal l pointed teet h reminde d m e of on e o f those ol d vampire film s the y use d t o sho w i n th e cineram a museums. " H e thereby suggest s tha t Natasha , too , migh t b e sai d t o represen t th e past mor e tha n th e present . Natasha' s firs t nam e als o associates he r

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more wit h wha t wa s than wit h wha t is , Lemmy tells her i n th e car . She responds by articulatin g th e centra l dogm a o f Alphaville: "Yes, but yo u ca n onl y know what exist s in the present . No one has lived in the past, and no one can live in the future/ ' HF: Later, we will lear n that Natasha' s original las t name was Nosferatu rather than Vonbraun, which agai n associates he r with vampir e films. And, when Lemmy asks how much farther they have to go, Natasha says "Karl?" inquiringly to the driver. "Karl" could be the name of Count Nosferatu's coachman . For a moment w e imagin e that we are in a horror film, bein g transported to a hidden castle in a forest. Bu t Karl says only: "You know very well that we must cross the North Zone, Miss."

KS: After tryin g i n vai n t o reac h Henr i Dickso n (Aki m Tamiroff) b y telephone, Lemm y goes to th e dwellin g o f th e forme r secre t agent , the Red Star Hotel. Inside that hotel, a client reads a passage out lou d from a guidebook, reiteratin g wha t ou r visual facult y als o tell s us: this i s a locale from th e past , no t th e present . "I n n o wa y can i t b e compared t o our splendi d . . . passages, all glittering . . . with luxur y and light, " h e quotes . "I t is merely a huge, tall , narrow labyrinth. " The singl e unshade d ligh t bul b whic h illuminate s th e staircas e where Lemm y an d Henr i tal k attest s eve n mor e profoundl y t o th e age and squalor of the Red Star Hotel. It is a throwback t o a detective novel fro m th e 1930s , o r a B-pictur e fro m th e 1940s . Throug h a cut-away sho t to a large circle of lights, within which a second circl e rotates, Godar d contrast s i t with th e officia l cityscap e o f Alphaville. But ironically , thi s futuristi c cit y i s als o a throwback t o th e past ; Godard conjure s it , with metaphori c smok e and mirrors, out o f Paris of the mid-1960s. HF: The money which Lemm y gives Henri not only permit s hi m to pa y for hi s room and a beer, but to bu y a dream. Henri invites the residen t seductress to hi s room. Befor e she arrives, h e and Lemm y tal k abou t Alphaville an d the computer whic h govern s it . This conversation con sists entirely o f scienc e fiction cliches : Alphaville i s a "pure technoc racy," i n which ther e i s no roo m for artist s o r poets , and Alpha 6 0 is incomparably advance d compared t o ou r presen t computers. Godar d signifies "technocracy" wit h close-ups of Einstein's relativity theorem, a formula which we know not only from hig h school science, but T-shirts and posters.

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Fig. 13

KS: The scienc e fiction plo t i s only a premise fo r a complex medita tion upo n temporalit y an d affect . Wha t i s important abou t thi s par ticular scen e i s not th e exchang e whic h take s place between Henr i and Lemm y before th e seductres s appears , but rathe r wha t happen s afterward. A s she makes her entrance , Henr i greet s her i n th e nam e of th e legendar y wome n o f yore: "Enter , Madam e l a Marquise, m y cloak, Madam e Recamier . . . . Thank you, Madam e Pompadour . . . . Ah, Madame Bovary." These retrospective blandishments ar e the gestures of love; with the m Henr i transfigures th e sordi d bedroom, an d deifies th e Seductress Fourth or Fifth Class . HF: With th e repeate d flas h o f hi s camera , Lemmy , too , light s u p th e darkness o f th e Re d Star Hote l (figur e 13) .

KS: But as Henri embraces the seductress , he is suddenly overtaken by death. Lemmy approaches the bed where Henri lies gasping for breath, hoping t o glea n informatio n whic h wil l ai d hi m i n hi s missio n t o destroy Alpha 60. He is seemingly unsuccessful. Henri' s last words are baffling i n their confusion o f the political with the affective: "Lemm y

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.. . consciousness . . . consciousness . .. mak e Alpha 60 destroy itself . . . tenderness . . . save those who weep." Equally surprising is what Lemmy finds unde r Henri' s pillow: Paul Eluard's Capital of Pain, one of the masterpieces o f French surrealism. 9 HF: Lemmy goes to the Institute of General Semantics to meet Natasha. As he enters the building and looks for the right room, he is shot always with a great deal of "air " abov e his head. The framing seems motivated by more than the desire to communicate anomie; Godard also wants to show the milky way of ceiling lamps, which is repeated to infinity in the reflections of the windows. Alphaville depicts Lemmy' s journey throug h the many rooms of the Institut e in something approximatin g rea l time. Godard i s almost a s interested i n movemen t a s light, an d Eddi e Constantine is an actor who know s how to move.

KS: The room where Natasha is listening to the lecture of Alpha 60 is dark as Lemmy enters. He is guided to his seat by an usherette with a flashlight. Thes e two figures mov e gropingly throug h th e darkness , from tim e to time illuminatin g par t o f a face i n a n estrangin g light . The flashlight become s a fiery torch, seeking out Natasha; in this velvety night , i t i s th e flam e whic h move s towar d th e moth , rathe r than th e moth towar d the flame . HF: After leavin g Lemmy , the usherett e walks to th e wall switch , and turns on the light . I n the electrical illumination , myth recedes , and her fiery torch become s onc e again an ordinary flashlight. Lemm y tries t o speak to Natasha , but sh e urges silence, and point s toward Alph a 60 . Here the computer, which i s one hundred and fifty ligh t years ahead of our own, is represented through th e cooling ventilator o f a Peugeot or Renault. Again, Godard show s tha t hig h technolog y ca n b e evoke d through low ; b y puttin g a cluster o f ligh t bulb s behin d th e ventilator , and accompanyin g th e rotatio n o f it s fan wit h th e Orphi c voic e o f Alpha 60 , he creates out o f an ordinary ca r part a worthy adversar y t o his larger-than-life protagonist .

KS: In the openin g shot , th e voice of Alpha 6 0 speaks from a n ante rior momen t t o th e narrativ e o f Alphaville. Lik e Lemmy's voice, i t inducts us into a world which i s no longer. Here, on the other hand , the compute r speak s from th e hear t o f the narrative. But once agai n

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Alpha 60 is a less faithful representativ e o f the ideology of Alphaville than ar e many o f its human inhabitants . I t begins conventionall y enough: n o on e has live d i n th e pas t an d n o on e will liv e i n th e future, becaus e tim e i s an endlessl y repeatin g circle , th e constan t return o f the same. Therefore, ''everythin g ha s been said. " Bu t this last reflection immediatel y give s way to the anxiety that temporalit y is inherent i n language. Can we really prevent word s from changin g their meanings, and meanings their words? And is not difference als o at the heart of humanity itself, rendering even belief a very individual matter? Is it not obvious "tha t someon e who usually lives at the limit of suffering require s [another ] for m o f religion tha n someon e who normally live s securely?" Alpha 6 0 reverts to the thought o f an eternal present, a s if in refuge fro m thes e anxieties , but that though t i s now als o conducive o f fear. I f no one has ever existe d befor e us , we are "unique, dreadfull y unique. " Unlike Lemmy Caution, who is in a perpetual dialogu e wit h earlie r storie s and legends, Alph a 6 0 hears only the echo of his own voice in the void. And to inhabit onl y the present mean s never to be able to think relationally . When on e cannot compar e what on e sees and hears with wha t on e has previously seen and heard, "on e isolated word or an isolated detai l in a drawing can be understood. But the comprehension o f the whole escapes us." HF: Alpha 6 0 uses the image of the circle to metaphoriz e th e endless present tense of Alphaville. This is surprising, since the circle signifie s "myth" mor e tha n "reason. " Perhap s thi s i s another wa y i n whic h Alpha 60 itself exceeds the doctrine it promulgates. The computer can not liv e without the ornament o f myth.

KS: The circle is a ubiquitous symbo l of Alphaville. The major road s are all organized i n circles, every image of Alpha 6 0 is circular, an d the endlessl y repeate d "I' m very well, than k you , you're welcome " could be said to circle back upon itself . Those who inhabit time , on the othe r hand , wil l be characterized a s going straigh t ahead . We have become accustomed t o thinking of linearity as teleological, as a subordination o f means to end. But as we will see, the dissident residents of Alphaville think otherwise . For them, forwar d movemen t is redemptive. Bu t thi s seemingl y schemati c oppositio n i s no t sus tained a t all points. As you suggest, the circle retains many of its traditional values in Alphaville.

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HF: The drawing s a t which w e loo k whil e Alph a 6 0 speak s see m t o come from nowhere . At on e point , we see a white screen , but neve r the apparatus of projection . Like Alpha 60' s words, these drawings are strangely a t odd s wit h th e ideolog y o f Alphaville . I n on e strikin g image, a question mar k and an exclamation mar k are shown on opposite ends of a seesaw. The seesaw is parallel to th e ground , giving pri ority neithe r t o th e questio n mar k no r th e exclamatio n mark . I n another image , the abbreviation SO S seems on the verge of drownin g in a sea of waves.

KS: Whereas the ideology of Alphaville pushes language in the direction of a mathematical formalization , thi s scene does the opposite: it attempts t o "motivate " the relatio n betwee n linguisti c signifie r an d signified, an d sig n and referent. 10 I t subjects languag e to what Freu d would cal l a "primarization/ ' treatin g word s an d othe r linguisti c symbols lik e images, or eve n things. 11 This move i s inimical t o rea son; it no t onl y render s th e meanin g o f words unstable, bu t i t als o puts the m a t th e servic e o f desire . Like Alpha 60' s monologue, th e images which accompan y i t sugges t tha t th e mega-compute r whic h rules over Alphaville is subject t o a profound interna l contradiction . This contradiction canno t b e resolved; i t is integral t o the constitu tion of Alpha 60. To be a computer is to be simultaneously outsid e of temporality, an d mad e up o f memory . I t is to be incapable o f retro spection, an d yet unable to forget . HF: After th e lecture , Natash a walks with a friend dow n a spiral stair case. The camera depicts her progress down the stairs with it s own cir cling motion . I n s o doing , i t show s th e artwor k o f th e staircase . Modern building s from th e 1960's , like the Institut e of General Semantics, are predicated o n the rectangle . Bu t every so often, the relentles s rationalism o f the rectangl e give s way to th e mytho s o f the circle . By showing u s Natasha descendin g th e spira l staircase, Godard suggest s once agai n tha t eve n the resident s o f Alphaville canno t liv e b y functionalism alone . And, as usual, it i s the circl e which provide s th e wa y out of this functionalism.

KS: In th e foye r o f th e Institut e o f Genera l Semantics , Lemm y tell s Natasha tha t h e couldn' t understan d Alph a 60' s lesson. Natasha' s response suggest s tha t th e inhabitant s o f Alphavill e ar e s o pro grammed t o hear certain pietie s from Alph a 6 0 that the y do not reg -

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ister disruptions and deviations. For her, the lesson is simple: life an d death exis t within th e sam e sphere. Lemmy proves a more attentiv e listener here than h e was in the lecture room. To locate death withi n the same sphere as life is to refuse finitude ; i t is to subsume even tha t most radica l o f al l difference s t o sameness , t o mak e th e Grea t Unknown int o th e always-already . T o ascertain whethe r o r no t h e has correctl y understoo d Natasha , Lemm y ask s th e ke y question , "Are yo u afrai d o f death? " "O f cours e not, " sh e responds ; wher e there is nothing to challenge certitude, there can be no fear. But, savingly, she asks a moment later : "Why?" HF: As Natash a an d Lemmy' s ca r stop s a t a red light , Godar d find s another opportunit y t o pain t with light . Becaus e Alphaville is a black and whit e film , w e registe r th e chang e i n traffi c light s no t throug h color, but the relocation of light. And the reflections within the camera lens create a halo effect around the street lights and traffic lights .

KS: Near th e en d o f thei r journey , w e once agai n hea r th e voic e of Alpha 60 . At first, i t seem s t o emanat e fro m th e sam e mysteriou s location a s at the beginning of the film. Here , however, it is unequivocally th e voic e o f reason . "No r i s there i n th e so-calle d capitalis t world o r communis t worl d an y maliciou s inten t t o suppres s me n through th e powe r o f ideology o r materialism, bu t onl y th e natura l aim o f al l organization s t o pla n al l it s actions. " A s Natasha an d Lemmy enter the building of the gala reception, Natasha finishe s th e speech: "In other words, we minimize the unknown." I t is now clear that Alpha 60's voice derives on this occasion from Natasha' s psyche. This suggest s tha t th e norma l menta l conditio n o f th e resident s o f Alphaville i s nothing mor e tha n th e repetitio n withi n the m o f it s rationalizing pronouncements , a repetition inimica l t o conscious ness. What Alph a 6 0 says on thi s occasio n i s directed mor e agains t the threat pose d by the futur e tha n b y that pose d by the past, abov e all that represente d b y death . Through planification , th e technoc racy of Alphaville seek s to make the futur e somethin g which ca n b e controlled fro m th e present, an d thereby its simple extension . HF: The gala receptio n takes place inside a room filled with a n indoo r pool. On one side stands a line of dissidents who are to be executed, one after another. Their crime is behaving illogically , or—in a word—affect. One cried when hi s wife died , and another believe s in "lov e an d faith,

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Fig. 1 4 courage and tenderness, generosity an d sacrifice." Eac h is shot in turn from hi s perch on the diving boar d into the swimming pool , where he is then stabbe d to death b y women diver s (figure 14) . There is always something prisonlik e abou t a n indoor swimmin g pool . Indeed , indoor swimming pool s are evocative i n certain respect s of a concentration camp, wit h thei r publi c showe r room s an d lack o f privacy . Godar d himself underscore s this similarity by showing the female executioner s moving choreographicall y throug h the water, relic s from the strangest Hollywood genr e ever, the Esther Williams film. The button i n the elevator leadin g to the swimming poo l also reads "SS." KS: But this scene is ultimately more committed to another metaphor : the metapho r o f th e straigh t line . And here, again, th e venue o f th e gala receptio n i s suggestive. The divin g board fro m whic h th e victims fal l int o th e water i s an importan t embodimen t o f linearity, a s the firs t victi m indicates . "I n orde r t o creat e life, i t i s merely necessary to advanc e i n a straight lin e towards al l we love," he say s as he walks steadfastl y t o th e en d o f th e divin g board. A s he doe s so , h e makes clea r tha t th e metapho r o f th e straigh t lin e implie s th e ver y

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antithesis o f progres s towar d a predetermined goal . It signifie s th e headlong rus h o f desir e toward it s object, an d th e subjec t towar d it s final truth . I n neithe r cas e ca n w e kno w wher e w e ar e going ; w e move urgently but blindly toward a n unknown destiny . HF: After th e gal a reception , Lemm y detache s the mos t distinguishe d of th e spectators , Leonar d Vonbraun, from th e bodyguard s wh o sur round him , and pushe s him int o the elevator. When they arriv e at the fifth floor , th e bodyguard s ar e waiting fo r Lemmy . The y shov e hi m back in the elevator, and begin beatin g hi m up . Alphaville never shows the actual blows , only the interva l betwee n them , as the thugs thro w Lemmy bac k and forth. It counts the blow s with th e downward move ment of the floors; "knock-out" i s sous sol.

KS: When Natash a see s the injured Lemmy , tears well up in her eyes. Like the dissidents , sh e is now definitivel y guilt y o f illogical behav ior, which i s to say : humanity. A bystander ask s if sh e is crying, an d she responds: "No .. . because it is not allowed. " As the camera hold s on th e tear s runnin g dow n he r face , Godar d resort s t o a surprisin g effect: h e extinguishe s th e illuminatio n aroun d Natasha , s o that th e light o f he r fac e ca n burn mor e brightly. As we are thereby give n t o understand, ther e is no positive without a negative—no whit e without black, no stars without th e night, n o trembling of desire without the certain knowledge o f death . HF: Lemm y i s taken t o Resident s Control , th e hug e offic e comple x which i s the hom e of Alpha 60 , to b e interrogated. The computer asks him a series of routin e questions , such as his name and age, and the n what h e calls "tes t questions. " Alph a 6 0 i s represented i n par t b y the automobile cooling ventilator, and in part by a ceiling light. The ceiling light i s shot with a changing camer a aperture , s o that i t sometime s seems to suffus e wit h ligh t unti l th e surroundin g darknes s bleache s out. The microphone s mov e bac k an d forth whil e Alpha 6 0 i s speaking, suggesting the gesticulations o f a robot.

KS: The test question sequenc e is evocative of the lecture in the Institute o f Genera l Semantics . The exchange turn s upon forbidde n top ics—fear, death , love , poetry—but i t seem s at times irrelevan t wh o asks the questions , an d wh o answer s them . Lemmi e an d Alph a 6 0 are becoming mor e an d mor e alike . At one point, w e learn tha t i t is

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poetry which transform s th e night int o the day , and a t another tha t there i s no myster y i n love . The last disclosur e seem s calculate d t o elicit in us the prohibited "why? " HF: Lemmy i s shown aroun d th e nucleu s o f Alpha 60 . The film stick s close here to th e convention s o f science fiction. Lemmy discover s tha t it i s a man from hi s own world , Leonar d Nosferatu , who—under th e name Leonar d Vonbrau n — is responsibl e fo r th e technocrac y o f Alphaville. Th e prototypica l ma n o f science , h e care d mor e fo r th e development o f hi s theories tha n fo r th e goo d o f hi s country . No w amorality ha s mutate d int o unqualifie d evil . Vonbraun' s creature , Alpha 60 , has declared war o n the world a s we kno w it . Only one solitary man can prevent this catastrophe: a man from the older, less technically advance d culture . H e alone can muste r th e weapons sufficien t to defea t a machine capabl e o f solvin g suc h problem s a s train an d plane schedules , th e suppl y o f electrica l power , an d th e logistic s o f war: love , poetry, and violence.

KS: A s Lemm y escape s fro m th e centra l compute r complex , hi s voice-over round s ou t th e scienc e fictio n parable : Alphaville allow s no exception s t o its rule of conformity. Outsider s ar e quickly assimilated, an d dissident s eithe r execute d o r rehabilitated. Bu t Godard is not s o interested i n al l of this. What i s important her e is somethin g which seem s at first quit e marginal t o the narrative of totalitarianis m and intergalacti c warfare: Alpha 6 0 is suffering a breakdown, an d th e site of the problem is its memory system. What this means in the case of the compute r itsel f ha s already been suggeste d i n the scen e set in the Institut e o f Genera l Semantics . What i t implies fo r th e inhabi tants of Alphaville is indicated in the scene following Lemmy' s escape from Resident s Control . Afte r a long walk home, h e proceeds onc e again dow n th e hal l o f his hotel with a Seductress Third Class—thi s time not Beatrice , but one of her replacements. He asks her if she has ever heard o f the Land s Without. 12 Whe n sh e responds no , h e pull s back he r hai r t o loo k fo r th e tell-tal e contro l numbe r tattoo . Afte r finding it , h e tells her t o clear off, bu t hi s brusqueness turn s t o ten derness a second late r as , in a miraculous retur n o f the repressed, th e Seductress asks "why?" In gratitude, Lemmy caresses her thigh . HF: Natasha i s waiting behin d th e doo r a s Lemmy enters . I n a reprise of th e earlie r scene , in which Lemm y waite d i n the roo m a s Natasha

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entered, hi s entr y i s give n i n thre e variants . Th e ligh t i n th e roo m increases with each repetition. It is unclear which is the authoritative or diegetic version.

KS: Alphaville itself migh t b e sai d t o g o backwards i n tim e here—t o participate i n th e retrospectiv e tur n i t consistentl y equate s wit h consciousness. I t als o dramatize s th e volatilit y o f memory—th e constant revision s t o whic h i t subject s th e past . B y giving u s thre e different version s o f Lemmy' s entr y int o th e hote l room , Alphaville reminds u s that ther e is no memor y which i s not subjec t t o unceasing revision an d transformation, an d hence resistant t o standardiza tion.13 HF: Lemm y i s no t sur e whether h e i s happ y t o se e Natash a o r not . While h e is deciding, he asks her to bo w he r head, and h e looks to see if she, too, wears a tattoo contro l number . When h e finds the numbe r 508 o n th e bac k o f he r neck , ther e i s a sudden surg e o f music ; th e romantic "Natash a theme " suggest s tha t thi s discover y ha s precipitated a surprising emotio n i n Lemmy . Unti l now , h e has assumed such control number s t o b e worn onl y b y the mos t roboti c inhabitant s o f Alphaville.

KS: Already, th e Seductress' s "why " ha s disturbe d tha t assumption , suggesting t o hi m tha t th e struggl e whic h lie s ahea d i s no t on e between human an d machine, but rather between human conscious ness and what impede s it. With th e discovery of the control numbe r on Natasha' s neck , i t becomes clea r that withi n th e psych e o f ever y resident o f Alphaville , a huma n bein g i s strugglin g t o emerge . Lemmy fall s i n lov e with tha t huma n being , whic h ha s th e fac e of Natasha Vonbraun . HF: Lemmy ask s Natasha i f sh e ha s heard o f Eluard' s Capital of Pain. Some passage s are underlined, h e says meaningfully, a s he hands th e book to Natasha . She begins reading these passages aloud: "We live in the void o f ou r metamorphoses./Bu t th e ech o that run s through th e day. . . . The ech o beyon d time , despai r an d th e caress . . . . Are we close to , o r fa r awa y from , ou r consciousness." 14 A momen t later , Lemmy ask s Natasha i f she has heard of a secret message . That i s precisely what h e takes the Eluar d boo k to be : a message, in code, about Alphaville. Like a good secret agent, he seeks to brea k the code.

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KS: Natasha brood s upo n th e wor d "conscience," a word whic h sh e does not yet remember. In so doing, sh e makes the words of the Eluard text availabl e to us in another form . They do offer th e key to th e destruction o f Alphaville , bu t no t i n th e guis e i n whic h Lemm y expects to find it . The echo which "run s through al l the day," and is beyond tim e an d affect , i s the voic e o f Alpha 60 , which ha s seize d possession o f the psyche s o f the inhabitant s o f Alphaville, an d ren dered "consciousness " unconscious. I f Alphaville i s to be defeated , this metamorphosis mus t b e reversed; what i s unconscious mus t b e made once again conscious. But Lemmy continues to look for a more conventional code . "Deat h i n conversation, " h e say s portentously , "To be trapped b y trying t o trap. " H e has no t ye t understoo d tha t Capital of Pain will yield its secret only to the one who reads it poetically. As is true o f man y profoun d truths , i t mus t b e learned b y th e teacher from hi s student . HF: Natasha begin s frantically searchin g for th e "Bible. " I n Alphaville, the hol y script i s a dictionary; i n i t ar e all the words which th e inhabitants of that city are allowed to know . When words are excised from it , as happens every day, they are soon forgotten. Natasha recalls some of the words tha t hav e bee n eliminate d i n recen t months . They ar e all affectively charged : "robi n redbreast, " "t o weep, " "autum n light, " "tenderness."

KS: As Natasha cite s thes e words , Lemm y look s a t th e pag e i n hi s notebook in which he wrote Henri Dickson's final utterances: "Make Alpha 6 0 destroy itself. . . . tenderness . . . save those abl e to weep." The cross-references betwee n the two lists make clear to us, if not yet to Lemmy , tha t lov e i s the secre t messag e Dickso n trie d t o conve y with the Eluard book and his final words. HF: Lemm y an d Natash a ea t breakfas t i n fron t o f a television set , which reflect s bac k the content s o f th e tabl e a s a twentieth-centur y still life . For a while, all that we can see of the two o f them i s their fin gers, engage d i n a miniatur e courtshi p dance . Lik e a goo d hard-boiled detective , Lemm y pour s whiske y int o hi s breakfas t cup . But no w h e play s psychoanalys t a s well , promptin g Natash a t o remember th e lan d of he r birth . Eventually , she utters the incantator y words "Nuev o Yor k . . . where the winter. . . Broadway . . . sparkles under the snow, as soft and gentle as mink."

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Fig. 15

KS: Godar d want s u s t o understan d tha t n o on e i s eve r bor n i n Alphaville. Alphaville i s less another plane t tha n a state o f mind, a "place" where people find themselve s when reaso n ha s succeeded i n driving ou t affect . Everyon e begins lif e somewher e else . There ar e many name s fo r thi s "elsewhere"—Tokyrama , Florence , Nuev o York—but the y all signify "consciousness, " or "bein g within tempo rality." What Lemmy says to Natasha after explainin g to her how she came to be in Alphaville—"you don' t belon g here"—i s thu s tru e of everyone who lives there. HF: Natash a ask s Lemm y wha t lov e is . H e tries t o sho w he r wit h a caress, but hi s touch i s not sufficient. "No , that's something I know al l about—that's sensuality, " respond s Natasha . Lemm y then give s voice to hi s erotic credo : "No, sensuality i s the result ; it cannot exist without love." Bu t even this i s inadequate t o th e task at hand . The coming o f Natasha to a n understanding o f the word "love " i s dramatized instea d through a sequence wit h it s ow n musica l theme . I n thi s sequence , Natasha speak s the following word s ove r a lyrical serie s of image s o f herself, sometimes with Lemm y (figure 15) , and sometimes without :

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Words Lik e Love Your voice, your eyes , our silences , our words . . . Light that goes , ligh t that returns . One single smile between u s both. Fro m needing to know , I watche d th e nigh t creat e th e day . O , Belove d o f on e alon e . . . I n silence your mout h promise d to b e happy . . . Further and further, hat e says, nearer and nearer, love says . . . The heart ha s but a single mouth. Everything b y chance . Everythin g sai d without thinking . Sentiment s drift awa y . . . One nee d onl y advanc e t o live , to g o straightforwar d towards al l tha t yo u love . I was goin g towar d you , I was perpetuall y moving toward the light . . .

KS: Significantly , i t i s throug h languag e rathe r tha n touc h tha t Natasha recall s th e meanin g o f th e wor d "love. " But it seem s tha t not jus t an y languag e will do. The only languag e capabl e o f renew ing this knowledge is a language capable of evoking or "performing " love in thos e wh o spea k o r hear it. 15 Her e the psychoanalyti c anal ogy which ofte n seem s at work in this scen e reaches the limit s of its usefulness. Fo r Freud, therapeuti c speec h tame s o r subdues affect; 16 poetry i s the illness , an d rationalize d speec h th e cure . For Godard , on th e othe r hand , therapeuti c speec h produce s affect ; reaso n i s the illness, and lov e the cure . The words Natasha speak s make clear tha t it is finally les s the teachings of psychoanalysis than thos e of surrealism, wit h thei r valorizatio n o f chance , drift , an d unconsciou s thought processes , which ar e at the heart of this film . HF: I n thi s sequence , th e straigh t lin e i s onc e agai n a n importan t metaphor, an d onc e agai n i t turn s int o a circle. As Natash a say s "On e need onl y advanc e t o live , t o go/Straightforwar d toward s al l tha t yo u love," sh e walks directl y ahead , bu t a s she add s " I wa s goin g toward s you,/l wa s perpetuall y movin g toward s th e light, " sh e walk s aroun d a table w i t h a n illuminate d lamp . Perhap s Godar d i s suggestin g tha t only thos e w ho no t onl y renounc e th e attemp t t o contro l th e future b y planning fo r i t rationally , bu t als o surrende r themselve s t o it s uncer tainty b y runnin g headlon g towar d wha t the y love , wil l finall y ente r the circl e o f myth .

KS: Light is also a privileged trope in Natasha's monologue. The light about whic h sh e speak s constantl y evolve s ou t o f darkness , an d returns once more to it. It is not only in a dialectical relationship with its opposite, but i s actually generated ou t o f it. The night create s th e day, we learn. Once again, the positive is born ou t of the negative.

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HF: The ligh t als o comes an d goe s i n the image s which accompan y this text. Mos t of this sequence is given over to shot s in which ther e is alternately illuminatio n an d darkness , often i n quick succession , and sometimes eve n withi n th e tw o halve s o f th e frame . The effec t i s a more evocativ e versio n o f Lemmy' s flash . W e no w recal l tha t thi s device was designed precisel y for creating the day out of the night .

KS: Four policemen brea k into the room t o take Lemmy to Resident s Control. The y kno w tha t legend s canno t b e defeate d b y ordinar y means, s o they resor t t o cunning . The y orde r Natash a t o tel l stor y number 842 , on e wit h a failproo f punc h lin e fo r thos e wh o stil l know how to laugh or cry. The policemen wait until Lemmy double s up with laughter, an d then mak e their attack . HF: At Resident s Control , Lemm y i s questioned on e las t time b y th e computer. Durin g thi s exchange , Alpha 6 0 proclaim s onc e again th e triumph o f th e certitude s o f th e presen t ove r th e uncertaint y o f th e future. In its war with the earth, Alphaville is certain to win, since Alpha 60 will "calculat e . . . s o that failure . . . i s impossible." "Everythin g I plan will b e accomplished," i t tells Lemmy.

KS: But if Lemm y Cautio n ha s a n Achille s heel , s o does Alpha 60 ; presented wit h a riddle, it canno t not solve it. Lemmy provides th e computer wit h a riddle whose solutio n wil l disarm i t by rendering i t human—by makin g it , a s Lemmy says , "mon semblable, mon frere" Rather tha n destruction , this , too , migh t b e calle d th e "cur e b y love."17 No w ther e ca n b e n o furthe r doubt : th e tw o term s whic h Alphaville pit s agains t eac h other , whethe r w e call them "technol ogy" an d "poetry, " "materialism " an d "spirit, " o r "reason " an d "emotion," ca n be no mor e neatl y mappe d ont o th e oppositio n o f Alpha 6 0 and Lemm y than i t can ont o "resident s o f Alphaville" an d "residents of the earth." We are dealing here with something like different psychi c states , to which Alph a 60 , the inhabitant s o f Alphav ille, and Lemmy all have equal access. HF: The riddl e Lemm y tells Alpha 6 0 features once again the parado x of th e straigh t lin e turning int o a circle. I t i s "something tha t neve r changes with th e nigh t o r the day , as long a s the pas t represent s th e future, toward s whic h i t will advanc e i n a straight line , but which, at the end, has closed i n on itsel f i n a circle." As Lemmy speaks with th e

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computer, th e ligh t onc e again come s and goes, in a proleptic asser tion of it s fraternity with Lemmy . We realize now that the lamps designating Alph a 6 0 hav e ha d thi s volatil e luminescenc e fro m th e ver y beginning o f the film.

KS: The key to solving this riddle is understanding i n what sens e the past ca n be said to represent th e future . Alphaville gives us plenty of help i n answerin g thi s question . Th e futur e whic h i s Alphaville i s depicted throug h image s o f Pari s of th e past . The secre t agen t int o whose semblan t Alph a 6 0 evolves is a throwback t o detective fictio n of th e 1930 s and fil m noi r o f th e 1940s . And th e futur e int o whic h Lemmy an d Natash a hea d a t th e en d o f th e fil m i s made possibl e through a transformative ac t of recollection; Natasha remember s th e meaning o f love transferentially, b y falling i n love with Lemmy. 18 In advancing int o the future , th e character s i n Alphaville could thu s b e said to circl e back to the past . The answer t o Lemmy' s riddle is now evident: i t i s temporality, tha t overarchin g categor y to which ever y privileged trope in the film i s finally subsumed . HF: The final words Alpha 60 speaks in this exchange are: "You will no t leave; the doo r i s locked/' Lemm y immediatel y disprove s this predic tion. H e smashes through th e door , an d dispatche s th e bodyguard s waiting o n th e othe r sid e with hi s legendar y gun . One mus t choos e one's weapon well ; some foes can only b e defeated with love , others only with firepower .

KS: Lemmy eliminate s severa l mor e obstacle s i n th e sam e manner , before makin g hi s wa y t o th e offic e o f Leonar d Vonbraun . Th e moment ha s come for the confrontation betwee n th e two men fro m earth: th e on e wh o seek s to destro y it , an d th e on e wh o alon e ca n save it. "Haven' t yo u notice d tha t Reporte r an d Revenge r star t wit h the sam e letter?" Lemmy asks one o f Vonbraun's assistants . We are back in the world of hats and trench coat s and secre t agents. HF: Each of the two antagonists attempts to persuad e the other to join his side. Vonbraun promises women and money, and stresses the technical advancement o f Alpha 60 . Vonbraun's compute r networ k i s represented b y a n industrial heatin g system , which emit s primitiv e ligh t signals and the soun d o f electrica l current s a s manifestations o f intel lectual activity . Lemmi e responds : "Yo u ar e opposing m y mora l an d

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even supernatural sense of vocation with nothin g mor e than a physical and menta l existenc e create d an d dictate d b y technocracy/ ' Now , more tha n ever , i t i s clear tha t thi s i s a battle no t s o muc h o f ma n against machine, as of spirit agains t what ca n perhaps bes t be characterized as a rational materialism . Vonbraun warns Lemmy that "me n of your kin d will soo n n o longe r exist . You'll becom e somethin g wors e than death ; you'll becom e a legend . . . " Fro m th e perspectiv e o f Alphaville, t o b e a legend i s to b e doubl y dead—t o b e no t merel y extinct, bu t also banished to the past.

KS: It doe s no t becom e a legend t o spea k o f hi s legendar y status . Instead, Lemm y responds onl y to the threa t o f death. H e does so by simultaneously affirmin g hi s mortality , an d confessin g t o th e fea r which i t induce s i n him . I n Alphaville, fea r o f deat h i s finall y a s definitive a s love is of humanity. "Yes , I'm afrai d o f death, " Lemm y says, " . .. bu t fo r a humble secre t agent, fea r o f death i s a cliche . . . like drinking whiskey, an d I'v e been drinkin g i t all my life. " Durin g this conversation, Lemm y is plunged int o a deeper an d deepe r dark ness, suggestive of the night which will finally swallo w him up. After he shoot s Vonbraun wit h hi s pistol, th e camer a cut s to th e flashin g panel o f th e heatin g system , an d the n bac k t o Lemmy , who sit s i n total darkness . Lemmy then onc e again illuminate s hi s cigarette an d his face with th e cigarett e lighter , i n a repetition o f the gestur e wit h which h e earlie r lai d clai m t o hi s mythica l status . This ligh t burn s brightly in the shado w of death . HF: The legen d the n assume s onc e agai n a mor e familia r form , a s Lemmy escapes from Vonbraun's office complex, and makes his way to Residents Control , where Natash a i s hel d hostage : gunshots , a taxi holdup, a dramati c ca r chase . Filme d fro m above , th e car s mak e 180-degree turns , a s i f the y wer e revu e girl s o r circu s elephants . Lemmy shows that the man of poetr y can also be a man of action.

KS: He looks in room afte r roo m o f Residents Control , until h e find s Natasha, who—like the other inhabitants o f Alphaville—is sufferin g from electricit y deprivatio n du e t o th e breakdown o f Alpha 60 . We hear th e computer' s voic e on e las t time : "Th e presen t i s terrifyin g because it is irreversible . . . because it is shackled, fixed lik e steel. . . . Time is the material of which I am made. . . . Time is a stream whic h carries m e alon g . . . but I am Tim e . . . i t i s a tiger whic h tear s m e

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apart . . . yet I , too , a m th e tiger. " I n solvin g th e riddl e pose d b y Lemmy, Alpha 60 has for the first tim e grasped its own contradictor y status. All of th e word s which w e have fo r memory—recollection , remembrance, retrospection—stres s it s backward turn . There can be no act of memory that is not a reversion to the past. Alpha 60 is consequently insid e rather tha n outsid e temporality . Indeed , tim e i s its very heart an d soul . Yet for th e computer t o understand tha t i s to be riven b y conflict . I t i s t o b e tor n apar t b y th e incommensurat e imperatives o f computation, calculation , an d prediction , whic h gri p Alpha 6 0 like "steel," and the unpredictable tiger s of past and future , desire and death . HF: Lemmy's plan is brilliant. I t is to destroy Alpha 60 merely b y lettin g it find ou t who i t is . The computer i s defeated through self-conscious ness. This is a strange rewriting of the story of Oedipus and the Sphinx. In that story , the Sphin x i s destroyed when Oedipu s i s able to answe r the riddl e i t poses : when h e is able to nam e what h e himself is : man. But th e answe r i s finally th e sam e i n Godard' s film . I n graspin g it s essentially temporal nature , Alpha 60 understands itsel f to b e Lemmy's "brother" o r "double, " i.e. , to b e a man.19

KS: At the en d o f Alphaville, Lemmy and Natash a trave l through th e night i n th e For d Galaxy . Significantly , the y neve r reac h th e geo graphical border wher e Alphaville ends , an d ou r world begins. That is because th e border i s psychic rather tha n terrestria l —because th e earth i s a stat e o f mind , rathe r tha n a place. Natash a definitivel y achieves tha t stat e o f mind onl y when sh e say s the magi c words: "I love you." These are the most performative word s in Alphaville. Onl y those who can utter them ar e saved. All others are forever lost . HF: Natasha does not find these crucial words at once. She claims that she does not kno w what to say, and twice, like Orpheus with Eurydice , she even begin s to tur n aroun d to se e what sh e and Lemm y ar e leaving behind . But finally the woman with the nam e from the pas t makes that simpl e declaratio n which , n o matte r ho w man y time s i t i s repeated, bring s ligh t t o thos e wh o hea r it , an d humanit y t o thos e who utte r it . Although Lemm y an d Natash a stil l hav e man y mile s t o drive, they hav e already reached their destination.

four Anal Capitalis m Weekend/Le Week-End (1967)

KS: Weekend (1967) open s o n a sunn y da y i n a luxuriou s Parisia n apartment. Th e inhabitants o f that apartment , Rolan d Qea n Yanne) and Corinn e (Mireill e Dare) are having drink s on th e balcony with a friend.1 Rolan d i s called t o th e phone , an d th e fictio n o f bourgeoi s propriety i s quickl y shattered . Withi n seconds , w e lear n tha t th e friend i s in fac t Corinne' s lover , an d tha t sh e an d Rolan d ar e bot h scheming t o kill each other . At the sam e time, the coupl e i s working together t o dispos e o f Corinne' s father , wh o stand s between the m and a substantial fortune . HF: A da y o r t w o later , o n a n unspecifie d Saturday , thi s coupl e set s of f for a small t o w n i n th e provinces , wher e Corinne' s famil y lives . The y hope t o arriv e befor e th e deat h o f he r father, s o as to preven t hi m fro m writing a new will . Bu t weekend traffi c i s today's battlefield , a s the fil m dramatically shows . Car s an d corpse s pil e u p o n th e roa d a s a bloo d offering t o th e go d o f highways .

KS: Corinne an d Rolan d ultimatel y arriv e a t thei r destination , bu t they are too late, in every sense of the word. They also never make it back to Paris. Instead, they get lost in a fiery apocalypse, which is the 83

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end o f "our world/' i f not o f "the world/' 2 Bu t their affect i n the fac e of this vision of doom i s strangely muted . HF: They stroll pas t the debris as if they were window shopping . They are no mor e touched b y the modernis t sculpture s int o which Godar d shapes the pile s of twisted stee l than they ar e by the mangle d bodies . The burning wrecks b y the side of the roa d are heart-breakingly beau tiful, bu t the heart s of our heroe s are not broken.

KS: The openin g scen e suggest s tha t i n th e worl d o f Weekend only material good s ar e capabl e o f elicitin g passions . I n thi s scene , th e camera crosscut s fro m th e Parisia n apartment , wher e Corinn e talk s matter-of-factly wit h he r love r abou t ho w sh e migh t dispos e o f Roland, an d Rolan d unemotionall y wit h hi s mistres s abou t hi s attempts t o kil l Corinne, t o a n animate d scen e on th e stree t below . From th e vantag e poin t o f a n extrem e overhear d shot , w e watch a s the driver s o f a Matra an d a Mini com e t o furiou s blow s ove r th e damage don e b y on e t o th e automobil e o f th e other . Th e prid e o f possession, whic h i s so conspicuously absen t no t onl y from marrie d but als o from adulterou s relationship s i n thi s film , stil l seems fierc e when i t comes to cars. HF: This scene begins even befor e the first of two subtitle s ha s left th e screen, through a sound bleed . As we loo k at the words " A Fil m Adrift in the Cosmos/' we hear the sounds of traffic and murmured conversation. The phone rings , and Corinne calls out to Roland : "It's for you." 3 A moment later , a s Roland speaks on the telephone i n the bedroom , and Corinne and her lover on the balcony, Godard interrupts the scene with a second subtitle : " A Fil m Foun d o n a Scrap Heap. " With bot h subtitles, h e suggest s tha t Weekend belong s t o th e sam e worl d a s Corinne and Roland.

KS: The firs t subtitl e create s th e narrativ e fictio n tha t Weekend is a relic from th e apocalypse , perhap s blow n int o spac e through som e final conflagration . Th e secon d subtitl e consign s th e fil m t o th e place to which al l the burning aut o heap s ar e destined. I t character izes Weekend as something like "trash. " HF: In later Godard films, this kind of self-hatred will precipitate extreme forms of auto destruction, but Weekend has been created in a very differ-

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ent spirit. Although narrativel y attenuated , and at times given over t o extreme spectatorial provocations , it is constructed with the care of the artisan. Godard provides smooth transitions from one scene to the next, and enough exposition to motivate, if not all events, then at least the primary ones. And Weekend even provides a great deal of pleasure , something which Godard will withhold in later, more politically programmati c films. Only by relegating famous actors to supporting roles , and by mustering all of the production devices of a commercial film for the purpose of shooting nonevents, does he "undo" Weekend.

KS: But perhaps the fil m i s relegated t o the wastebasket les s throug h the proces s o f production, tha n throug h tha t o f consumption . Per haps Godard is anticipating what Weekend will be when we have fin ished watchin g it , no t whe n h e ha s finishe d makin g it : when i t i s "used up," psychically speaking . Perhaps, in other words, he is inviting us to understand i t a s a commodity. A s Georg Simme l pointe d out almos t a century ago , a commodity ha s value only s o long a s it hasn't bee n enjoyed. 4 Th e ac t o f enjoymen t "consumes " th e valu e conferred upo n i t by economic an d semioti c exchange , an d reduce s it t o metaphori c wast e (p . 66) . Weekend could b e sai d t o b e a tex t made to be enjoyed, i n both meaning s o f the word: an objec t whic h gives us pleasure only at its own expense . HF: In a way, Godard hopes that Weekend will b e quickly consumed. He does not want i t to b e passed from generation to generation, like a Biedermeier chair, but rathe r to b e digested on a warm evening in the late sixties, by people with flowers i n their hair . Bu t like Dylan's "Th e Times They Are A-Changin'," Weekend has nevertheless become a classic.

KS: That i s yet anothe r reaso n t o relegat e i t to th e scra p heap. Wit h Weekend, Godar d hope d t o make a film whic h coul d be digested, bu t not consumed—whic h woul d be a marijuana brownie , rather than a three-course bourgeois meal. But, like many member s o f our genera tion, h e cam e to understan d tha t nothin g tha t w e take within our selves, whether literall y or metaphorically, ca n remain untouched b y commodification. I t is no wonder tha t h e would tr y s o often i n th e years immediately following t o make "undigestible " films . HF: The opening scen e of Weekend ends with anothe r soun d bleed . Roland say s to hi s mistres s "Se e you Monday, " an d thes e words ar e

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Fig. 16 repeated tw o mor e time s ove r th e blac k ont o whic h th e final imag e fades. "Whe n di d i t happen? " ask s Corinne's love r at the beginnin g o f the next scene. "Tuesday," sh e responds, " . .. I' m sur e it was Tuesday because I stopped taking the pil l on Wednesday." Weekend obsessively tabulates the day of the week, and sometimes the hour of the day.

KS: In this scene, Corinne sits in panties and a bra on a desk, recount ing a story to her lover, who occupies a chair behind her . The camera moves continuousl y towar d an d awa y fro m thes e figures , bu t w e never see m to get any closer to them (figur e 16) . HF: Shot against the brilliant illumination o f a window, both figures are dark silhouettes. Silhouett e photograph y usuall y beautifies , bu t that is not the case here. Nothing solicits the look. The seduction of the scene resides not i n the image, but i n the words Corinne speaks.

KS: Both the visual treatment o f Corinne and her lover and the subor dination of the image to the word could be characterized as "sublimating." Each effects a n abstraction away from sensor y particularity—th e image by making th e lovers "generic, " and th e word by substitutin g the mental fo r the visual image.

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HF: The two huma n figures in this scene are less persons than positionalities, into which a multitude o f characters could b e slotted.

KS: The notio n o f equivalenc e i s also centra l t o th e stor y Corinn e tells. I t i s the accoun t o f a n org y with thre e participants : Corinne , Paul, and Paul' s wife, Monique . Corinn e an d Moniqu e occup y mor e or less interchangeable position s vis-a-vi s both Pau l and eac h other . And the story is meant to excite Corinne's lover by putting him in an identificatory relatio n t o Paul. Finally, like the opening scene, which stresses the symmetr y of Roland and Corinn e by positioning both i n adulterous relationships , an d showin g tha t eac h i s plotting agains t the other , thi s scen e works to establis h th e reversibilit y o f th e cate gories of "man " an d "woman. " HF: But Corinne' s love r stil l seem s to hav e the uppe r hand . Corinn e tells her erotic story at his prompting. I t could even be said to procee d as if from hi s fantasy. There's a long traditio n o f me n standin g apar t from a scene of sexua l congres s which the y a t the sam e time orches trate, which i s "for" them . You don't los e power whe n you le t other s sleep with you r mistress , as Corinne's love r does—yo u gai n it . I t i s a kind of entrepreneurial position .

KS: This scene undoes gender no t because it puts Corinne's lover in a subordinate position , bu t rathe r becaus e th e thematic s o f th e stor y she tells work to decenter th e ke y term upo n whic h gende r rests : the phallus. At a key moment, Godar d punctuates the scene with the title "Anal Ysis, " thereb y underscorin g wha t i s b y the n full y evident . Although Pau l at one point proudly displays his erection in Corinne' s fantasy, virtuall y ever y significan t eroti c transaction i n tha t fantas y centers o n th e anus . Pau l admire s Corinne' s buttocks , an d pour s whiskey down them; Monique puts her finger i n Corinne's anus; Paul sodomizes Monique , wit h th e "help " of Corinne ; Moniqu e sit s in a bowl of milk; and Pau l inserts an egg in Corinne's anus. As Guy Hocquenghem ha s argued , th e anu s i s the on e sexua l orga n whic h doe s not recogniz e gender. 5 Where the penis and vagina affir m difference , it assert s similitude . That gende r i s under sieg e here i n som e large r sense becomes particularly manifest a t one of the climactic moment s of the orgy , when al l three participant s ar e described a s engaging i n identical behavior : masturbatin g whil e lookin g a t th e other s doin g the same .

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HF: But Corinne' s love r stil l act s as if hi s supremacy remain s unques tioned. At th e en d o f th e scene , he tells Corinn e t o com e an d excit e him, a s i f th e pleasure s o f forepla y wer e a mal e prerogative . An d throughout th e film, Paul' s attitude i s uncompromisingly on e of "m e first."

KS: This is a case of what migh t b e called "anachronisti c conscious ness"—of th e uneve n developmen t o f the socia l fiel d an d th e mas culine psyche . Although Weekend insists eve r mor e full y upo n th e equivalence o f "male " an d "female, " Corinne' s love r an d Rolan d cling to their illusion s of mastery. Of course these illusions have real effects: Corinn e mus t no t onl y servic e her lover , but late r carr y he r husband whe n h e gets tired of walking. But both mal e characters ar e shown t o have no real power in the world of the film . HF: There's something ver y strang e abou t th e way i n which Corinn e relates he r story . Sh e doesn't addres s eithe r he r love r o r the camera . Nor does she seem to b e speaking to herself . The conditions for verbal exchange—the " I " an d the "you"—see m t o b e missing.

KS: Perhaps that' s becaus e th e character s i n Weekend aren't exactl y subjects, i n th e usua l meanin g o f tha t word . To be a subject i n ou r culture signifie s t o b e th e on e wh o exchange s (language , women , money, etc.), rather than what is exchanged. A woman's claim to this position i s often fel t t o be weaker than a man's, because in som e cultures sh e circulates lik e a commodity, an d becaus e eve n i n ou r ow n she is passed from fathe r t o husband. 6 Bu t Weekend makes commodi ties out of its male as well as its female characters . It does so precisely by stressing their commensurability . A s Simmel emphasizes, equiva lence and exchangeability ar e "reciprocal notions" (p. 93). HF: Perhaps Godard i s trying to sho w that good s hav e ever mor e variety an d distinction, but th e consumers eve r less . More and mor e people speak the same languages, inhabi t th e same mode o f production , listen to the same records.

KS: I think that he's also suggesting that late capitalism has effected a reduction i n th e numbe r o f term s which ca n functio n a s standard s of value. The phallus ha s traditionally enjoye d a n analogou s statu s within th e erotic domain t o that o f gold within th e domai n o f com -

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modities:7 it was the "genera l equivalent " t o which th e particularit y of all other bodily parts was subsumed.8 But if we are to take Weekend at its word, the phallus has lost its privileged status . In the seductio n scene, Godard show s the male sexual organ to be only one in a series of thre e object s capabl e o f bein g inserte d int o th e anus , a serie s which als o includes a n eg g and a finger. I t seem s that a s gold exer cises its "Lordship " ove r a larger an d large r domain , i t i s strippin g other general equivalents of their prerogatives. 9 HF: Ironically, then, i t seems as if capita l i s unconsciously accomplish ing what al l of the consciou s strategies o f feminism hav e been unabl e to achieve: it is bringing patriarch y to an end.

KS: So Godard would have us believe. But we should not be too hasty in celebratin g th e dethronemen t o f th e phalli c signifier . Weekend makes clear that th e gai n within th e domai n o f gende r whic h capi talism effect s i s more than offse t b y the eve r greater semanti c reduction to which i t subjects the socia l field . HF: "Gleich geltend" an d "gleich gultig" ar e related words i n German: "equivalent" an d "indifferent. " The y hav e the sam e linguisti c roots . This etymology suggests that what we're talking about here is a kind of flattening out , th e reductio n o f huma n existenc e t o th e horizonta l dimension. Where equivalence reigns , there is a loss of the sacred.

KS: Yes, there i s wha t Ma x Webe r call s a "disenchantmen t o f th e world."10 HF: But how, precisely , does anality fit int o this disenchantment o f th e world? I s it simply a signifier a t the leve l of sexuality o f what we migh t call an "unrestricte d market, " on e i n which everythin g ca n b e bough t and sold?

KS: As we wil l se e whe n th e camer a hit s th e road , wher e car s ar e transformed fro m treasure d commoditie s t o worthless junk , Weekend gives anality a central place not onl y because it is a signifier o f equivalence, but als o because it is a signifier o f excrement. I n late capital ism, the commodity quickl y gives way to "waste. " The supremacy of economic ove r othe r form s o f value lead s to a dramatic diminutio n in the kinds of value any thing can have. It also leads to a decrease in

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the amount o f value a thing ca n have . The value o f th e commodit y must neve r be increased beyon d th e capacit y o f man y t o pa y for it , financially o r libidinally, no r leav e that man y withou t th e reserve s for th e nex t purchase . There ca n n o longe r b e absolute value , onl y objects for which substitute s can quickly be found. 11 Wit h this serialization o f th e exchang e process , the momen t o f enjoymen t o f eac h new commodity also becomes briefer an d briefer, s o that i t passes for this reaso n a s well muc h mor e quickl y int o th e categor y o f "shit. " Anality would thus seem much closer than the phallus to the "truth " of late capitalism. 12 HF: But surely sexuality i s not simpl y reflectiv e i n this respect . I don't feel that the seduction scene in Weekend proves "economics i n the last instance." There's too muc h perversity , too muc h idiosyncrati c elabo ration: sitting i n milk, pouring whiskey over buttocks, etc.

KS: In a certain sense , one coul d a s legitimately spea k here of "sexu ality in the last instance" as "economics i n the last instance." As the seduction scen e indicates, wit h it s insistence upo n unconventiona l erotic transactions, sexualit y i s as resistant a s late capitalis m t o th e priority o f th e phallus . I t is initially polymorphou s o r "anarchic. " The phallic phase implies the ruthles s subordinatio n o f this anarch y to a kind o f centra l government , an d man y subject s simpl y refus e this eroti c colonization. 13 Eve n i n th e mos t normativ e psyche , according t o Freud , th e unconsciou s treat s shit , money , gift , penis , and chil d a s interchangeable terms. 14 Capita l ha s onl y tippe d th e balance in favor o f the first o f these terms. HF: It seems to m e that ther e i s more a t issu e in the seductio n scen e even tha n sexua l perversity , o r th e reig n o f money . I n th e stor y recounted b y Corinne , there i s an almost ceremonia l us e of th e pri mordial substance s o f mil k an d eggs . I t would see m that a t the ver y moment i n whic h th e rul e o f equivalenc e mos t full y triumphs , th e desire for magi c will inevitabl y resurface .

KS: Huma n being s canno t manag e fo r ver y lon g withou t som e recourse to the sacred, and Weekend helps us to understand why . The scene wher e Corinn e arouse s he r love r suggest s tha t i n a n unre stricted market , a s you hav e calle d it , the huma n commodit y i s perhaps th e quickes t t o los e it s value. Corinn e remark s tha t Pau l an d

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Monique have been married fo r onl y two months, yet Paul is already prepared t o treat he r a s interchangeable wit h Corinne , an d Moniqu e to g o off o n a vacation wit h anothe r man . Th e following scene , o n the othe r hand , echoe s tha t playe d ou t o n th e stree t belo w Rolan d and Corinne' s apartmen t i n attributing to car ownership a more lasting value. Rolan d back s hi s ca r int o someon e else's , and a frenzie d free-for-all ensue s between th e tw o set s of owners . Where economi c value reigns supreme , th e huma n bein g cannot hol d it s own agains t the humblest object . Perhap s the only kind of value such a being can have is absolute value. HF: The two car scenes introduc e anothe r o f Weekend's constitutiv e elements, and one which mitigate s the darkness of its general vision: slapstick. Bot h ca r struggles ar e playfully shot , a s if the y occurre d within a circus. The protagonists behav e mor e "choreographically " than realistically , an d the passion s motivatin g thei r struggl e see m assumed rathe r tha n organic ; i t is as if they displa y rag e les s because they experienc e i t than becaus e their role s call for it. But there i s the suggestion tha t unde r the thin venee r o f this "civilization " beat s the heart of a more affectivel y vita l "barbarism. " The father o f the family with whom Corinn e and Roland struggle bring s out his gun and starts shooting, and the son wears Indian feathers, and plays with a bow and arrow. There is also a pop-art aestheti c a t work i n the two car scenes. Things from man y differen t categorie s ar e placed sid e by side: gun , spray paint , bo w and arrow, Che z Dolore s dress . Thi s principl e i s pushed muc h furthe r i n the famous trackin g sho t o f the traffic jam: tropical animals , people playin g cards , dead bodies . The tracking sho t is like one of those television show s in which a dazzling arra y of merchandise passes before our eyes. We are always bored by what we see, but still we anticipate the next revelation. KS: As with s o much consumerism , th e pleasur e inhere s onl y i n th e prospect of an enjoyment whic h never punctually arrives. This is serial consumption a t its most profound . HF: Like Andy Warhol's silkscreens , the happenings o f the 1960s were an aestheticizatio n o f thi s phenomenon , a n attemp t t o mak e th e moment of boredom perversel y fascinating. The shot outside the moving car, much favored in experimental films from the same period, was part of the same impulse: you turn on the radio, and submit yourself to

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the flow of people and things passing by, which in their very meaninglessness become once again meaningful. GodarcTs tracking shot of the traffic jam operates very much within this conceptual framework . KS: This sho t als o offer s a n ironi c commentar y o n th e cul t o f indi vidualism a t th e hear t o f lat e capital . No two car s in th e traffi c ja m are alike, an d i n man y othe r respect s a s well the driver s asser t thei r difference fro m eac h other : wha t the y hav e i n thei r vehicles , ho w they ar e dressed, ho w the y spen d thei r time . But all of thes e driver s presumably heade d ou t ont o th e Frenc h highwa y a t th e sam e moment, an d al l o f the m ar e now stuc k i n th e sam e traffi c jam . I t seems that th e mor e equivalen t subject s ar e to eac h other , th e mor e they will assert their uniqueness . HF: The character wh o insists mos t full y upo n hi s individuality i s of course Roland , who forces his way through the mass of cars until h e i s once again on the open highway , free from the "masses." As if to dramatize the absurdity o f this ambition, Codard will late r reduc e him to an indistinguishable component of an outdoor barbeque . But although Weekend does not sustain Rolan d in his delusion o f individuality, i t is not totalizing. It suggests that there is a world apart from the one it critiques. In this scene, as in later scenes, Weekend maps this "elsewhere " onto the French countryside, presumabl y becaus e it has not yet been fully commodified . At first, we are so fully engrosse d in the surprising spectacle of the traffic ja m that we don't se e anything else . But then we notic e tha t behin d the stalled cars and trucks lie s not an urban or industrial landscape , o r eve n on e which migh t b e displayed o n a poster o r a postcard, but a yellow, freshly-harveste d field . Thi s fiel d frustrates all of our attempts to incorporate i t into what i s happening in th e foreground, o r eve n int o th e categories throug h whic h w e determine wha t i s visually "interesting. " I t is without narrative , thematic, or photographic significance . 15 KS: As Roland and Corinn e extricat e themselves from th e traffic jam , they discover what cause d it: an accident , which ha s strewn mangle d bodies by the sid e of the road . Ou r protagonists driv e unconcerne d past this spectacle. Death is something that happens only to the other. HF: Almost immediately , Rolan d and Corinne find themselve s i n the midst of another accident , thi s time one involving a farmer o n a trac-

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tor, an d a rich bo y and gir l i n a Triumph. As the farmer (George s Staquet) drive s int o frame, prior t o th e accident, h e is singing th e "Inter national/ 7 th e them e son g o f socialism . "Yo u bastar d o f a peasant," shouts Julie t (Julie t Berto) , th e girl , afte r sh e ha s discovere d he r boyfriend's death . "Littl e bourgeoi s cunt, " h e responds, and Weekend cuts to the intertitle "Th e Class Struggle."

KS: This set s th e term s fo r wha t follows . "Yo u fuckin g bastard! " shrieks Juliet, wit h th e courag e o f he r bourgeoi s convictions , "I t makes you sic k that we'v e got mone y an d yo u haven't , doesn' t it? " "If it weren't fo r m e and m y tractor, th e Frenc h would have nothin g to eat," is the farmer's version o f the same argument . HF: Juliet appeals to the bystanders to validate her claims, but the days of class solidarity ar e over. The local onlookers refus e to take sides, and when Julie t appeal s t o Rolan d an d Corinne , the y immediatel y driv e away. It is everyone for him - or herself on the commodity market .

KS: But Godar d canno t resis t fantasizin g fo r a moment abou t th e possibility of the goods getting together. 16 Both the farmer an d Juliet protest as Roland and Corinne drive away; both feel stripped of value by the couple' s refusa l t o tak e sides , an d i n thei r miser y the y see k company. Th e farmer put s hi s arm comfortingl y aroun d Juliet, an d they walk away together. HF: Of cours e thi s identificatio n acros s class lines, which signifie s a t least a vague awareness on the par t o f Juliet and the farmer tha t the y are in the same boat, is facilitated b y relegating Corinne and Roland to the categor y o f "filthy , rotten , stinking Jews. " On e oppositio n give s way onl y when the two side s can be united agains t a third. Ironically , this racia l insul t follow s clos e o n th e heel s o f th e farmer's appea l t o inclusivity, "Aren' t we all brothers, as Marx said?"

KS: Bu t Godar d i s no t conten t t o en d thi s episod e here . Afte r a fade-out, h e give s i t a n alternat e conclusion . Weekend cuts t o a n intertitle wit h th e word s "Phon y Graph, " an d the n t o a group por trait mappin g (o r graphing) th e relation s which th e character s hav e themselves bee n unwillin g t o acknowledge . I t films Roland , Juliet , the farmer , an d th e variou s onlooker s standin g agains t a wall plastered wit h politica l posters , i n a n unwillin g collectivit y (figur e 17) .

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Fig. 1 7 The Marseillaise provide s the onl y commentary , bu t th e conclusio n we are meant to draw is clear. The class war at the heart of Weekend is not tha t betwee n worker s an d capital , but rathe r tha t betwee n gol d and commodities . I t is the war between th e genera l equivalen t an d the many whom i t dooms to having only a relative value. HF: As Roland and Corinne drive away, she complains that his short cuts "do nothin g but lose us time." And time, she adds, "means money." As Weekend's relentless division of weeks into days and days into hours has already begun to make clear, this is a world where even temporality has been commodified. But unlike Roland , Corinne is given to occasional bursts of lucidity. A moment later, she looks at the countryside and asks: "When did civilization begin? " Fo r a split second, she imagines a time before or outside market time. When Roland asks her why such a question should interest her, she answers cryptically: "it's in the landscape." We look inquiringly at the green fields, but they are as enigmatic as the freshly harveste d countryside behin d the traffic jam . Once again, the landscape functions as something like a site of resistance to that process of rationalization which make s everything "mean " money. KS: Corinne mull s ove r the word s spoke n a moment befor e b y th e farmer: "Aren' t w e al l brothers, lik e Marx said? " Rolan d respond s

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that thes e words were spoken b y Jesus, not Marx . This becomes th e starting point fo r a n inspired "riff, " which begin s with th e notion of the so n o f God , bu t circle s back t o Marx . Corinn e an d Rolan d ar e highjacked b y tw o hitchhikers : Josep h Balsam o (Danie l Pom mereulle), a twentieth-centur y Jesus , an d hi s consor t Marie Madeleine (Virgini e Vignon), a twentieth-century Mar y Magdalene . Balsamo owe s his divin e lineag e t o a most unimmaculat e concep tion: the sodomy of Alexandre Dumas by God. HF: "Balsamo" i s the name of the magician Cagliostro , who appear s in Balzac's Sarrasine. Bu t here it mean s "eroti c lubricator"—or , sinc e the lubricator i s of divine origin, something lik e Genet's holy vaseline.17

KS: Balsamo almos t immediatel y call s into questio n th e rul e o f th e father, somethin g whic h hi s statu s a s ana l produc t o r shi t ideall y qualifies hi m t o do . He asks Corinne what he r nam e is , and—as sh e provides firs t he r marrie d nam e an d the n he r birt h name—point s out that these are paternal names, not hers . "You see, you don't eve n know who you are," he protests. HF: Balsamo i s not onl y th e so n of God , but als o the so n of Marx . I n this capacity he again functions to subvert the law of the father; like his historical predecessor , Pau l Lafargue, h e stands no t for labo r power , but for laziness. 18 In keeping with th e slapstick logi c o f this scene, Balsamo oblige s Rolan d t o tur n hi s ca r aroun d s o a s to driv e hi m an d Marie-Madeleine t o Mont-Saint-Gel y b y shootin g hi s gun wildly . H e brandishes i t lik e a circu s master' s whip . Again , thi s sequenc e i s intensely choreographic . Balsam o does no t s o much ac t as improvise around a set of elements : a trilby hat , a branch o f greenery , a flock o f sheep, the rabbit he pulls out of the glove compartment .

KS: He proposes to Corinne and Roland an unconventional exchange , of the sort that we find i n fairy tales: if they drive him to London, h e will give them whateve r the y want. Her e is an opportunit y t o drea m about absolut e value . But Corinn e an d Rolan d ar e unable t o desir e outside the parameters of the market. They can only fantasize havin g a Mercedes, Yves St. Laurent evenin g dresses , an d a weekend wit h James Bond. Significantly, Corinn e also slips at a key moment i n thi s conversation ou t of wanting to have desirable goods, into wanting t o be one. She asks Balsamo if he could mak e her a "real" blonde. In so

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doing, sh e hopes t o approximate th e gold standar d o f womanhood . Appalled, Balsam o rescinds his offer . HF: Nea r th e en d o f thi s scene , Balsam o proclaim s th e en d o f th e "grammatical era and the beginning of an age of flamboyance in every field, especially that o f the cinema." O f course, everyone was ungrammatical in the late 1960s. And cinema, because it has no grammar, was a privileged playin g field for suc h experiments. Straub , Pasolini , and the German avant-garde all used it in this way. The idea here is: grammar comes from school, so therefore it's like the police. But grammar is not a t issu e in Weekend; i t i s not i n rebellio n agains t the constraints o f the pregive n codes . One could eve n go so far a s to sa y it i s saturated with reference s to Hollywoo d genres. It is not only a road movie, but a musical, with autonomou s "numbers. "

KS: Perhaps "ungrammatical" means something other here than "aesthetically transgressive." Maybe it signifies les s "rebellion agains t th e usual rules of construction" than "resistanc e to the restricted range of linguistic categories through which we colonize the world." The word could be said to perform a n analogous semantic reduction within th e domain of things to that performed b y the name of the father withi n the domain of subjects, or gold within the domain of commodities. This sequence launches an extended assaul t upon all forms o f abstraction . HF: Understood i n that way, Balsamo' s proclamatio n coul d b e said to represent on e of th e governin g aestheti c principle s o f Weekend, on e which i s at work no t onl y i n all of the slapstick scenes in that film, bu t in all of the sixties' art-forms upon which it draws at other times—happenings, pop art, improvisation . Insofa r as money i s the word o f commodities, these art forms are "ungrammatical."

KS: A moment afte r Corinn e wonders whether al l men aren' t i n fac t brothers, Weekend shows he r an d Rolan d engagin g onc e agai n i n very unbrotherly behavior: biting the hands o f what ar e presumabl y other drivers , who see m t o be attacking them . Her e we have some thing lik e a litera l consumption , on e whic h make s eviden t tha t activity's lethal effects . HF: This i s shown i n a very reduce d an d enigmatic way , i n two non contextualized shots . We don't kno w where these scenes occur, wh o

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the other peopl e are, or why the y ar e attacking. This is something lik e "pure aggressivity, " strippe d o f narrativ e pretext . Suc h indeterminac y makes th e precisio n o f th e intertitle s al l th e mor e striking : "Saturday/Saturday/Saturday 4p.m. " O n this occasion, time seem s to mean something lik e "the hou r of social conflict."

KS: In effect, th e motorists are fighting ove r the delay each is costing the other. And no one wants to pay. HF: The same motivation compel s Rolan d to driv e at breaknec k spee d down a narrow road after h e and Corinne have finally extricated themselves from Balsam o an d Madeleine . H e ruthlessl y mow s dow n th e vehicles which stand in his way, whether they are bicycles or cars. After all, he has already los t too muc h time! But the camera refuses to trave l so fast. Several times it stays behind to loo k at what Rolan d has no eyes for: the verdant green of trees and grass.

KS: The next scene helps us to understand bette r what Weekend poses as the alternativ e t o commodification . St . Just (Jean-Pierr e Leaud) , the firs t o f a series of allegorica l figures , walk s in historica l costum e in a lush meadow , readin g aloud from a book. "Ca n on e believe tha t man create d societ y i n orde r t o be happy an d reasonabl e therein ? No! One is led to assum e that, wear y o f the restfulnes s an d wisdo m of Nature, he wishes to be unhappy an d mad! " Corinn e an d Rolan d carry on thei r ow n conversation , obliviou s t o St . Just. Wherea s th e passage which St . Just reads is retrospective, ful l o f a sense of regret , their conversatio n i s anticipatory , oriente d towar d th e futur e i n which the y will dispatc h Corinne' s parent s wit h a knife o r a n axe . His is the time of loss, theirs of hoped-for gain . HF: That Corinne and Roland are still fully engrosse d in their fantasy of future wealth i s all the mor e astonishin g give n tha t Roland' s reckles s driving ha s just lande d the m i n a fiery crash . Roland extracts himsel f cooly from th e wreckage, and Corinne' s crie s of anguis h concer n onl y her lost Hermes bag (figure 18) .

KS: Even suc h a vivid dramatizatio n o f fatality a s their ca r acciden t does not reorient Roland and Corinne toward the past, or put them i n a new relation to sacrifice. On the contrary, they soon begin dramatizing the ultimate drea m a t the hear t o f late capitalism—acquisitio n

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without payment . The y embar k o n wha t migh t b e calle d a "bargain-basement" shoppin g spree , peeling designe r clothe s fro m the corpses of other accident victims. HF: Immediately befor e the St. Just scene comes an intertitle readin g "From the French Revolution to U N R Weekends." 19 Reference s to the French Revolution will be numerous from this point forward. They provide an invitation to think critically about the legacy of the French Revolution. This becomes especially eviden t in the meadow scene , which calls into questio n one of that legacy' s central terms. St. Just suggests there that "liberty " ca n be a dangerous rallyin g cry, since one person's freedom can imply another person' s servitude. "Freedom, like crime, is born o f violence," h e said. "I t is as though i t were the virtue whic h springs from vice fighting i n desperation agains t slavery. The struggle will be long and freedom will kil l freedom." KS: Weekend also provides a n extende d meditatio n o n th e last of th e three term s a t th e hear t o f th e Frenc h Revolution—equality . Th e world o f th e fil m i s one where th e drea m o f equalit y has been real ized, but i n a nightmare form : ever y character in the film i s on a par with ever y other , becaus e commodificatio n ha s levele d al l distinc tions. Not surprisingly, the inhabitants of this world do not welcom e

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their equality . Bu t rathe r tha n formin g a "fraternity " o r "brother hood" throug h whic h the y migh t collectivel y contes t th e syste m of general equivalence , a s the Phon y Grap h sho t encourage s the m t o do, th e character s i n Weekend wast e thei r energie s i n th e vai n attempt t o differentiat e themselve s fro m eac h other . Thi s lead s t o precisely th e situatio n decrie d b y St . Just. On e characte r ca n affir m his o r he r libert y onl y b y denyin g i t t o another . Godar d show s u s how complicate d th e Frenc h Revolutionar y legac y can be , an d ho w crucial it is that al l three of its values be simultaneously affirmed . HF: Ironically, althoug h Godar d coul d b e said to offer the ultimate cri tique of car culture i n Weekend, h e also inadvertently promote s it . H e often put s the camera on a crane, and the crane on tracks. One could say tha t i n doin g s o he manifests th e same clas s consciousnes s as Roland and Corinne. The St. Just scene is a good exampl e of this. A s the characters walk right , acros s the meadow, the camera tracks wit h them. The distance covered is enormous. Godard must have laid down almost a s many track s a s he did for the traffic jam . Then, as St. Just reaches the climax o f his speech, the camera crane s up , and shows Corinne and Roland disappearing in the distance. The upward crane of the camer a i s rhetorical ; i t mimic s th e elevate d styl e o f St . Just's speech. An d althoug h th e nex t scen e begin s wit h a favorit e avant-garde trope , th e "loo p back " t o th e beginning o f a n actio n which i s repeatedly shown , it, too, ends with a crane up, which give s us an overhead vie w o f the struggle ove r th e young man' s Porsche . Because there i s no rhetorical pretex t here , the crane is more clearl y a kind of status symbol, a way of separating Weekend from undergroun d filmmaking. I t says: "Look, we have a Mercedes. We're no t working with a Deux Chevaux. " KS: The Porsche scene provides an occasio n for the demonstration o f that feelin g whic h seem s most ou t o f place in th e world o f Weekend: romantic love . The young ma n (agai n Jean-Pierre Leaud ) stand s i n a glassless phone booth a t the beginning o f this scene, singing a plaintive song to a faraway mistress . HF: But he is, as he himself put s it, "calling out in the emptiness"; there is no response from the other en d of the line, and perhaps non e reall y wanted. There is something solipsisti c abou t the way the young man sings, and he quickly abandon s the telephone whe n h e sees Corinne

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and Rolan d taking a n interest i n hi s car. He then become s a medieval knight defendin g hi s steed, with a tire a s his shield, and a wrench as his dagger. Mos t storyteller s woul d b e content t o le t on e ca r battl e stand i n for many , bu t Godar d insist s upo n th e detail s whic h mak e each one different from th e others. The extreme animatio n o f Leaud' s acting work s especiall y wel l wit h thi s kin d o f slapstick . I n hi s boyis h desire to pleas e he even has the inspired idea of leapin g over the car.

KS: Corinne an d Rolan d ar e oblige d t o continu e thei r journe y o n foot. Befor e long, they enter a forest, wher e they meet two more allegorical figures : Tom Thumb (Yve s Afonso) an d Emil y Bronte (Blan dine Jeanson), both agai n in historical garb. Tom Thumb reads aloud from piece s of paper which hav e been attache d t o his clothing, ont o which passage s from a range o f books have been written. Eac h tim e he doe s so , Emily Bront e give s him a stone. She also reads passage s aloud, but from a book. HF: Godard can be very didactic i n his insistence upon making us listen to lon g passage s from grea t books . Bu t her e h e shows that h e has a sense of humo r abou t didacticism . The piece s o f pape r attache d t o Tom Thumb' s clothin g remin d u s o f th e cri b note s childre n us e i n school. With them, Godard says: "It's reall y har d to remembe r th e ol d texts. We need help/ ' An d the stones Emil y Bront e gives Tom Thum b when h e produces these passages show that culture doesn't pay.

KS: In this scene, Godard tries to conceptualize exchange outside th e parameters withi n whic h i t generall y occur s i n Weekend. Th e exchange o f words for stone s is a direct exchange , unmediated b y a general equivalent . An d because words an d stone s are, from a semiotic view , no t onl y disjunctive , bu t mutuall y exclusive , i t i s tw o manifestly incommensurat e thing s which ar e here exchanged . Thi s is finally th e hidden trut h o f all exchange: no two things can ever be equivalent t o eac h other . Godar d make s the sam e point vi a anothe r example. Emily Bronte an d To m Thumb hol d u p a stone an d a tree branch t o Corinn e an d Roland , an d as k them wha t the y are . Bot h times our protagonists provide the linguistic category into which we are accustomed t o slottin g those objects , a category which work s t o suppress their diversity . Emily Bronte responds with tw o quotation s from Lewi s Carroll, quotations whic h fracture th e categorie s of ''cat " and "fish " int o a multiplicity fo r whic h ther e ca n n o longe r b e an y

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common denominato r (kitten s without tails , kittens wh o ar e read y to play with a gorilla, kitten s who like fish an d ca n be educated; fis h who canno t danc e th e minuet , fis h wh o hav e thre e row s o f teeth , corpulent fish) . HF: Emily Bront e also provides a meditation upo n a stone which help s to mak e clear how it is that natur e can at times escap e commodification in Weekend. Sh e represents the stone as an object which ha s bee n ignored b y "architecture, sculpture , mosaic , jewelry/ ' an d which — because it has never bee n incorporate d int o huma n ar t or industry — remains outside our systems of intelligibility. KS: The ston e i s consequently irreducibl y singular , withou t eithe r exchange valu e o r use value. 20 It i s also associate d wit h a differen t temporality, on e whic h predate s commodifie d time , an d wil l i n al l likelihood outliv e it . Th e ston e perpetuate s "nothin g bu t it s ow n memory." HF: Irritated b y the refusal of Emily Bronte to provide them with direc tions t o Oinville, Corinn e an d Roland set fire t o her. As she burns to death, Tom Thumb underscore s once again that the late capitalist is one who exteriorizes sacrifice. "What's the use of talking to them," he asks of Corinne an d Roland, "The y onl y bu y knowledge t o sel l i t again . All they're looking for is cheap knowledge they can sell for a high price." KS: Corinn e an d Rolan d hi t th e roa d again , an d ar e befor e lon g picked u p b y a traveling musicia n (Pau l Gegauff) , wh o set s up hi s grand pian o i n th e courtyar d o f a farmhouse, an d play s Mozar t fo r the farmers . Th e camer a track s twic e aroun d th e courtyar d i n on e direction, an d the n onc e in the other . HF: Godard dub s th e scene "Musica l Action, " an d indeed th e only things whic h reall y happe n i n it are the playing o f the Mozart piece , and the recital of some off-the-cuf f fact s and opinions abou t Mozar t and musica l history . Lik e the traffic jam , the Musical Actio n i s very much a happening. Again, there is the bringing together of things that don't belon g togethe r ( a grand pian o an d a farmyard, Corinn e and Roland and the peasants), and the drama of slight permutations withi n a limited set of elements. This scene also makes an important contribution to Weekend's meditatio n o n time. The piano playe r suggest s tha t

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all contemporary popula r musi c build s upo n Mozart' s harmonies . This notion o f a going forward whic h i s really a going bac k is reiterated b y the tracking shot.

KS: The piano player distinguishes between tw o kinds of music—th e kind w e listen to , and th e kin d w e don't. Thi s is really a distinctio n between th e sor t of music we are willing to pay for, an d th e sor t we aren't. Mozart represents the prototype for th e first variet y of music; he is the gold of composers. Modernist composer s di d not gras p thi s principle, and s o failed t o secure a foothold i n the music market. But somehow Godar d manages to decommodify Mozar t in this scene. HF: Weekend is shot in 35mm, which i s the equivalent of oil painting i n art. Bu t it i s shot i n a sketchlike way. The film take s things bac k easily, as if they were onl y written o n a blackboard. The Mozar t i s played i n the same way. So rendered, it's not yet a finished artwork, and so can't be "sold. " Perhap s we als o hea r th e Mozar t differentl y becaus e th e location wher e i t i s playe d i s suggestiv e onc e agai n o f a plac e "apart." 21 Th e farm hand s seem oblivious t o th e clock-tic k o f capitalism. The clothes they wear mak e n o concessions to fashion, and the y do no t marke t themselves i n the way they stan d o r move . Some drif t purposelessly i n an d ou t o f th e camera' s range , while other s remai n motionless, almos t hidde n fro m vie w b y th e recesse s within whic h they stand . The shadow s throw n b y peopl e an d object s gro w eve r longer, wit h th e progres s o f th e sun , an d n o on e bu t Rolan d an d Corinne registers any impatience.

KS: The peasants an d th e farmyar d ar e devoi d o f narrativ e signifi cance. They also escape th e categor y o f the "picturesque, " which i s the primar y on e throug h whic h th e countrysid e i s commodified . They ar e simpl y allowe d t o "be, " in thei r irreducibl e particularity . This "being" does not preexist the film; rather, the film makes it possible. It does so precisely through th e affirmatio n o f a going forwar d which i s really a going backward. This is the temporality o f sacrifice , a temporality which reaffirm s wha t ha s been i n what is , and—in s o doing—is paradoxicall y abl e to disclos e people an d thing s i n thei r radiant singularity . Only by assuming the past can we know what, i n the present , exceed s it. And only by allowing the presen t t o conjur e forth i n a ne w for m al l tha t w e hav e eve r love d an d los t ca n i t assume an absolute value.

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HF: The camera operate s her e in a way which i s dramatically a t odds with th e behavior o f Corinne and Roland, who are shown yawning in boredom. It dissociates itself from the m eve n more dramatically i n the scene where Rolan d permit s a stranger t o rape Corinne . I t suddenly tracks to the left, without narrativ e motivation , as Corinne begin s to climb out of the ditch she has been lyin g in , and walk toward Roland , who i s seated on the ground. The camera seem s to want to be somewhere other than in the company of a man who would refus e to share the ligh t o f his cigarette wit h anothe r man , but abandon hi s wife to sexual abuse. KS: Shortl y afterwards , Corinn e an d Rolan d ar e picke d u p b y tw o immigrant garbag e men , wh o pu t th e pai r t o wor k i n thei r place . Throughout thi s scene , the garbag e me n stan d eatin g a loaf o f brea d in fron t o f thei r yello w truck . A t a certain point , eac h i n tur n read s aloud a lengthy text while the camera holds in close-up on the other . HF: In this scene, Godard tries har d to provoke us . The actors, one an African and the other a n Algerian, deliver thei r line s in a rapid monot one, calculate d no t so much to instruct a s to insult. And Corinne and Roland, who are less than enthusiasti c abou t th e situation i n which they fin d themselves , provid e u s with a n unappealing imag e of ourselves. KS: The tex t offer s a n impassione d appea l fo r an d justificatio n o f black violenc e i n th e fac e o f whit e oppression . A s th e tw o me n speak, Weekend provides a series of flashback s t o earlie r moment s i n the narrative—Balsamo shootin g a t Corinne an d Roland' s car, traffi c carnage, St . Just exclaimin g agains t freedom . Thes e intercut image s have th e effec t o f repositionin g th e principl e o f violence fro m th e future t o th e presen t tens e o f th e film , an d o f suggestin g tha t th e threat t o Western civilizatio n whic h ostensibl y come s fro m outside , from th e Third World, actually comes from within . HF: At a certain point , the paradigm shifts . The camera start s cuttin g back and forth betwee n earlier images of carnage and violence and the shots of Corinne and Roland sitting o n the ground unde r a tree, pretending to listen. Another text is read off-frame, this time addressed to the topi c o f class. We are told tha t th e history o f mankind unti l now has been the development o f a class society, and tha t the more primi-

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tive stages in our ow n histor y ca n b e seen in the organizatio n o f cer tain other cultures, such as the Inca , Mayan, and Aztec.

KS: But Weekend works to trouble the notions both tha t Wester n history represents a development awa y from somethin g more primitive, and that , insofa r a s this primitivis m stil l manifests itself , i t doe s so elsewhere. At the momen t tha t th e voice-of f begin s t o spea k abou t Indian tribes, Godard gives us a flashforward t o the cannibalistic culture wit h whic h th e fil m wil l end . W e se e thre e figure s i n hippi e dress wearing Indian headbands. Later, the film will insist even mor e strenuously upon th e "primitive " as something which lie s not i n th e past but the present, an d not without, but within . HF: In the second off-frame text , w e ca n hea r very clearl y the opera tions o f what migh t b e called a "general equivalent " vie w o f history . Every moment i n history and every culture i n the world i s made to tel l only one , repetitiv e story : th e stor y o f clas s struggle. Ever y trace o f alterity, contingency, and particularity i s expunged.

KS: Race performs a similar homogenizing role in the first text . Every detail seemingl y testifie s t o an uninterrupte d histor y o f the oppres sion of blacks by whites. But the rhetorical strategy to which the firs t speaker ha s obsessiv e recours e belie s th e binaris m upo n whic h h e insists. He argues hi s cas e by drawing a series o f parallel s betwee n black an d white : " I maintain tha t a black man' s freedo m i s as valuable as that o f a white man. I maintain that , i n order to win his free dom, a black man i s entitled t o do whatever othe r me n hav e had t o do to win theirs." HF: The scene itsel f i s organized throug h th e sam e rhetorica l trope . When Rolan d asks the African for a piece of bread, the latte r gives hi m one equal to th e Congo's percentag e o f the annual American budget . And when Corinn e tells the Arab that she is hungry, h e subjects he r to the law which the large Western oil companies subject Algeria: the law of "th e kis s and the kick in the arse."

KS: Again, Weekend suggests that th e difference s throug h whic h w e are accustomed t o conceptualizing huma n relation s may mask som e more profoun d affinity , an d tha t th e antagonis m whic h mos t pro foundly structure s the social field ma y lie elsewhere altogether .

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HF: Weekend does not dramatize the moment a t which Corinn e and Roland finally arriv e at their longed-fo r destination . Instead , a single, stationary sho t of Corinne enjoyin g he r first bat h afte r he r extended journey signal s t o us that the y ar e at her parents' house . Bu t again Codard provide s the exposition necessar y to paper ove r this discontinuity; we learn throug h a n exchange betwee n Corinn e an d Roland that he r father die d befor e they arrived , and that he r mother i s no w unwilling to share the inheritance with them. KS: On th e wall to the righ t o f Corinn e hang s a painting depictin g a woman engage d in a culturally idealized female activity : washing herself. Corinne is careful t o match her movements to those of her model. HF: From off-screen, Roland reads a long story about a hippopotamus. This creatur e i s characterize d a s "the mos t ungainl y beas t o f all" because o f it s challenge t o ou r notion s o f form. I t ha s a "giganti c mouth," "misshape n body, " "absurdl y shor t legs, " an d "grotesqu e tail." I t would see m to represent the antithesis o f the woman bather . Like Emil y Bronte' s stones , th e hippopotamu s remain s outsid e use value and exchange value . As Roland continue s t o read, the camera cuts to "scenes of provincial life. " One—a n imag e of a gas advertisement—indicates tha t we are not so far from the beginning of the film. But the other suggest s once again that the landscape has not yet succumbed completel y t o commodification . Thre e time s th e camer a focuses upo n a road leadin g int o a village—presumably Oinville . But the churc h steepl e doe s no t occupy th e usual prid e o f place . I t has been relegated instead to an inconspicuous spot in the right rea r of the frame. I n the center of the image, renderin g i t finally unintelligible , is the formless green mass of a tree. KS: Weekend narrates th e mother' s murde r i n tw o economica l shots . The first sho t show s Roland following he r toward the house, proposing t o he r variou s ways in whic h the y migh t divid e u p th e father' s inheritance. Sh e rejects ever y one, an d i n retaliatio n Rolan d begin s to strangl e he r wit h hi s scarf , a s Corinne approache s wit h a n over sized knife. In the second shot , th e skinned rabbi t which th e mothe r has been carryin g is shown lyin g on th e terrace, as blood pour s ont o it from ou t o f fram e (figur e 19) . Although th e mother' s scream s ca n still b e heard , sh e i s represente d a s alread y dead , throug h he r implicit equatio n with th e rabbit . This shot prepare s the way for th e

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Fig. 19

next scene , whic h wil l pus h muc h furthe r th e thematizatio n o f human fles h a s meat. HF: The old law that you shoul d inheri t mone y from you r family stil l exists, but the basis for this arrangement doe s not. We have forgotten that inheritanc e was once part of an exchange: children were expected to care for their aging parents, and were then reimburse d for doing so. These days, it's a crime to inherit. As Weekend shows, others pa y wit h their lives so that we may profit, while we offer nothin g in return. KS: At the en d o f Weekend, as Roland an d Corinn e se t of f fo r Pari s with their ill-gotten gains, they are attacked by a group of marauder s in hippie dress . They are seemingly transported fro m thei r bourgeoi s world to one which i s in ever y respect oppose d t o it. The hippies are cannibals who liv e in a forest, nex t t o a lake. They sho w no interes t in money, an d they have no cars, or other private property . HF: But the way they loo k an d danc e is not so far removed from the society they oppose: the women wear mini skirts, and dance the latest dances. The hippies could be said to represent nothin g mor e dramatically countercultural tha n a preference for the fashions of London over those of Paris.

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Fig. 20

KS: The desir e fo r a resacralization o f a flat o r desacralize d worl d which surface s fro m tim e to time in Weekend finds it s fullest expres sion in the forest scenes . At a key moment, Kalifo n (Jean-Pierr e Kalifon), on e o f th e cannibals , sit s i n fron t o f th e river , beatin g hi s hippie drum s an d declaiming , a s if to a n aquati c god: "Ancien t Sea , I greet you." HF: This i s no t th e onl y appea l t o th e divine . Elaborat e culti c cere monies surround the eating of human flesh. The hippies paint their victims befor e killin g them , i n th e manne r o f Yve s Klein , an d inser t magical substances—eggs , fish — in their orifice s (figur e 20) . Again, such events have the quality of a sixties happening.

KS: This ritual consumptio n o f huma n fles h migh t appea r t o be th e very antithesis of the kinds of consumption dramatize d elsewher e i n Weekend. However, commodification ha s not always and in all places implied desacralization . Mar x argue s i n perhap s th e mos t famou s passage o f Capital tha t th e commodit y i s sometime s capabl e o f assuming a n aurati c value , o f becomin g "suprasensible, " a n "autonomous" figur e endowe d wit h a life o f it s own. Mar x himsel f compares thi s proces s o f commodit y fetishis m t o what happen s i n "the misty realm of religion." 22

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HF: And Mar x i s not describing a state of affairs operative onl y i n early capitalism. We, too, might b e said to climb the hol y moun t ever y time we look at an advertisement for Absolut vodka or a Cartier watch.

KS: But because it s luster i s second-hand, n o commodit y ca n shin e forever. A s soon a s th e sourc e o f ligh t i s removed , it s meta l dims . Weekend suggests that capitalis m ha s als o developed i n ways whic h make commodity fetishis m eve r more difficult an d fleeting . The subordination o f more and more people and things to the general equivalent of gold has effected a profound levelin g out of value. At the end of Weekend, Godar d dramatize s th e perhap s inevitabl e reactiv e gesture: the attemp t t o restor e aurati c value to that commodit y whic h has been most thoroughly divested of its value, the human being. But because i t i s conducted withi n th e parameter s o f capitalism , whic h ineluctably decrees equivalent value, this is a doomed undertaking . HF: Interestingly, it is only women whom the hippies seek to refetishiz e in this way. No religious ritual s surround the ingestion of the men. The hippies als o a t on e poin t effec t a n exchang e o f wome n wit h a rival cannibal group . I n both ways, they coul d b e said to hyperboliz e traditional gender divisions.

KS: Godard perhaps ritualizes the eating of female flesh not to reassert gender difference , bu t rathe r t o distinguis h Weekend from Freud' s Totem and Taboo. I n th e latte r text , t o which th e closin g minutes of Weekend make severa l references, i t is male rather tha n femal e fles h which is ceremonially eaten, and this action inaugurates patriarchy. 23 A primal hord e o f brothers murde r th e fathe r wh o rule s over the m and keep s all of the women fo r himself. Afterwards, the y cannibaliz e him, an d vow never t o repeat thi s ac t of patricide. They incorporat e the father no t only literally, but also symbolically, which is to say that they identify wit h hi m a s law, constitute hi m a s the genera l equiva lent of subjects. Crucially, they then decree that this action is never to be repeated . I f th e fathe r ha d bee n murdere d an d eate n a secon d time, h e woul d hav e bee n denie d thi s privilege d status . H e woul d have become merely one in a potentially infinite serie s of "meals." HF: In the hippi e cultur e i n Weekend, o n the othe r hand , we see precisely the same principle of serial consumption a t work a s in the worl d of Corinn e an d Roland . The sacrificial fires are kept ever burning , and

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Fig. 21 must be constantly fed. The hippies attempt to reassert male privilege, but—as in the larger film—it i s undone by this seriality. Weekend ends with a barbecue in which piece s of Roland's body are indistinguishabl y mixed with thos e of British tourists, and a slaughtered pig . Not only does this meal have no sacral value, it is not even particularly meaningful. "No t bad," says Corinne with measure d enthusiasm , as she take s another bit e (figure 21). KS: I t coul d b e sai d tha t becaus e Rolan d ha s throughou t th e fil m refused t o make a sacrifice, he ultimately becomes the sacrifice. However, those who ea t him remai n tru e t o his ethic : it is always other s who mus t pay . They d o no t understan d tha t th e worl d o f absolut e values fo r whic h the y ar e nostalgic ca n onl y be produce d throug h the acceptanc e o f loss . Only tha t whic h cost s us everythin g ca n b e infinitely valuable . HF: Intertitles refe r throughout thi s sectio n of the film t o the French Revolutionary calendar , seemingl y proclaimin g th e end of one worl d and th e beginning o f another. Bu t by now we know tha t histor y i n Weekend is not about ending s o r beginnings, or regress or progress, but rathe r abou t a relentless rationalizatio n whic h paradoxicall y pro duces the desire for magic.

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KS: The film als o shows us that capitalis m provide s a frame o f refer ence within which t o articulate the yearning for th e sacre d to whic h it gives rise, but that i t is powerless to satisfy tha t yearning . HF: Weekend does no t propos e an y alternativ e vehicl e fo r th e reen chantment o f th e world, bu t i t doe s take very seriousl y the desir e for absolute value. In the scene where Kalifo n addresses the river , the film communicates t o u s the euphori a o f tha t exalte d stat e i n which on e believes oneself movin g alon g a vertical rathe r than a horizontal axis . For a second, we can believe that the rive r i s the domain o f gods, and not a little watering hol e where families go to swim.

KS: There i s als o a moment , nea r th e en d o f Weekend, when th e death o f on e characte r i s registered o n th e par t o f anothe r a s per sonal loss , a n affec t whic h coul d i n fac t b e th e startin g poin t fo r something new . After Kalifo n exchange s Corinn e for Valeri e (Valeri e Lagrange), Valerie is shot b y the riva l hippies, an d die s in hi s arms . He holds he r tenderl y a s she sings her dyin g song . But the fac t tha t Kalifon ha s exchange d Corinn e fo r Valeri e means tha t Valeri e ca n now be exchanged fo r Corinne . H e does just tha t afte r th e deat h o f his mistress, his wounds immediately healed . HF: The close-up of Valerie singing i s mismatched with the shots which precede and follow it . Godard acknowledges the mistake with an intertitle: "Faux Raccord." These words mean "false connection," but also— more profoundly—"fals e union. " The mismatch underscore s the emotional value of the close-up of Valerie; it says: "We have to interrupt ou r narration fo r thi s dramati c moment. " Bu t i t als o suggests that ther e can b e no lastin g unio n o f the hippi e genera l an d the dyin g soldie r i n the civil war of lat e capitalism.

KS: In th e fina l sectio n o f Weekend, one o f th e hippie s tell s a stor y which takes us back to the beginning o f the film. I t is an allegory fo r that anachronisti c consciousnes s whic h ca n continu e t o se e th e phallus wher e ther e i s onl y shit . "I t wa s 1964, " narrate s Loui s t o whomever wil l listen, "W e were under th e Trocadero bridge. It was hellish cold , d'yo u remember ? I t was the famou s winte r o f '64 . . . . And Alphonsine was so cold that she' d take n m y prick in her hand s to warm them . And Alphonsine was saying: 'Wow, Louis, what a big prick you've got! ' And I said to her , That' s no t m y prick, yo u idiot ,

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it's jus t m e shitting.' " Thi s stor y agai n make s clea r tha t whereve r commodification reign s supreme , whethe r i n th e bourgeoi s cultur e of Paris or the counterculture a t the en d o f Weekend, th e phallus will give way to the anus. This is not th e Utopian sexua l liberation haile d by Hocquenghe m thirt y year s ago , but th e catastrophi c en d o f al l singularity. Wha t w e might cal l "ana l capitalism " decree s the com mensurability o f "male " and "female/ ' bu t onl y by consigning both , along with Weekend itself, to the cosmic scrap heap.

five I Speak, Therefore I' m No t Gay Knowledge/Le Gai Savoir (1968)

HF: After hi s success with Breathless (1959), Godard was probabl y th e most successful auteur filmmaker. Althoug h hi s films transgressed th e market rules , often two o r three of them ever y year found world distribution. Bu t Godar d becam e increasingl y disconten t wit h suc h half-measures. Gay Knowledge (1968) was hi s attempt t o mak e a film which would brea k so dramatically with the existing system of produc tion an d distribution tha t h e would neve r b e able to us e it again . Like the man y peopl e i n those days who trie d har d to los e their jobs or b e thrown ou t o f school , Godar d hope d tha t thi s brea k woul d lea d t o something new . No t surprisingly , then , Gay Knowledge was neve r shown b y the Frenc h television station which commissione d it. 1

KS: Gay Knowledge wa s th e beginnin g o f a curiou s chapte r i n Godard's filmmakin g career . Mos t filmmaker s hop e t o produc e "good objects''—film s tha t wil l "please." 2 Starting with Gay Knowledge, an d continuin g throug h th e Dzig a Vertov period, 3 Godar d wa s motivated b y a directly contrar y wish—th e wis h t o produc e "ba d objects." Durin g this period , h e se t out t o mak e film s whic h woul d frustrate th e expectation s o f spectator s a s wel l a s producers , an d thereby generate unpleasure. But at least in the case of Gay Knowledge, some viewer s prove d surprisingl y resilient ; the y discovere d tha t there can be more than on e way of having fun . 112

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HF: In I968 , universit y student s bega n asking : "Wha t doe s m y wor k mean politically ? What purpose s doe s i t serve?" Once i n the air , such questions sowe d seed s o f self-doub t everywhere ; eve n bureaucrat s began t o as k question s abou t th e companie s fo r whic h the y wer e working. Godar d wa s then te n years older tha n th e studen t genera tion, bu t h e participated i n this reflexiv e turn. "Wha t i s cinema?," h e asks in Gay Knowledge. H e poses this questio n no t onl y wit h th e discourse of hi s film, bu t also with it s form.

KS: This film, whic h wa s shot before th e Frenc h studen t uprisin g of May 1968, 4 bu t edite d afterward , i s th e produc t o f it s historica l moment in another sense, as well. It stages as sweeping a cultural revolution a s that carrie d out by Chairman Mao, the hero of many Frenc h students. In Gay Knowledge, tw o young people, Patricia Lumumba an d Emile Rousseau Qulie t Bert o and Jean-Pierre Leaud) , meet fo r seve n nights in a darkened television studi o to implement a new representational regime. On the first night, they articulate a three-year plan to be carried out over the next six nights. The first year, they hope to collect sounds an d images . The secon d year , the y expec t t o critiqu e thes e sounds an d images—t o "reduce " them, "decompose " them, subjec t them t o "substitutions] " and "recompose " them. The third year, the y propose to build some alternative textual paradigms. HF: This is an undertaking o f which onl y surrealis m coul d mak e litera l sense. But in fact, Emile and Patricia's project breaks down neatl y neither into six nights , no r three years. It consists, rather, o f a series of "chap ters," withi n whic h th e activitie s o f collecting , critiquing , an d mode l building are not always sharply differentiated, but often converge.

KS: Gay Knowledge's interrogatio n o f th e signifyin g an d representa tional bases of cinema i s effected withi n th e contex t no t o f a return to th e origin s o f cinema , bu t rathe r o f tha t fres h beginnin g whic h the protagonist s o f th e Frenc h studen t movemen t believe d Ma y 1968 to represent . Thi s wa s no t a new ide a i n France . Already th e revolutionaries o f 178 9 had imagine d the y coul d begi n agai n fro m year one. But the cloc k which Gay Knowledge seeks to reset i s epistemological rathe r tha n temporal . Th e Ma y 196 8 which take s plac e here i s less the on e enacte d o n th e street s o f Pari s than tha t stage d in the pages of Althusser's For Marx, Foucault's Archaeology of Knowledge, and Derrida' s Of Grammatology. 5 Godard borrow s th e titl e o f

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Fig. 22

the fil m fro m Nietzsche, 6 an d Emil e an d Patrici a ar e abov e al l stu dents. 7 To be a student i n thi s fil m mean s t o participat e i n th e cri tique o f th e university , a s well a s the politica l syste m i n whic h i t is embedded. Bu t more radically, it implies undoing ou r received ways of knowing . HF: Cay Knowledge does not offer anything like a conventional narrative. Instead, it crosscuts betwee n studi o scene s and montage sequences . The montage sequences brin g togethe r documentar y footage of Paris in 196 8 with cartoons , newspapers , the covers of contemporaneou s theoretical books , politica l posters , drawings , an d photographs. I n those days, many cameras were turned in this way on the "people/7 in the belie f tha t i n them la y the true source s of the revolution whos e avant-garde th e student movemen t represented . Tha t Ma y 1968 i s nowhere t o be seen i n Gay Knowledge's documentar y footag e may seem to give the lie to this principle. But if you stare at a chemical solution i n a laboratory, you also do not see the energies which mak e possible a chain reaction. 8 KS: The studio images are uncompromisingly minimalist : the y sho w only Patrici a an d Emile , wit h a n occasiona l pro p ( a transparen t

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umbrella, a bicycle, a book). But these two character s alway s wear a t least one garment i n a bright color , which glow s warmly against th e surrounding darknes s (figur e 22) . And with th e removal o f a sweater or a change of bodily position, a differently colore d item o f clothin g is revealed, an d the scene is magically changed . HF: As we know from other films with only one location, it is difficult t o vary the scene metaphorically withou t doin g s o literally. Claustropho bia and tedium ar e the almos t unavoidabl e resul t of remainin g alway s in the same place. Prison films and films dramatizing a state of siege do not fight agains t suc h responses ; rather , the y internaliz e them , buil d them int o the narrativ e itself . Bu t Godard doe s not free the spectato r from claustrophobia and tedium b y delegating those sentiments to the characters. Rather, like Andy Warhol i n Sleep, h e seeks to maximiz e the spectatorial effects of the film's minimalism .

KS: The found image s which interven e between the studi o scenes are handled very differently fro m eithe r the documentar y footag e o r th e studio shots . They hav e mostl y bee n writte n upo n (figur e 23) , an d often hav e an accompanying auditory text. Godard deploys the screen like a blackboard, a practice which h e associate d with militan t film -

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making a year later. 9 But whereas the blackboard usually offers a relatively durable and intelligible image, here one image replaces anothe r with lightning rapidity, and even within individual images meaning is volatilized through the juxtaposition o f visual and verbal signifiers. In a 1980 interview, Godard was to characterize his practice of writing on images as an inoculation agains t naming—agains t th e "thi s is." 10 In Gay Knowledge, this homeopathic project is very much in evidence. HF: Because cinematography lack s an equivalent to words in language, it need s a strong structur e to work . Gay Knowledge lacks such a structure both visually and linguistically. I t generates too muc h information, and doe s no t provid e enoug h repetitio n i n the verbal tex t an d mon tage sequences to facilitate the process of recollection. A good film i s a mnemotechnic building , whos e variou s "rooms " allo w word s an d images t o b e memorized . Bu t Gay Knowledge does no t wan t t o b e "well-made"; it s provisionalit y says : "Event s ar e movin g to o fas t t o worry abou t lastin g aesthetic construction. " And it ma y in any case be less a film than a sketch for a film.11

KS: As their names indicate, Patricia and Emile are the "children" of the revolution. They are given generic histories and attributes : Emile is a cineaste who militate s fo r a n ope n university , whil e Patrici a i s fire d from he r job for giving tape recorders to factory workers. Emile ostensibly represents revolutionary praxis, and Patricia revolutionary theory . But even these distinctions ar e not rigorousl y enforced. Th e primar y functions o f both characters are speaking, listening, and watching. HF: I n hi s earl y films , Godar d neve r work s wit h "types. " H e alway s insists upon the persona l obsessions of hi s characters, even at the ris k of obscuring the political issues. In The Little Soldier (I960), for instance, he depicts a character wh o choose s sides in the Franco-Algeria n War strictly accordin g t o biographica l disposition . I n Gay Knowledge, w e have the revers e situation: the subsumptio n o f biograph y t o politics . This leaves the actors very exposed.

KS: But this deindividualization serve s a vital purpose. Godard makes Patricia an d Emil e childre n o f th e revolutio n an d reduce s the m t o the activitie s of speaking, listening, an d seein g as a way of emptyin g them o f their apparen t substance . Later, it will become eviden t wh y it is so important fo r him to do so.

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HF: On th e first o f Gay Knowledge's seve n nights , Patrici a an d Emil e articulate the revolutionary tas k to which they inten d to devot e themselves for th e remainin g six : to learn , to teach , and t o "tur n agains t the enemy the weapon with which h e most fundamentally attack s us: language."

KS: Knowledge is the goal which take s precedence ove r all others fo r Emile an d Patricia : "Firs t t o know , an d the n w e will se e what fol lows/' Fou r times , a s if i t were a mantra, the y repea t tha t magica l verb. Bu t Gay Knowledge shows that knowledg e i s a complex affair . Unlike English, Frenc h differentiate s betwee n "savoir," whic h desig nates knowledg e o f th e objectiv e o r impersona l sort ; an d "connaissance," which signifie s knowledg e o f the subjectiv e o r personal kind , based upo n familiarity . Godar d make s muc h o f this distinction . I n this openin g scene , Emil e an d Patrici a us e "savoir," bu t ove r th e course of the film the y work their way toward "connaissance." HF: Television i s to b e the vehicle o f Patrici a an d Emile' s learning , bu t not i n the usua l sense. Rather than lookin g a t the image s and listenin g to th e sound s whic h procee d fro m th e monitor , the y loo k a t th e images an d liste n to th e sound s o f thos e int o whos e house s they, as television, ar e beamed . "Let' s g o int o th e home s o f peopl e an d ask them i n order to kno w more, " Emil e says.

KS: With th e words , "Right , knowledge, " Emil e reache s outward , toward th e televisio n spectator s who hav e no w themselve s becom e the spectacle . His gesture underscores th e exteriorit y o f the objec t of study. Th e camer a pan s wit h Emile' s gestures , an d a montag e sequence follows , i n whic h movin g image s o f contemporar y Pari s alternate with a variety o f stil l images. With a n imag e o f a group of men strugglin g togethe r t o erec t a giant razo r blade ont o on e o f it s tips, th e firs t discernibl e chapte r o r sectio n begin s (figur e 24) . The word "Revolution " ha s bee n writte n o n th e image , and—a s w e attempt t o make sens e of it—th e voic e of a n ol d ma n says : "A society reduced . . . " Together , the three components o f this shot thema tize revolution a s a reduction o r cutting away of what is. HF: The imag e resemble s those we find i n children's alphabe t books . Such books guide their reader s from imag e to language . Bu t here the ambiguity o f the imag e persists . Is the bi g razo r blad e a weapon o r a

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Fig. 24 monument? A signifier o f a present or a past revolution, one which is an agency of destruction, or one which ha s itself no w becom e the status quo ? Whe n writin g o n images , Godar d als o break s th e word s down int o their constituen t parts , revealing other , normall y conceale d words. In so doing, he further underscores the notion of reduction. But again this cuttin g awa y i s ambiguous: i t doe s no t s o much und o lan guage, as produce other words. Through it , Godard creates imaginar y etymologies.12

KS: The sentence which begins " a society reduced" is completed sev eral image s late r wit h th e word s "t o it s mos t simpl e expression. " "Zero" is written on the last image in the sequence, which consists of a photograph o f Godar d wit h a book. Th e "o " is underlined thre e times, turning it into a numerical zero within the verbal zero, furthe r foregrounding th e notio n o f "nothingness." 13 A second montag e sequence follow s almos t immediately , an d link s th e concep t o f reduction wit h th e retur n t o origins . Ove r stil l image s o f Edwar d Sapir's Language, an d Derrida' s Of Grammatology, th e secon d o f which provide s muc h o f th e inspiratio n fo r thi s chapte r o f Gay

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Knowledge, w e are offered a more complete accoun t o f this return: " I went t o the en d o f the world i n searc h o f what Roussea u calle d th e imperceptible progres s o f beginnings , an d I searched fo r a societ y reduced t o it s simples t expression. " Th e wor d "savoir" is writte n across two of the images in this sequence . HF: As if in response to these sounds and images, Emile enthusiastically characterizes hi s and Patricia's projec t a s one of starting from zero. But Patricia cautions: "No, before making a fresh beginning we must [first ] return to zero." An d when sh e and Emil e arrive a t zero, they shoul d "look around to see if there are traces."

KS: The concept o f traces is of course radically incommensurate wit h the ide a o f nothingness; i t calls into questio n Emile' s belief tha t i t is possible to find a zero state of sounds and images. 14 HF: Traces of something els e are also always present at those moment s when the film offers its most programmatic politica l statements. There is always a lot of "noise " around the images of revolutionar y figures. They derive from newspaper s or magazines , where they ru b shoulders wit h very different kind s of material: advertisements, comics, text. The ostensibly new is always shown to be embedded in the old. Revolutions sometimes eve n legitimat e themselve s b y referrin g to th e past : Christianit y to the prophets, and the Frenc h Revolution to the Roma n Republic.

KS: Although Roussea u is the mos t frequentl y invoke d nam e i n thi s chapter o f Gay Knowledge, anothe r philosophe r i s even mor e centra l to th e notio n o f returnin g t o zero : Descartes . I n th e Discourse on Method, Descartes record s his attemp t t o dispens e wit h al l the "rea sons . . . formerly accepte d . . . a s demonstrations," an d buil d th e edifice o f th e tru e fro m th e foundation s up , s o that, a t the end , no t one o f it s tenets would b e unverified. Bu t he exempt s himsel f fro m this interrogation, insist s upon hi s exteriority to the epistemologica l project. Descarte s assume s a s irrefutable proo f o f hi s existenc e hi s very capacit y t o doub t th e realit y o f everythin g else : h e thinks , therefore h e is. 15 That h e i s from thi s startin g poin t quickl y abl e t o reconfirm everythin g els e that h e ha s alway s believed suggest s tha t the cogito is somehow th e lynchpi n o f the world a s we know it . Gay Knowledge will ultimately cal l into questio n no t onl y the belief tha t it i s possible t o dismantl e al l preconceive d assumptions , bu t als o

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this notio n o f a transcendental subject , wh o think s fro m a position outside language . HF: I n this respect , Gay Knowledge goes beyon d Marx . Marx , too, could be said to challenge the cogito. He emphasizes that the one who is within th e class struggle, and so history a s such, has no access to transcendental knowledge . Eve n assuming that this subject ca n avoid looking through the distorting pris m of dominant ideology , what he or she can know will hav e class limitations. 16 What i s impossible for the individual however , i s possible for the collectivity. As a group subject , the proletaria t o f industrial capitalis m can gain access to a position of authoritative knowledge. 17 It is perhaps significant that Cay Knowledge so seldom mention s Marx , since it seems hostile to the notion eve n of a collective savoir. KS: Gay Knowledge also implicitly distinguishe s itsel f fro m Mar x on a second point . I t seek s not merel y t o rethin k man , bu t t o undo hi m altogether. Emil e says at one point, 'To r the human sciences , it's no t a matter o f constitutin g man , bu t o f dissolving him." Foucault' s The Order of Things is the sourc e o f th e notio n tha t th e huma n science s do no t s o much mak e a s unmake man . I n that text , Foucaul t main tains tha t ma n a s such appeare d onl y with th e elisio n o f th e signi fier—with th e "disappearanc e o f Discourse." 18 When, a s a result of the combine d activitie s o f linguistics , anthropology , an d psycho analysis, we are able to grasp the linguistic bases of human subjectiv ity, ma n wil l be "erased, " lik e " a fac e draw n i n san d a t th e edg e of the sea" (pp. 385-87). This fundamentally anti-Cartesia n project i s at the hear t o f Gay Knowledge, an d i s in a profound tensio n wit h th e notion o f objective knowledge. 19 HF: Significantly, for your reading , the second chapte r o f Gay Knowledge focuses precisel y upo n language . Bu t Godard i s working her e with a n expanded notio n o f that category ; h e wants to show tha t i t includes images as well as words. Through a series of syntagmatic clusters, we learn that images , too, derive much of their meaning throug h their relation s t o othe r images . I n this chapter , w e also lear n tha t images represen t a form o f enunciation. "I n each image , on e must know who speaks," Patricia tells Emile. Godard love s such transsensory catachreses. Writing o n images i s perhaps hi s way of helpin g u s to "hear" them .

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KS: To sa y tha t i n ever y imag e someon e speak s i s t o sugges t tha t vision is at least partially productive o f what i s seen. We look, and i n so doing help to create the visual domain. A few moments later , Gay Knowledge will make this principle mor e explicit. "I f you want t o see the world, close your eyes," says Patricia, as the camera holds on her . She then doe s jus t that , an d th e fil m show s us what sh e sees : Paris street scenes , precisely that categor y o f footage whic h ha s until no w enjoyed th e greates t clai m t o objectivity . I n assertin g tha t "i n eac h image, w e mus t kno w wh o speaks, " Patrici a als o suggest s tha t i t makes a difference wh o looks—tha t w e canno t reall y understan d what a n imag e is communicating unti l w e know from whic h pai r of eyes it proceeds. HF: As Patrici a say s these words , Godar d cut s t o a black-and-whit e photograph o f Stalin , in which th e blac k ha s been colore d red . Ho w are we t o rea d this image ? I s Godard suggestin g tha t Stali n himsel f speaks through hi s image ? O r ha s the imag e bee n pu t t o someon e else's discursive purposes ? A bit later , Gay Knowledge will giv e u s an image of Mao , in which his scarf is colored red . Does the same subject also speak through this image?

KS: Godard seem s t o b e suggestin g jus t that . Bu t th e subjec t wh o speaks through bot h image s escape s biographical localization . I t is not s o much Stali n o r Mao, as what the y represent: the subjec t wh o says he knows.20 The French student movement championed Chines e over Soviet communism, bu t Gay Knowledge proposes that, a t least i n this respect, the one cannot finally be distinguished fro m th e other . HF: During th e perio d extendin g fro m th e en d o f th e war t o th e lat e sixties, the projec t o f the Russia n Revolutio n was thoroughly discred ited—first b y Stalin' s dictatorshi p o f th e party , then b y the ne w class from whic h hi s followers came . Mao' s cultura l revolutio n seeme d t o offer a more authentic revolutionar y model . Like Trotsky's permanen t revolution, i t seeme d to say : "W e mus t fight agains t the agin g o f th e revolution, an d the establishmen t o f ne w classes . We must carr y th e revolution int o ever new domains." Mao' s cultural revolutio n appeare d to encourag e no t onl y societal critique, but also self-critique. Bu t non e of these assumptions is to b e found i n Mao's Little Red Book, That boo k speaks only o f th e differenc e betwee n th e "right " an d th e "wrong " party line. 21 And Ma o actually provide s a much easier access than clas-

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sical Marxism to a position of untroubled knowledge . Marx warns with every word : "Don' t dar e t o engag e wit h thi s issu e befor e you hav e studied th e entir e intellectua l history. " Mao , o n th e othe r hand , promises precisel y th e retur n t o zer o abou t whic h Emil e dreams. He says: "We can start again, go back to 191 7. The social revolution can be done again, and done better. "

KS: Mao would see m to stan d i n som e way for savoir —to be a representative o f the belief i n scientifi c knowledge . At a certain poin t i n this chapter , th e camer a eve n hold s o n a poste r wit h th e words : "Mao sait tout [Ma o knows everything]/' 22 HF: Ironically , Mao' s simplification s hav e a primarily poeti c appeal . They interpellat e u s into politic s throug h thei r artisti c radicality . You don't hav e to becom e a Protestant jus t becaus e you lov e Bach , bu t May '6 8 activist s bega n b y admirin g Mao' s pros e an d ende d u p b y becoming Maoists . This show s tha t Maois m finall y appeale d les s t o conscious knowledg e than unconsciou s desire.

KS: Perhaps i t i s finally mor e importan t t o as k than t o answe r th e question, "Wh o speaks in this image?" since to do so is immediately to challeng e th e notio n o f a transcendenta l perspective , uncon strained b y time o r place. It is to remin d u s that ever y image is th e product o f a finite optic . HF: Another exchang e i n the languag e chapter encourage s u s to thin k about the exclusionary rol e which eac h sound and image play s in relation t o othe r sound s an d images . Again, Stalin figures i n a surprising way. Patrici a tells Emil e to articulat e tw o seemingl y unrelate d sounds: "O," an d "Stalin. " Sh e then suggest s that th e crucial questio n her e is what separates them, what keep s them from bein g an ensemble.

KS: Patricia characterize s the activit y of determining what thes e hid den word s ar e first a s "savoir" and the n a s "connattre." She thereb y implies that knowledg e of the exclusionary operations of language is perhaps bette r gaine d subjectivel y tha n objectively . Afte r all , doe s not th e psyche work as relentlessly a s a police stat e to isolate certai n terms fro m eac h othe r b y censorin g wha t link s them ? Bu t almos t immediately th e wil l to trut h assert s itself onc e again . Patrici a says : "We must searc h fo r th e trut h i n facts. " Whe n Emil e ask s Patrici a

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what fact s are , sh e responds : 'The y ar e things an d phenomena , a s they exist objectively. " HF: Patricia produces her little speech about facts in a tone of voice calculated to provok e assent in the listener , as if she were making a political speech. She pauses after eac h word, so that Emil e ma y repea t it , and h e complies. This i s an indoctrinatio n session , in which Patrici a attempts t o reproduc e Emil e in he r ow n image . I t demonstrates pre cisely the way i n which word s ca n silence othe r words , an d preven t new linguistic connection s from bein g made.

KS: Another montage sequence, accompanied by a Cuban revolution ary song, introduces a new chapter. The words "Let me tell you, at the risk of being ridiculous, that a revolutionary is accompanied by a very great love, " are written acros s a group o f images which, lik e a rebus, spell out th e sam e words. The first image , which seem s to sho w Ch e Guevara addressin g a crowd, signifie s "revolutionar y telling. " "Risk " is communicated throug h a cartoon o f a woman plying a frail craf t i n high seas . "Appear" is connoted throug h a newspaper photograp h o f a student demonstration. Her e again we have images speaking. HF: Two image s do mor e than contribut e t o th e rebu s effect; they also push th e wor d "love " i n a carnal direction . The first i s an a d from a magazine. It shows a preposterously dresse d man, the visual equivalent of the word "ridiculous," which is written across it. On the same page, a woman suggestivel y pull s u p he r sweater, an d the word "ridiculous " has been subjected to a corresponding dismemberment . "Qui" ("ass") has been written acros s her body. The last image in this sequence, representing " a very great love," shows a naked man and woman embrac ing. This is the beginning o f what migh t b e called the "libidina l politic s chapter" o f Gay Knowledge—a chapte r devote d t o th e articulatio n o f some of the relations between the political and the sexual.

KS: The ultimate inspiratio n fo r th e firs t par t o f this sequenc e woul d seem t o be Wilhelm Reich' s The Mass Psychology of Fascism, a book which was widely read in the late sixties. Reich argues there that sex ual repressio n i s the preconditio n fo r fascism . Sexua l liberation , o n the other hand , lead s to political freedom. 23 Fo r Reich, sexual libera tion assume s a necessarily heterosexua l form . Tha t sam e presump tion i s operative in the final imag e of this sequence .

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HF: The nex t installmen t o f the libidina l politic s chapte r i s introduce d with th e voice-of f o f a woma n demonstrato r utterin g th e words : "Unwanted i n France. " Cay Knowledge cuts immediatel y t o a photograph o f a nude woman reclinin g agains t whit e pillow s an d sheets, across which ha s been written "d\s cours du soir."The divisio n o f th e word "discours" int o tw o permit s i t t o signif y simultaneousl y "dis course of the evening," and "somethin g runnin g counte r t o th e usua l idea of a n evening course"—a kin d of alternativ e o r transgressive uni versity. No w th e sexua l i s posited ove r an d agains t th e conventiona l university curriculum.

KS: But this image is followed b y a sequence stressing more the nega tivity than th e subversivenes s o r revolutionary potentia l o f the sex ual—its allianc e with death . Lit from overhead , s o that he r eye s and the hollows of her face are dark sockets, Patricia utters the words "The erotic is the affirmatio n o f life eve n unt o death. " Sexualit y is represented a s the site at which life reaches its maximum intensity , an d i n so doing passe s over int o it s opposite. This sho t give s way to thre e images suggestive of a dark jouissance—one showin g a car seemingl y moving a t breakneck speed ; one showin g a nude woman's back an d buttocks; and one showing Dylan's face, transected by shadows. HF: The second imag e works especiall y well i n this respect . I n another context, i t would b e poster-kitsch, but her e it connote s mortality . The photo ha s been enlarged to th e poin t where the grain i s more prominent tha n th e shap e o f th e woman' s body , a n effec t whic h i s compounded b y the drops of water coverin g the latter. The body ha s been derealized.

KS: The nex t installmen t o f th e libidina l politic s chapte r surprise s and provokes . As the camer a focuse s i n close-u p o n Emile , Godard' s voice-off offer s a paraphrase o f a sentence fro m Marcuse' s Eros and Civilization: "Th e history of man i s the history of his repression, an d the retur n o f what ha s been represse d constitute s th e subterranea n and taboo history of civilization." 24 The simplistic equation of sexual repression wit h fascis m thu s give s wa y t o a muc h mor e comple x account o f that psychic operation. Repression is depicted a s the onl y condition under which man can have a history, whether normative or transgressive. Wha t Gay Knowledge call s th e "subterranean " o r "taboo" is thus shown to be profoundly implicate d i n the law which

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it opposes . It is becoming harde r an d harde r t o believe in th e possi bility of a clean break. HF: At one moment in the first chapter of Cay Knowledge, Godar d him self make s a n appearance. I n an aggressive voice-off , representin g something lik e the political super-eg o o f the student movement , he asserts the good of that movemen t for the entire Frenc h nation. Once again, just before the libidinal politic s chapter, we are obliged to listen for a n extended perio d to Godard's hortator y voice . And during tha t chapter itself , we are exposed for an extended perio d to similar voices mysteriously emanatin g fro m th e environmen t o f Ma y '68—firs t Godard's, and then that of a French student leader . Over the course of the film, Godard's voice will becom e ever more dominant and invasive. Its bullyin g attitud e i s intolerable . Althoug h Godar d whispers , h e might b e said to do so in a shout. Perhaps it is not only Emile and Patricia, and Stalin and Mao, but also Godard himsel f wh o a t times repre sents the subject who says he knows. KS: But during the libidinal politics chapter, Gay Knowledge itself com ments ironically upon the aggressive nature of these voices. As the student leade r speaks , hi s voic e swolle n wit h epistemologica l self-importance, a montage sequence characterizes a slap in the face as an "irrefutabl e philosophica l argument/ ' Lik e all analogies, this one is reversible: an irrefutable philosophica l argument—on e whic h assert s its absolute truth value—is also like a slap in the face. And as the fil m progresses, Godard's voice is stripped o f its pretense to rationality, an d becomes more and more free-associative. Significantly , fre e associatio n is the linguistic form with which psychoanalysis was born. HF: As part of their projec t o f learning from th e television spectator s into whose house s they are beamed, Patricia and Emile "interview " a little bo y and an old bum. Becaus e the aim of these interview s i s to show in a very dramatic way the relations and connections whic h lin k words apparentl y brough t randoml y together , fre e association i s also the chosen form here . The little boy proves to be a much mor e skillful participant i n this verba l exchang e tha n th e old bum. He produces "Papa" i n respons e t o th e promp t wor d "sexual, " "October " i n response to the prompt word "revolution, " and "magician" in response to the prompt wor d "revolutionary. " Th e clochard, o n the other hand , often seems at a loss for words.

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KS: The interview with th e ol d ma n i s spread ove r two of the seve n nights i n whic h Patrici a an d Emil e tal k i n th e darkene d studio . Between th e tw o parts o f thi s intervie w come s a sequence devote d once agai n t o th e fantas y o f returnin g t o zero , thi s tim e b y undo ing no t sound s an d images , bu t rathe r unexamine d assumptions . This sequence consists of a series of images drawn fro m newspaper s and cartoons . Acros s these image s ar e writte n th e words : "W e n o longer accep t an y self-eviden t truths . W e don't believ e tha t ther e are self-eviden t truths . Self-eviden t truth s belon g t o bourgeois phi losophy." HF: One of the early images shows two cartoon policemen standing on either sid e o f a televisio n set , o n whic h "self-eviden t truths " i s inscribed. Others show revolutionar y figure s with guns . The sequence suggests that the masses are not aware that washing the car or mending clothe s ar e bourgeois activities , and that i n participatin g i n these activities they are submitting t o consumerism . The masses also do no t realize that th e image s they pleasurabl y imbib e from televisio n ever y night are under polic e protection . They accept as "reality" a n ideological construction backe d up by a repressive state apparatus. We should declare war on this state of affairs. 25

KS: Interestingly, thi s sequenc e itself ca n now be seen to promote it s own self-eviden t truths . Thirty years since the film was made, we are no longer s o certain tha t washing car s and mendin g clothe s are ipso facto bourgeois activities, or that the masses are duped by the media. HF: We are also no longer so sure that i t is bad by very definition to be a member o f the middl e class.

KS: We are consequentl y abl e t o se e that thi s sequenc e itsel f inad vertently work s with a number o f unexamine d clas s assumptions . Once again, Gay Knowledge shows that there can be no starting fro m scratch. I t als o demonstrate s th e pitfall s implici t i n an y critiqu e which doe s no t a t th e sam e tim e includ e th e on e wh o make s th e critique. HF: Finally, Godard's voice-over, which resume s again a moment later , reminds u s that th e revolutionar y subjec t als o often use s psychic—i f not physical—violence t o enforce his or he r self-evident truths.

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KS: The next clearl y recognizable chapte r o f Gay Knowledge proceeds from a much more overtly psychoanalytic premise even than th e two free association sequences. Like the second chapter, it is centrally concerned with images . But the focu s her e is less upon ho w we "speak " images, than upo n ho w we are "spoken" by them. In the first sho t of this chapter, Patrici a looks at an imag e of herself whic h sh e holds i n her hand, a s if it were a mirror. This image is manifestly a representation: rather tha n a mirror reflection , i t offer s a black-and-white stil l photograph. Emil e says, from off-screen : "Th e child's conflicts . . . ar e not conflict s wit h th e real , but ar e born fro m th e difficult y experi enced b y the subjec t i n identifying. " "The n what' s a t stak e is one' s image o f oneself, " respond s Patricia , turnin g towar d th e camera . Godard is drawing here upon on e of the key texts of May '68, Lacan's essay o n th e mirro r stage. 26 I n tha t text , Laca n explain s tha t w e acquire a sense of self onl y by identifying wit h image s of one sor t or another. Bu t this identificatio n i s impossible t o sustain , becaus e th e images within which we attempt t o find ourselve s remain stubbornl y exterior, an d irreducibl y Active . The words which Godar d put s int o Emile's mout h refe r precisel y t o thi s "lov e affair/despair" 27 whic h every subjec t ha s wit h th e mirror , an d whic h make s th e worl d o f images one from whic h we can never have anything like an objectiv e or disinterested distance . As Patricia suggests , when i t comes to thi s domain, ever y image is a potential image of self. HF: Bu t th e lis t o f differen t kind s o f image s whic h follows—"nylo n image[s]," "refle x image[s], " "virtua l images, " "boo k images"—seem s to hav e nothing to do with the self.

KS: I think tha t i s in a way the point . Afte r encouragin g u s to focu s upon th e image's subjective effects , Gay Knowledge invites us to thin k about i t in it s materiality. To think abou t a n imag e in its materialit y is to allow it to appea r a s such, distinc t fro m ourselves ; it is to gras p the image as a signifier. And , as in Foucault's The Order of Things, the appearance o f the signifier mean s the disappearance o f man . HF: As if to emphasiz e thi s point , Godar d ha s Patricia describe hersel f in ways which th e imag e shows to b e false. We automatically imput e subjective realit y to th e image . Bu t at the momen t tha t we do so , she begins t o spea k from off-screen . The imag e i s drained o f it s illusor y reality, shown to b e a representation.

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KS: Immediately prio r t o this little demonstration, Patrici a propose s a radically new reading of the categorie s of truth an d falsehood . Sh e asks, "What i s a false image?" and answers , 'There , where the imag e and soun d [seem ] true." 28 Sh e thereb y suggest s tha t a n imag e o r sound i s false no t whe n i t misrepresents reality , bu t whe n i t seem s adequate t o reality—whe n w e are able to assimilate i t to ourselves . An image o r soun d i s true, o n th e othe r hand , whe n i t manifestl y fails to represent us. 29 HF: But there is a problem with this sequence. In order to establish that the mirror does not faithfully reflec t Patricia, Godard must impute reality to he r off-screen voice . And h e doesn't subsequentl y derealiz e this voice in the way he does the images of Patricia. He allows it to preserve its illusory power , somethin g whic h i s all the mor e disturbing becaus e he himself als o consistently speaks from off-screen.

KS: I think that what we're confronting her e is once again the impossibility o f eve r achievin g a full an d complet e deconstruction . Ther e will always be sounds and image s which we fail to apprehend a s signifies. B y not discreditin g Patricia' s voice-off, Godar d suggest s a s much. Bu t by then, h e has given us the mean s to stri p that voic e of its apparen t truthfulness . Thi s i s n o longe r wor k whic h th e fil m needs to perform . HF: Perhaps Godard i s not finally suggestin g tha t image s and sound s always give us a false sense of who we are, but is rather proposing tha t no imag e and n o sound always provides a true mirror . Emil e proposes a moment late r tha t "I n thi s imag e an d this soun d o f you, we mus t find what is , and the moment when i t is."

KS: In th e sequenc e whic h begin s wit h th e mirror , Gay Knowledge pits image against sound , an d soun d agains t image. But elsewhere in the film , Godar d suggest s that ever y image has an auditor y comple ment, an d every sound its visual correlative. At one point, Emil e proposes taking guerrill a actio n agains t spectator s wh o watch dubbe d films, sinc e they have never heard a talking film actuall y "talk. " HF: Cay Knowledge also includes another sequenc e deploring th e mismatch o f soun d an d image , thereby agai n suggestin g th e convers e possibility o f a correct match . I n this sequence , Emil e stands behin d

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9

Fig. 2 5 Patricia, so that w e can' t se e him, while utterin g th e words: "Ma n i s what h e has done an d what ha s been mad e of him. " Patrici a mouth s the words which h e speaks, as if Emile is articulating them through her . Her image takes the place which should b e occupied b y his.

KS: This sequence, which come s shortly after tha t involving the mir ror, is part o f a chapter devote d t o images whose sound s hav e bee n censored, and sounds whose images have been censored. To illustrate the latter , Godar d uses black film. H e is working his way toward th e notion tha t jus t a s ther e i s "sound-silence, " s o ther e ca n b e "image-silence." Patrici a coul d be said to "silence " Emile's image i n the sequence you just described . HF: Again, we are reminded that i n every image someone speaks.

KS: But no one can really be said to speak, whether in word or image, unless someone else hears. And hearing is more than a physiological activity; it also implies understanding, in the most profound sens e of that word. "We'v e heard a statement when we've become part of it, " Emile says.

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Fig. 26 HF: Cay Knowledge then invites us to becom e part of a particular statement. Patrici a twice articulate s the words " A woman's freedom begin s with he r belly. " Godar d cut s quickl y bac k an d fort h betwee n tw o images, bot h showin g wome n o n their back s (figures 2 5 an d 26) . I n one image, a woman wraps he r hands around he r crossed legs, blocking acces s to he r genitals . There i s perhaps a reference her e to Ma n Ray's Prayer, i n which a woman folds her hands over her buttocks. The second shows a woman o n he r back with he r legs slightly extended i n the air. This could b e an image from a peep show. The montag e i s so rapid-fire that we can never see what I have just described. It is impossible to determine whether we are looking at a woman who i s protecting hersel f agains t sexua l aggression , o r a woman wh o i s openin g herself to sexua l pleasure . There i s a constant oscillatio n betwee n th e terms "refusal " and "invitation. " A woman's freedom i s apparently t o be found i n neither image , but rathe r i n the interval betwee n them.

KS: In thi s sequence , "hearing " seem s to requir e bot h lookin g an d listening; the words which Patrici a speak s are not enoug h b y them selves t o induc e understanding , bu t requir e th e tw o image s o f

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women o n thei r backs. Again, Godar d suggest s that ever y soun d ha s its visual correlative , an d ever y image it s acoustic complement . Bu t word and image do not matc h up here in a one-to-one way. It seems that th e visual and th e verbal d o not hav e to replicate eac h othe r t o belong together . HF: There are several more major chapters in Cay Knowledge before the building o f alternativ e cinemati c model s begin s i n earnest . On e i s devoted t o a study o f th e relation s betwee n languag e an d money . Over an abstract imag e with th e words "meanin g plays " ("sens joue"), Patricia says: "given word" ("parole donnee"). This is an example of the play o r slippage o f the signifier from on e domain (tha t o f economics , of givin g o r exchange ) t o anothe r (language) . I t point s t o th e pro found connectedness o f those two domains .

KS: This chapter nex t encourage s u s to conside r th e monetar y crisi s in Londo n i n tande m wit h th e linguisti c crisi s in Paris . At first, thi s proposal is baffling, bu t then we realize that language , like money, is subject a t moments o f crisis to a revaluation, wit h a s dramatic conse quences. May 1968 entailed precisel y suc h a revaluation o f th e lin guistic signifier . Th e importance o f the linguisti c signifie r increase d dramatically, an d the world has been differen t eve r since. 30 HF: As Patricia sits on a stool, turning the pages of a children's alphabe t book (figure 27), Emil e again demonstrates the interrelationship o f the economic an d th e linguistic . H e cite s example s o f th e word s wit h which the French educational system illustrates the letters of the alphabet, arguing that i n each case there is an implicit defenc e of economi c privilege, and the repressio n of opposing values.

KS: The first exampl e Emile gives, "a brioche is better ['meUleur'] tha n bread," comes directly out of the mouth o f Marie Antoinette. But for the mos t part , th e alphabe t boo k speak s the values of bourgeois cul ture: "Letter A: to buy [acheter], no t art . . . . Letter F: not fascism , bu t family an d chees e [fromage]." HF: Emile respond s with a more comple x formulatio n o f th e relatio n between languag e an d money : "Bank s exist to len d bills , and dictio naries t o len d words , bu t wha t can' t b e borrowe d i s the distinctio n between thi s an d tha t bill , an d thi s an d tha t word. " Dictionarie s

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Fig. 27

make availabl e al l the words, just a s banks do al l the denomination s of bills—"fascism " a s well a s "family" an d "cheese, " "art " a s well as "to buy. " Bu t the y don' t teac h u s t o understan d th e difference s between them . We can't lear n the hierarchie s an d relation s o f exclusion betwee n word s there . All word s see m equal , lik e citizen s i n a democracy.

KS: Sitting wit h thei r back s t o us , an d wit h he r ar m aroun d him , Emile and Patric a meditate upo n on e o f the rule s governing sound s and image s whic h dictionarie s don' t mak e clea r t o us : the rul e o f "one afte r another. " Becaus e of thi s rule, we can't affir m tw o word s or images at the sam e time, or make evident th e repressiv e role tha t one word or image plays in relation to others. But as soon as we have sounds and images, both o f thes e limitation s ca n b e overcome. By putting the m "o n to p o f eac h other, " w e ca n communicat e tw o things a t th e sam e time , o r mak e apparen t wha t a word o r imag e

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excludes. In articulatin g thi s principl e here , Emil e helps t o clarif y many of Gay Knowledge's experiments with soun d an d image. 31 HF: Emile and Patrici a turn thei r attentio n nex t to th e acoustic dimensions of language. Certain languages are inaccessible to u s not because of thei r alie n gramma r o r syntax , the y muse , but simpl y becaus e we can't hea r them . Dolphins , fo r instance , communicat e o n a muc h higher frequency than we do.

KS: Emile an d Patrici a the n tr y t o approximat e th e "O h yes, " with which a female frien d responde d t o th e proposa l tha t the y g o play the clow n a t th e Pentagon . The y ar e unable t o d o so ; the soun d i s inimitable. A person's voice is a distillate o f a very particular educa tion, i n the broadest sens e of that word. The two words which Emil e and Patrici a tr y to duplicat e contai n al l of th e Beatles ' albums, an d the novel s o f Andre Gide . The voice emerges here a s the mos t indi vidual thin g abou t speech—a s tha t whic h ha s neve r bee n before , and will never be again. HF: Significantly, Emil e refers in this context to the cry of the new-bor n baby, whic h fo r Hanna h Arend t represent s th e introductio n int o th e world of the absolutely new. 32 But this sequence emphasizes not only the singularity of the voice, but also its capacity to communicate. When Emile expresses hi s regre t tha t h e and Patrici a didn' t recor d th e "o h yes, " Patricia responds that words weren't meant to be recorded by a machine, but rather transmitted t o someon e else . Patricia thereby isolate s a crucial feature of sonorousness: its capacity t o conve y a feeling, or—bet ter yet—an attitud e toward the world, from one person to another .

KS: The sonorousnes s chapte r lead s logically to the time chapter ; i n both cases, what is at issue is that which is unique within an utterance. HF: "Time, " Patrici a says , " . . . on e doesn' t kno w (sait) wha t i t is. " Emile tries to prov e he r wrong b y offering a definition o f tim e draw n from physics: a scientific definition. Patricia rejects this clarification. She puts i n it s place one which ca n be understood onl y through th e subjective experience of readin g a text.

KS: The text wit h whic h Patrici a trie s to communicat e thi s concep t of tim e i s Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, th e companio n

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volume to the Discourse on Method. The time which i s her concer n i s not th e perio d whic h i t too k Descarte s t o writ e Meditations on First Philosophy, nor the hours it took her to read it, but rather the time of that boo k itself. Emile struggles with thi s concept , an d the n says , as an apparen t nonsequitur : "Suddenl y I think tha t ther e i s somethin g infamous abou t time. " Patricia responds , "Yes , eternity an d infam y are born together. " Afte r a moment, th e seemin g nonsequitur yield s a certain sense . Emile and Patrici a ar e trying to understand th e tim e which is specific to a text through a n attribute which it doesn't have: infinitude. Th e tim e o f th e Meditations on First Philosophy i s absolutely particula r t o it ; i t i s coterminou s wit h th e word s an d silences out of which i t is constructed. The notion o f infinity i s infamous because it denies this specificity . HF: But Godard i s not arguin g her e for a kind of historica l relativism ; he's no t sayin g that Freud' s Interpretation of Dreams was true i n 1900, but no t for u s today. The time o f a great tex t i s something whic h w e can experienc e al l ove r agai n tw o hundre d year s later . It' s a "zone" into whic h w e ca n ente r a t an y subsequen t moment . I n this sense , reading is a kind of time travel.

KS: Nevertheless, Godar d doe s seem to be suggestin g that th e word s of a text ar e tru e onl y s o lon g a s we ar e withi n tha t "zone. " Thi s means that those words are not subjec t t o a subsequent invalidation : they remain forever afte r th e irreducible expression of their time. But it als o means tha t the y canno t b e universalized, assume d t o be for ever true. The text from whic h Patrici a is reading is one to which we have attribute d suc h universality—on e whic h ha s succeede d i n commanding ou r belief lon g after it s moment ha s past. Patrici a an d Emile attemp t t o comba t th e apparen t infinitud e o f Meditations on First Philosophy by finding th e time to which i t belongs. Shortly afte r this chapter , Gay Knowledge make s muc h mor e eviden t it s critica l relationship t o th e Cartesia n project . Emil e asks Patricia ho w man y levels of discourse there are, and—over a n image of a young woma n seemingly los t i n reverie—Patrici a offer s th e followin g declension : "She thinks. She is thought. Sh e unthinks. Sh e is unthought." Wit h these words, Gay Knowledge undoes the definitio n o f man offere d b y Descartes in th e Meditations and Discourse on Method. I t "unthinks " woman—and, b y implication , man—b y proposin g tha t wha t defines he r i s less thinking tha n bein g thought . A t the sam e time ,

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Gay Knowledge references it s own project o f returning to zero. But the zero point no w has a radically new meaning: it signifies no t a site of epistemological stability , a place where we can be sure that we are no longer i n an y wa y deluded , bu t th e nullit y disclose d throug h th e unthinking o f the thinker . HF: In the first o f it s cinematic models , the amateu r film , Gay Knowledge offers a metaphor through which to conceptualize this theoretical project: Patrici a ride s her bicycle i n circles around Emile , while h e says: "in makin g a circular journey, on e return s to one' s poin t o f departure , but asymmetrical to what one was at the beginning."

KS: With th e nex t cinemati c model , th e educatio n film , Gay Knowledge begins its reconceptualization o f relationality, somethin g whic h follows logicall y fro m it s reconceptualization o f subjectivity . Love , Emile and Patrici a sugges t a t the beginning o f this sequence , i s typically a discourse "i n which eac h tells the other what he is"—a nominalizing o r substantializin g exchange . Bu t Patrici a an d Emil e speculate that "i n searching for a zero degree of images and sounds, " they ar e perhaps i n th e proces s o f discoverin g "th e zer o degre e o f love," a love presumably beyond suc h nominalization . HF: The education fil m seemingl y propose s the en d o f sexua l repres sion as the mechanis m for achievin g a genuine relationality . The camera tracks from Emil e to Patrici a an d then t o Emil e again a s they say: "We know, since the discoveries of psychoanalysis, that the perversion s arise an d ar e develope d throug h th e negatio n o f sexuality. " A lin e drawing o f the polic e rapin g a woman wit h th e Croi x Lorrain e make s sadism representative of the perversions. 33

KS: But this simplisti c accoun t o f th e eroti c quickl y give s way to a much darke r vision, suggestin g the need to find anothe r way of conceptualizing th e relational . Patrici a ask s Emile what sexualit y is, and he responds " a divine an d magnificen t activity. " Patricia retort s tha t "It's a murderous activity, " in which peopl e "assassinate " each othe r in bed. Shamefacedly, Emil e agrees. HF: Although variou s littl e experiment s wit h imag e an d sound follow , the next clearly defined cinematic mode l would seem to b e the historical film. I n this sequence, Patricia, in a period costume, stands before a

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wall with thre e gian t cartoo n character s o n it . Sh e reads aloud from a book, bu t th e words ar e mostly unintelligible . Perhap s she is speaking a private, woman's language . Or perhaps Godard is indicating that the historical film i s no longe r possible : that i t ha s become unintelligible , or should be so rendered.

KS: Your second ide a i s closer t o m y sens e of what thi s sequenc e i s doing tha n th e first . A s Patricia reads , Emil e als o begin s t o spea k from off-frame . H e produces cliches from Alfre d d e Musset about th e treachery o f women : ''alway s playin g a role, lying , wea k an d vio lent," etc . Thi s migh t b e sai d t o b e th e historica l text , ove r an d against whic h Patricia' s tex t mus t b e read . I n thi s latte r text , lan guage manifests itsel f i n the form o f pure sonorousness, an d thereb y inhibits the movement fro m signifie r t o misogynist signified . Signif icantly, on e o f th e fe w intelligibl e word s i s "language. " Languag e might b e said to appear , an d woma n a s we have long known he r t o disappear. The cartoon figure s ar e all masculine heroes . They dramatize tha t idealizin g renditio n o f masculinit y whic h i s the comple ment t o Musset's de-idealizing account o f femininity . HF: The following film mode l is called the "imperialis t film," bu t in fact offers more a critical allegory of imperialism. Standing with he r back to us, but facing Emile , Patricia sings a little song to the lette r "O. " Emil e counters with the letter "A." H e bullies her until she substitutes the "A " for th e "O. " Her e the hidde n connectio n betwee n "O " an d "Stalin " is finally demonstrated. 34

KS: The nove l fil m als o foreground s th e voice . I n it , a stationar y camera focuse s o n Emil e a s h e read s alou d fro m a text b y Isidor e Sollers. At first w e don' t hea r wha t h e says . We listen, rather , t o a conversation abou t th e text which goe s on off-screen betwee n Emil e and Patricia . This sequence recall s the on e abou t self-images ; again , the voice takes up residence elsewhere, and discredits the image. HF: We see here how much cinema's character system is tied to speech, even in as experimental a film a s this. But on this occasion, off-screen sound eventually loses its primacy. Emile begins reading again from the Sollers book , an d this time we hea r what h e says: a collection o f sentences drawn from other books. This cut-up principle is also at the heart of Cay Knowledge. It , too, i s stitched togethe r ou t o f element s draw n

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from a range of othe r texts . And Godar d i s a little lik e Isidor e Sollers, who worke d i n a bookstore, an d onl y eve r ha d time t o rea d the firs t sentence of the books he sold. Godard, too, doesn't hav e to rea d all of the texts from which h e quotes to mak e something out of them.

KS: In a long sequence o f what migh t be called "image-silence " nea r the en d o f the film, Emil e and Patrici a si t in the darkene d studi o listening to two voices which claim to know. At first, th e voice of a student leade r talk s abou t th e aim s o f th e studen t movement , an d Godard abou t the plight o f French workers. Then, the studen t leade r begins t o spea k abou t th e workers, an d Godar d abou t th e students . This sound montag e seem s calculated t o bring the concern s o f thes e two group s together . A t a certain point , the y ar e unified; th e topi c becomes the need to educate the workers. HF: On paper , this text i n two voice s would hav e at leas t a documentary value; it would provid e a record of some of the central concerns of May 1968 . But i n the film itself , i t i s not reall y possibl e to follo w th e argument. What the two voices say is unassimilable.

KS: The primary effec t o f thi s sequenc e i s unpleasure. This unplea sure derive s not onl y fro m th e shuttin g dow n o f th e visual access , but als o from th e fact tha t th e voices speak less to us than at us. HF: Bu t i n thi s sequence , Godar d seem s finally t o purg e himsel f o f what yo u cal l hi s Cartesianism. Lik e a stormy night , afte r whic h th e weather can be especially beautiful, this makes possible a new lyricism. The experimental fil m sequenc e follows immediatel y afterwards , an d has the virtuosity o f th e Ne w American Cinema . I n it , Godar d play s with a device similar t o th e magi c writin g pad , which translate s th e user's movements int o rectangular patterns . He also "squiggles" with a Mozart piece , which h e plays on a tape recorder with a loose electrical connection. The sound fades in and out.

KS: At first glance , this sequenc e ha s nothing t o d o with politics . It seems a purely forma l exercise . However , upo n close r scrutiny , i t could be sai d to be a dramatization o f Marx's claim tha t me n mak e their ow n history , bu t no t jus t a s they please. 35 In th e experimenta l film, th e filmmaker doe s not la y claim t o a n absolut e autonomy , a n ex nihilo production. Rather , he manifestly work s within certai n con -

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straints. The filmmaker i s free onl y to intervene within th e pregive n structure o f th e Mozar t piec e i n disruptiv e ways , an d t o produc e visual patterns of the sort that the magic writing pad allows. He does not star t from zero . HF: Th e mos t beautifu l o f th e cinemati c model s i s the psychologica l film, whic h come s nea r th e en d o f Gay Knowledge. I n it , Patrici a stand s with he r hea d o n Emile' s shoulde r (figur e 28) . He r hai r fall s lik e a thic k carpet acros s his body , an d bot h o f thei r face s are also subject t o a certain disfiguration ; th e huma n i s rendere d abstract , figural . As the fil m cuts bac k an d forth fro m Patricia' s face t o Emile's , those t w o character s talk no t abou t th e bourgeoi s present , no r th e revolutionar y future , bu t about tha t mos t psychoanalyti c o f al l temporalities, th e past .

KS: The conversation turn s upon th e darkness or void at the heart of subjectivity. Patrici a speak s o f findin g hersel f befor e a n imageles s mirror, an d o f feelin g hersel f t o be the shado w o f a n absen t being . This experienc e o f self-dissolutio n coincide s with a n apprehensio n

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of the linguistic bases of subjectivity—of wha t Gay Knowledge calls "this long speech which is me." HF: Significantly, there is no appeal to objective knowledg e here . Emile and Patrici a grope their way toward their inne r nigh t onl y via fear and memory.

KS: At the end of the psychological film , th e possibility o f the relational, and so of the political, is broached onc e more, but with a difference. Emil e an d Patrici a spea k o f tha t "fals e plural " whic h i s generally assume d t o mean "us, " and which w e have experience d firsthand a t al l of thos e moment s whe n Godard' s voic e seem s t o demand ou r consent. They suggest that thi s "fals e plural" exists only "through the extension o f me." To it, they oppose that "us " which is only availabl e on the other sid e of the empty mirror , a n "us" which signifies no t just th e long speec h whic h i s "me," but also the long speech which is "you"—in short , a genuine conversation . HF: The last cinematic mode l i s the guerrilla film. As the camera hold s on Patricia , Emile' s voice provide s instruction s for making a molotov cocktail. Surprisingly , h e anthropomorphizes th e molotov cocktail ; the bottle is a face, the cork the eyes, the wick the hair. All the time we are looking at Patricia's face. We cannot hel p but see the molotov cocktai l in her image. At the end, Emile proposes to the listener tha t h e or she throw the completed moloto v cocktail at the enemy. He again uses the metaphor o f the face: the enemy is "the face of repression." The camera continues t o hol d i n closeup o n Patricia, as if she were someho w the distillate of "faceness."

KS: To immolate th e enemy is thus simultaneousl y t o immolate the self. Thi s i s not surprising , sinc e th e primary weapo n whic h Gay Knowledge invites us to turn agains t the enemy is language.36 HF: At the end of Gay Knowledge, Emil e and Patricia par t for the last time. Emil e is off to mak e another film . H e asks Patricia what sh e will do. Sh e answers "j e ne sais pas." Here, at last, is a voice which say s it doesn't know . Patrici a lament s all the shots which the y hav e failed to produce. Emil e respond s tha t othe r filmmaker s wil l shoo t them . Bertolucci wil l mak e the film showin g tha t ther e i s no situation tha t

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can't b e analyzed i n Marxis t o r Freudia n terms , an d Strau b th e on e showing tha t a n honorabl e famil y i s one where everythin g i s forbidden. N o film b y itself can be complete, say "everything."

KS: A moment later , Patrici a remarks : "Even so , it's a bit o f nothing ness that we've discovered." Emile's initial response is to declare Gay Knowledge to be a failure. Bu t almost immediately , h e correct s him self: "No, not really, not at all. Listen: what better ideal could we propose t o peopl e today , tha n t o reconque r nothingnes s throug h th e knowledge of it which they themselves have discovered?" Emile here uses connaissance rather tha n savoir to designat e th e kin d o f knowl edge he has in mind; he thereby suggests that our exemplary relatio n to the zer o is one o f familiarity. An d the Frenc h word which I have translated a s "to reconquer, " "reconquerir" als o means "t o regain" — to recover somethin g tha t ha s been lost , stolen , o r (i n this context ) forgotten. Emil e suggests that wha t Gay Knowledge has finally mad e possible i s no t a n objectiv e knowledg e o f "th e workers, " o r "th e bourgeoisie," o r eve n sound s an d images , bu t rathe r a subjectiv e knowledge o f th e voi d whic h ground s us . I n th e plac e o f th e " I think, therefore I am," it proposes something like: "I speak, therefor e I'm not." 37 HF: After Emil e and Patrici a bi d eac h othe r farewell , Codard' s voic e whispers a kind o f postscript . I n it, h e turns Le Gai Savoir back upo n itself, i n a gesture o f self-dissolution : "Thi s film i s not th e film whic h must b e made , bu t rathe r a n indicatio n o f som e o f th e path s whic h one must follow, i f one is to mak e a film."

KS: With thes e words, Godar d make s clear that Gay Knowledge is no more self-identica l tha n Patrici a an d Emile . He subjects th e fil m t o what Mar c Cerisuel o call s a desoeuvrement, undoe s i t a s a "work. " What i s Gay Knowledge, then , i f no t a n oeuvre? The answe r i s "lan guage," and i t is already available i n the openin g words of the film , words whic h Godar d himsel f onc e agai n utters : "444,00 0 image s [speaking about themselves] . . . the same with 127,00 0 sounds . . ."

six In He r Place Number Two/Numero deux (1975)

HF: Number Two (1975) depicts th e domesti c lif e of three generation s of a proletarian famil y livin g i n a social housin g apartment . Usually , when we see working-class peopl e i n a film, they are somehow excep tional. They win i n a lottery, fight a revolution, or marr y someone rich , and thereb y ear n ou r interest . Bu t i n Number Two, Godard focuse s relentlessly o n the ordinary . H e shows a wife masturbating , he r husband paintin g a chair, the family watching television . The resul t i s not a conceptual minimalism , but rathe r an explosion of meaning . Godard allows u s to se e that eve n the mos t routin e househol d activitie s an d bodily functions are semantically dense.

KS: The film' s image s ar e unlike an y w e have see n before . Mos t o f them wer e sho t i n video , the n resho t i n 35m m a s they playe d o n video monitors. Often tw o monitors are shown together. Because the 35mm imag e i s always larger tha n th e vide o images , thos e image s swim in a pool of blackness. But at the beginning and end o f Number Two, the ful l 35m m imag e is deployed fo r th e purpose s o f sketchin g out anothe r "scene, " one which i s usually foreclose d fro m th e cine matic text: the sit e of production. I t shows us Godard a t work in hi s studio, surrounded by the tools of his trade, and the material he is in the proces s o f weavin g int o a film. Th e 35m m imag e als o depict s 141

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something eve n mor e remarkable : a filmmaker interrogatin g an d attempting t o transfor m th e relationshi p betwee n himsel f an d th e film h e is in the process of making. HF: The idea of doublin g th e imag e mus t hav e come to Godar d fro m working i n video. Video editing i s usually done while sitting i n front o f two monitors . One monitor shows the already edited material, and the other monito r ra w material , which th e videomaker ma y o r ma y no t add to the work-in-progress. H e or she becomes accustomed to think ing of two image s at the same time, rather than sequentially .

KS: In a n interview , Godar d remarke d tha t wherea s fil m i s bette r than vide o fo r imag e qualit y an d purpose s o f dissemination , vide o permits somethin g which fil m disallows : simultaneity. 1 I n film , on e image comes after another, an d implicitl y negate s everythin g whic h it isn't . A s Stephen Heat h onc e wrote, i t says : 'This bu t no t that." 2 Video permits "this " and "that " a t th e sam e time. This principle of simultaneity i s at the hear t o f Number Two, and on e o f th e primar y references o f the title . Godard insist s upon i t no t onl y by doublin g the image, but by sometimes splittin g the video scree n into two fur ther images , o r superimposin g on e imag e o n another . Number Two also gives us film an d video at the sam e time. HF: When Godard shows two monitors , he makes one comment upo n the other i n a soft montage. I say "soft montage " since what i s at issue is a general relatedness , rathe r tha n a strict oppositio n o r equation . Number Two does no t predetermin e ho w th e tw o image s ar e t o b e connected; we mus t buil d u p the associations ourselves in an ongoin g way as the film unfolds . There's another sense in which the film seems to hav e bee n conceptualize d mor e withi n th e parameter s o f vide o than within thos e of cinema . It would b e difficult t o shoo t a work thi s intimate an d physicall y confine d i n 35m m from th e beginning , since 35mm usuall y requires a large crew. With video, Godard needed only a crew of three, and could ask the actors to d o things which would oth erwise hav e bee n intolerabl y invasive . This way, h e was able to pro duce something very close to a home movie.

KS: Ever y sho t i n th e fil m i s stationary . Godar d claim s tha t h e stopped movin g hi s camer a aroun d thi s poin t i n tim e becaus e h e couldn't thin k o f a good reason to pan or track. 3

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HF: The decisio n no t t o mov e th e camera , lik e the blac k aroun d th e video images, creates a great deal of off-screen space, which adds mystery to the everyday activitie s which ar e depicted. The apartment als o gains dignity from this decision. Most cheap apartments loo k terrible in film; the filmmaker denounce s the characters b y shooting the m there . By no t movin g th e camer a t o sho w room s i n thei r entirety , Godar d avoids this discrimination agains t hi s proletarian characters . The fragmentary details of the apartment that are shown are made abstract, elevated t o th e statu s of ideas . But with th e sound , the miser y o f socia l housing is back. A kiss sounds like a shot from a child's pistol because it reverberates off the concrete walls. The sounds are too "pointed/ '

KS: The fil m begin s wit h tw o vide o monitor s showin g a serie s o f shots of famil y members , eithe r individuall y o r in tandem. Sinc e we haven't ye t bee n introduce d t o an y o f them , thes e image s remai n very enigmatic. A lengthy preface follows , consistin g of a single very long take. It shows Godard standin g i n a darkened workroo m smok ing and talking . H e is adjacent t o a blue video screen , whic h show s his fac e a s he talks , filme d b y a n unsee n camera . I n th e lef t o f th e image, videotap e run s fro m on e ree l t o anothe r o n a larg e vide o recorder. This monologue proceed s in a way that i s difficult t o char acterize. Godard talk s mostly abou t hi s workroom, an d abou t him self a s filmmaker. H e specifies bot h throug h a series o f metaphor s which h e no soone r introduce s than h e qualifies. The qualifications , however, ar e never absolute . Aspect s o f eac h metapho r ar e alway s carried over to the next stag e of the monologue . HF: The effect is vertiginous. The speech goes like this: "Mac, machine. No Mac , onl y machine . We are printing , printin g paper , a s the ban k says, so we are a printshop. No, we are reading books, we are a library. This roo m i s a factory, I am th e boss . I am als o a worker . . . " A s Godard speaks, we admire the wonderful low-ke y lighting that is possible when shooting i n 35mm , and contrast i t with the video monito r i n the middl e o f th e image . Becaus e the video camer a ha s better nigh t eyes than the 35m m camera , what th e video monito r show s is utterly without romance .

KS: Godard use s the video image of himsel f t o demystify th e 35m m image. Ever sinc e the formatio n o f th e Dzig a Verto v collective , h e had bee n strugglin g t o dives t himsel f o f authorship. 4 "I n orde r t o

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film i n a politically just manner/' h e wrote in a text from 1969 , " . . . [one mus t abandon ] th e notio n o f th e autho r . . . [This notion] i s completely reactionary/' 5 Number Two represents a limit-text i n thi s respect. Godar d claim s t o hav e "invented " nothin g i n it. 6 I t wa s made, a s he put it , "unde r th e influenc e o f [Anne-Marie ] Mieville." 7 The grandmother's lon g voice-over monologu e wa s taken fro m Ger maine Greer, 8 and Godar d fo r th e mos t par t coaxe d th e actor s int o creating their ow n lines. 9 Even what you called the film's "sof t mon tage" indicate s Godard' s desir e t o avoi d bein g th e on e t o produc e meaning. I n th e preface , h e pushe s thi s proces s on e ste p further . First, h e turn s th e 35m m camer a o n himself , an d i n s o doin g renounces th e mos t definitiv e attribut e o f traditiona l authorship : transcendence. H e becomes embodied , localizable , an d visible . But that b y itsel f woul d no t b e enough , sinc e h e i s still exterio r t o th e video monitor, which, much more emphatically than the workroom, signifies th e "textua l frame. " H e also shows himsel f wit h hi s vide o equipment, i n what he calls his "factory," an d is therefore associate d with th e enunciation . Consequently , h e must pu t himsel f wher e hi s characters are: inside the video image. 10 HF: After this shot ends, there is a brief interlude consisting primarily of images from late r in the film, shown on two monitors . Godard continues speaking: "An d abou t 300,00 0 kilometer s fro m here , what a m I saying, 20,00 0 kilometer s fro m her e th e Vietcon g alread y though t about Saigon." The mistake is telling: 300,000 kilometers per second is the spee d of light . Godar d i s saying tha t Vietna m i s light year s awa y from thi s film. Number Two represent s a dramatic tur n awa y from th e Dziga Vertov films an d the films o f the lat e sixties in it s notion o f "th e political." At the same time, by naming Vietnam, Godard continues his practice of invoking the war i n every film h e makes.

KS: In Number Two, Godard i s concerned wit h sexua l difference an d the family , rathe r tha n wit h th e Maoist an d Marxis t concern s o f th e years immediatel y before . No t surprisingly , then , hi s attempt s a t authorial divestitur e effec t som e importan t gende r displacements . The name s o f tw o wome n eve n wor k thei r wa y int o th e primar y credits for the film . HF: After the video interlude, there is a second prologue, again consisting of a sustained long take, and again showing Godard' s workroom. It

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is interrupted from time to time by titles against black, and—toward th e end—by a single video monito r wit h a scene of anal sex. This time th e main imag e show s tw o vide o monitor s i n lef t frame , on e abov e th e other. The upper monitor displays excerpts from a wide variety of feature and pornographic films ; it signifies "fiction. " The lower monito r show s television news footage, mostly pertaining to a May Day demonstration; it signifies "documentary." Number Two thereby signals its unwillingness to choos e documentary ove r fiction, or fiction ove r documentary; lik e many other Godard films, it wants to be both at the same time.

KS: The vide o machin e fro m th e firs t prologu e unspool s continu ously behind thes e monitors . In th e lef t fron t fram e a tape recorde r plays a song, stops , rewinds , an d begin s again . Godar d sit s i n th e shadow i n fron t o f it, almos t invisible , an d i s seemingly responsibl e for nothin g mor e tha n it s manipulation . H e figure s her e les s a s "author" tha n a s "worker." Durin g this shot , th e words " A film writ ten an d directe d . . . " appea r o n the screen , but n o name is attached to eithe r o f thes e activities . Som e time later , th e voic e o f Sandrin e Battistella, wh o play s th e centra l characte r i n th e film , provide s a very different versio n o f th e credit s t o th e film , thi s tim e i n a complete form. Significantly , th e categories "direction " and "writing " are now absent, an d have been replaced by the much mor e labor-signifi cant "production, " whic h i s credite d no t t o one , bu t fou r names : "Number Two: a film produce d b y A.-M. Mieville an d J.-L. Godard , with S . Battistella, P . Oudry an d others. " Pierr e Oudr y i s the othe r primary acto r i n th e film , an d th e "others " added a t the en d o f th e credits presumably include—at th e very least—the othe r actors. HF: Surprisingly, the factory metapho r i s still a positive one for Godard, and over and over again he puts it at the heart of this film. I t is not only that he characterizes his workroom as a factory, and represents Number Two as a film whic h ha s bee n "produced " rathe r tha n "written " o r "directed," bu t als o that late r i n th e sam e shot Sandrin e wil l query : "Ever as k yourself whethe r pap a wa s a factory o r a landscape? An d what abou t mom? " Sh e then answer s he r question i n a way that run s counter t o th e histor y o f representation s o f the feminine, again givin g primacy t o th e metapho r o f production : " I sa y she's a factory. I guess maybe a n electrica l plant : charg e an d discharge. " Thi s metapho r i s one of the point s of continuit y betwee n Godard' s earlier , mor e Maois t and Marxist films, and Number Two.

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KS: Godard doe s not tal k i n th e secon d prologue . Rather , i t i s Sandrine's voic e whic h occupie s a metacritica l position , an d whic h speaks from outsid e th e stor y proper. We will later understan d ho w crucial i t i s that i t be her voic e rathe r tha n Godard' s tha t occupie s the enunciatory position . HF: But the two preface s i n Number Two work agains t this self-efface ment. Their inclusio n indicate s tha t Godar d i s anxious tha t wha t fol lows migh t b e misunderstood , an d this manifes t anxiet y make s hi m more authorially presen t than h e would b e were h e simply to lis t him self as the director o f Number Two.

KS: Total authoria l erasur e is perhaps a n impossibl e goal , but i n thi s case a necessary impossibility . W e can lear n a lot fro m th e attempt , even if it is ultimately unsuccessful . HF: Sandrine emphasize s that thi s film doe s not fit easil y within traditional politica l categories , and that i t bring s together thing s which are normally kep t apart ("the film' s not left or right, but before and behind . . . In front ar e children. Behin d i s government"). Th e "before " an d "behind" ar e centra l signifier s throughou t th e film ; throug h the m Godard elaborates a new signification of the body .

KS: Sandrine als o characterizes Number Two as a film whic h i s simultaneously political and pornographic: "A political film? it's not polit ical, it's pornographic. No, it's not pornographic , it' s political. So , is it about pornograph y o r politics? Why is it either/or? I t can be bot h sometimes . . . " Sinc e to affir m bot h term s i n a binary oppositio n simultaneously i s to undo tha t opposition , w e can no w begin to see that thi s principl e o f "bot h a t th e sam e time" migh t als o be put t o transformative use s within th e domain o f "difference. " HF: At the end of the second prologue , Sandrin e asks: "Have you ever looked at your sex ? Did anyone see you loo k at it?" She thereby intro duces one of the mos t central topics of the film: the seeing and showing o f sexuality. Astonishingly, ever y character bu t the son exposes his genitals at some point i n the film. 11

KS: But in spit e of this repeate d litera l exposur e o f genitals, the see ing and showin g o f sexualit y is heavily metaphoric . I n Number Two,

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the body alway s expresses itself "hysterically, " i.e . as a displaced sig nifier fo r psychic , social , and economi c relations. 12 Near th e en d of the secon d prologue , Sandrin e asks : "Why d o you liste n t o music? " She then answer s he r questio n i n a way which transform s wha t i t means to "look"—which lift s that activit y out of the sensory domai n and int o th e conceptua l an d affective : "T o see with wonder . What' s wonder? Wha t yo u don' t see. " It i s in thi s sens e tha t Number Two encourages us to look at sex. We are encouraged t o se e what i s literally unseeable. HF: I n the first episod e o f th e film "proper, " Sandrin e wear s a white bathrobe, which — because it i s unfastened i n the front—exposes he r breasts and pubic hai r to ou r view. Her e we hav e a very litera l showin g of sexuality. Vanessa walks around he r mother, who i s ironing, and then stoops down t o g o betwee n he r legs . Again, sexuality seems emphatically corporeal. As she emerges in front of Sandrine, who faces us as she irons, Vanessa asks: "Will I bleed between m y legs when I' m big? " Sandrine answers i n the affirmative, bu t immediatel y translate s menstrua l blood int o a metaphor fo r th e danger o f heterosexua l relations . "Yes," she answers, "but b e careful of guys. They're hard to handle."

KS: In th e nex t episode , w e se e tw o image s mixe d togethe r o n a video monitor: on e showin g Pierr e anally penetrating Sandrine , an d one of Vanessa facing an off-screen interlocuto r while saying: "Sometimes I thin k it' s pretty , mam a an d papa , sometime s I thin k it' s poopy." Once again, sexualit y seems insistently material. Vanessa, as we later learn , ha s witnessed thi s scene , an d thinks : "Daddy' s peni s in mommy' s anus : that's wher e shi t come s out. " Bu t w e will late r learn tha t Sandrin e thinks th e sam e thing, an d tha t thi s precipitate s in he r psych e a complicated metaphoric s whic h i s capable o f invad ing her bodily functions, an d completel y denaturing them . HF: In the thir d episode , the camer a holds tightl y o n Vanessa as she bathes, Sandrin e reachin g int o th e frame t o hel p he r (figur e 29) . As she touches he r genitals, Vanessa asks: "Do al l little girls hav e a hole?" After he r mother answer s in the affirmative, she queries: "Is that where memories come out?" Sandrine responds, "Of course." Finally , Vanessa asks: "Where do [th e memories ] go? " and i s given the response : "Int o the landscape. " I n thi s episode , th e vagin a become s a metaphori c receptacle for memories .

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Fig. 29

KS: In al l of the firs t thre e episode s o f the stor y proper, th e camer a shows onl y on e video monitor . Bu t in th e thre e i n whic h th e son , Nicolas, i s introduced, a second i s added . I n th e firs t o f these , h e does his homework, sittin g alone a t his desk. This image is depicted on both monitors, as if to suggest that Nicolas resists putting himself in relatio n t o others . Between thi s episod e an d th e next , we see the word "factory " mutat e agains t a black scree n int o th e wor d "soli tude." I n th e secon d episode , Nicola s sit s i n cente r fram e a t th e kitchen table , eating . Sandrine decide s t o play a political song , an d she and Vanessa dance together to it, mostly in the room behind th e one i n whic h Nicola s sits . The y attemp t t o involv e hi m i n thei r dance, but he brushes them irritabl y away. HF: A second song, with the theme "solitude, " an d sung by Leo Ferre, keeps intruding. I t i s clearly Nicolas' s "them e song, " and i t ultimatel y takes over the soundtrac k completely . However , for a while w e hea r both songs at the same time, in another demonstration of the "both at the same time" principle .

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KS: After thi s episod e w e se e th e wor d "solitude " mutat e agains t black into the words "numbe r one. " The film her e makes explicit fo r the firs t tim e tha t th e categorie s "numbe r one " an d "numbe r two " have a gender significance . I t also puts masculinity under th e sign of solitude, a characterization whic h i t will consistently maintain . HF: Nicolas seems to find hi s solitude mor e heroic than oppressive.

KS: I think tha t i s because of the "solitude " song, which proceed s as if from hi s imagination. Ferre' s music is consistently use d in Number Two as an emotiona l magnifier , muc h a s Legrand's i s in My Life to Live (1962). At various moment s i n th e film , w e se e the character s reaching ou t throug h thi s musi c t o a mor e expansiv e space , a "larger" life. This is particularly true in the scen e where the grandfa ther, Sandrine , and Vanessa listen to another Ferr e song with Pierre' s earphones. We , too, experienc e a n affectiv e expansio n ever y tim e the son g cuts into th e soundtrack , an d th e lyric s of tha t son g mak e explicit th e Utopia n functio n o f musi c i n Number Two: "I live elsewhere, in dimension 4 with cosmi c GMC2," sings Ferre. Through hi s solitude, Nicolas tries to inhabit this heroic "elsewhere. " HF: I n thi s episode , ther e i s agai n onl y on e monitor , bu t th e ope n doorway behin d Nicola s which lead s to a second room creates a frame inside the frame, and so doubles the image. In the last of the sequence of episode s introducin g Nicolas , h e sits across the table from Vanessa, and they tel l stories—o r perhap s two variant s o f the sam e story—t o each other. Nicola s faces us, and Vanessa away from us , but we never theless se e Vanessa' s fac e throug h a n unusual varian t o f th e shot/reverse shot: Godard superimposes an image of he r face over the image o f th e tw o children . This doubl e camer a coverag e i s another example of simultaneity, bu t i t also tells us that the micro-worl d o f the family i s as important a s the macro-worl d o f mor e conventiona l poli tics—so significan t tha t i t mus t b e filmed from ever y direction, lik e a major publi c event .

KS: The stor y o r storie s th e childre n narrat e ar e abou t "big " top ics—love, betrayal , murder , prison—an d ar e melodramaticall y recounted. Again, we see this aspiration to a "larger" life. But the stories involve an anonymou s "he " and "she, " rather tha n th e childre n themselves; i t i s as if Vaness a an d Nicola s ar e to o youn g a s yet t o

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have narrative s o f thei r ow n t o recount . Althoug h the y ar e equal i n this respect , sexua l differenc e intrude s eve n here : Nicola s a t on e point put s himsel f i n th e story , a s if h e know s alread y tha t h e wil l later hav e one . Vanessa doe s not , suggestin g tha t he r acces s to th e world of action is more uncertain . HF: Yet the film privilege s the little girl ove r the little boy , just as it will later privileg e Sandrin e over Pierre . In Number Two, Godar d create s a story abou t those who are generally lef t out of narrative, whether one construes that categor y historiographicall y o r cinematically: no t only women, bu t also children an d old people. The episodes involvin g the grandmother an d the grandfather emphasiz e tha t thos e two figures are margina l eve n withi n th e family. I n the scene i n which Nicolas watches soccer on television, and the grandfather ask s him to change the channe l so that h e can watch a Soviet movie , the grandfather is shown t o hav e absolutel y n o authorit y withi n th e home . Nicolas refuses, and Pierre tells him to buy his own television. And the grandmother seems completely isolate d from the other members of the family; we never see her even exchange a word with anyon e else. KS: Yes , the grandmothe r i s the mos t margina l figur e i n th e film . Once again , Number Two suggests tha t eve n withi n a dispossesse d category like that o f children o r the aged, gender ca n make a big difference. Storytellin g i s an importan t functio n i n th e film , a n inde x to who a character is , but th e grandmother—unlik e al l of th e othe r family members—ha s n o stor y to tell. The grandfather, o n the othe r hand, tell s more stories than an y other character . HF: While preparin g somethin g t o eat in the kitchen, h e narrates a story about working in a munitions factory . He recounts a story abou t his former marriag e and his time in a concentration cam p on a tape to which the family listen s one night. And he relates a story abou t a trip to Singapore while sitting at his desk on the balcony. His stories are full of intrigu e and high adventure : world travel , strikes, organizing work ers, a politically motivate d marriage , surviving the unimaginable. The grandfather als o represents a form o f political actio n which n o longer seems possibl e withi n th e present tens e o f the film. H e tells storie s from a time i n which ther e was a worldwide proletaria n network— a time when a worker traveled on behalf of the Communist Part y as if he had to serve and help maintain an empire.

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KS: There seem s to be a cause-and-effect relatio n betwee n th e fac t that th e grandfather ha s so many heroic narratives to recite, and th e fact tha t th e grandmothe r ha s none . As the grandmothe r says , th e grandfather "jerk s off " wit h hi s storytelling . Th e grandmothe r objects t o the grandfather' s storie s not onl y because the grandfathe r derives a solitary an d almos t eroti c pleasure i n retellin g them , bu t also becaus e the y ar e s o phallic—becaus e ther e i s n o roo m fo r a female protagonis t withi n th e viril e leftis m the y purvey . A s th e grandfather acknowledge s a t on e point , everythin g "come s ou t o f [his] cock." HF: But the film distance s itsel f from th e grandfather's stories . It is not on the side of these grands recits. Th e scene in which the family listen s to th e grandfather' s voic e i s staged a bit ironically , a s if the family i s being oblige d to liste n to a n "ora l history " progra m o n the radio . It is not reall y possible to digest his stories.

KS: The grandfather' s storie s ar e als o definitivel y i n th e past . Th e film make s thi s explici t i n th e wonderfu l scen e wit h th e head phones. Vanessa , wh o i s sittin g besid e th e grandfathe r o n th e couch, tell s hi m tha t h e shouldn' t us e her father' s possessions . H e says "pas d'histoires," which mean s i n thi s contex t somethin g like : "Don't giv e m e an y trouble. " However , th e wor d "histoire" als o means "story " i n French , an d prompt s hi m t o say , meditatively , about himself : "There' s n o story . No music. " It' s a s if h e n o longe r has acces s eithe r t o narrativ e o r affect . Vaness a asks , poignantly , "How d o you manage? " a s if life without suc h form s o f sustenanc e would be intolerable. HF: The grandmother i s depicted very differently from the grandfather , in keepin g wit h he r greate r marginality . Th e lon g sequenc e whic h introduces he r is the only one consisting of a series of successive shots. She is shown peelin g vegetables , makin g he r bed , washing th e floor , ironing, an d cleaning herself . I n the case of the las t of these activities, there i s only on e video monitor , bu t wit h al l o f th e other s ther e ar e two. When there ar e two monitors , Godar d shows the mai n action o n the left , large r screen , while reprisin g th e on e that cam e befor e i t o n the right , smalle r screen . He thereby make s succession yield to simultaneity, an d obliges u s to thin k eac h ne w imag e i n relatio n t o thos e which precede d it .

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Fig. 3 0

KS: As in the rest of the film, th e grandmother doe s not spea k abou t herself here . Indeed, sh e makes no t a single use of th e first-perso n pronoun, a s if sh e i s incapable o f inscribin g hersel f eithe r i n lan guage o r narrative. But although sh e performs al l of he r househol d work silently, he r voice-over accompanie s th e image s shown i n thi s sequence with a paraphrase o f two passages from Germain e Greer' s The Female Eunuch.13 For most of the sequence, the topic of this commentary i s the sexua l subordinatio n o f women, whic h i t attribute s not onl y t o mal e violence, bu t als o to femal e passivit y ('Th e mal e perversion o f violence is the cause of women's degradation. . . . Men are tired o f bearing th e sexua l responsibilit y alone , an d it' s time t o release them. Woman's se x must gras p its r i g h t . . . " ). A s the grand mother utter s th e las t words, sh e sit s down o n th e sid e of th e bed , and spread s her legs . Her unfastened bathrob e opens , exposin g he r genitals (figur e 30) . The gesture is ambiguous; although i t lacks th e militancy o f the commentary , i t nevertheless represent s somethin g of a demand . Bu t it s effec t i s mor e t o remin d u s tha t "post menopausal" doe s not exactl y signif y th e en d o f sexualit y tha n t o dramatize woman's assumption o f erotic responsibility .

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HF: During th e las t par t o f thi s sequence , when th e grandmothe r i s washing herself , th e topic o f the voice-over tex t i s rather the idealiza tion tha n th e passivit y o f woman, alon g wit h th e abus e of natur e o n her behalf ("She' s th e masterpiec e of creation. The ocean i s plundered to giv e her pearls and coral. Seals are clubbed, lambs torn from moth ers. . . . Men ris k death huntin g leopard s an d crocodiles for bag s and shoes. Bi t b y bi t Venu s assert s herself") . Wit h th e fina l words , th e grandmother look s ironicall y a t the camera , i n a n overt acknowledg ment of its presence.

KS: She does so because the words Godar d put s in he r mout h enter tain suc h a complicated interrelationshi p wit h th e image s h e pro duces of her. The grandmother ha s jus t uttered word s which d o no t have her as their referent, an d she wants to signal as much to us. She asserts herself here , like the protagonis t describe d b y the voice-over , but onl y t o remin d u s that sh e is not Venus—tha t he r clas s affilia tion, and , mor e emphatically , he r age , prevent he r fro m bein g char acterized a s "th e masterpiec e o f creation. " Wherea s th e attractiv e woman o f a certain age , class, and rac e is subject no t onl y to oppression, but als o to idealization, th e grandmother (lik e countless other s who d o not belong to that category ) i s not s o fortunate. N o men di e in orde r t o wra p he r i n furs . Number Two reminds u s ho w inade quately feminis m ha s traditionall y deal t with th e man y disparitie s that transec t sexua l difference . HF: Yes, it i s startling t o hav e these two paraphrase s o f passage s from The Female Eunuch spoken b y the grandmother; i t problematize s the m in important ways . But I have the impressio n that this i s another situation analogou s to Godard' s speech i n the first prologue : the words are qualified b y the grandmother's look , but no t entirely canceled out.

KS: That i s because feminis m i s badly neede d here , i n spit e o f al l of its limitations. The grandmother ha s no way of speakin g about her self in the first person , sinc e not onl y bourgeois culture, but als o traditional leftism ha s failed t o provide her with the narrative resource s to tel l he r story . Feminis m mus t therefor e represen t her , howeve r inadequately. Number Two needs not jus t feminism i n general a t thi s point, but Germain e Greer in particular. It is part of the film's decon struction o f binary opposition to remind us that women ca n be complicit i n thei r oppression , especiall y when oppressio n bring s with i t

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certain compensatory privileges. Number Two works very hard in thi s scene to prevent th e eas y characterization o f women a s victims, an d men a s their victimizers. HF: That i s also the cas e in the first scen e devoted t o Pierr e and Sandrine. I n this scene , Pierr e i s shown i n th e lef t monito r i n a mediu m close-up, smoking. Sandrine enters through th e door behin d him , and asks him what h e does at work. H e explains that h e tests microphones, and check s text s fo r hi s company' s magazine . Sandrine flip s impa tiently throug h a n issu e o f th e magazine , an d say s dismissively : " I don't understand. " "I know," Pierr e says with resignation , as she leaves the room . O n th e righ t monito r a double imag e come s an d goes , showing Pierr e o n hi s wa y t o a n antinuclea r demonstratio n i n th e upper half , an d Sandrin e i n the lowe r half , sleeping . Sinc e she faces the camera , and h e walks away from it , the impressio n i s created tha t they hav e their back s to eac h other. I n every detail of this episode, we learn about Sandrine' s willful ignoranc e o f what Pierr e does when h e leaves the apartment . He r ignoranc e i s willful becaus e she refuses t o concern hersel f with a world where sh e could onl y pla y a subordinate role. However , i t leave s he r withou t an y relatio n t o societ y o r pai d labor, or any way of talking to he r husband about hi s work.

KS: This places Pierre , like Nicolas an d th e grandfather—wh o i s at one poin t show n preparin g hi s dinne r alone , an d a t anothe r drink ing by himself o n th e porch—unde r th e sig n o f "solitude. " Number Two also shows that althoug h Pierr e occupies the privileged positio n within th e domai n o f gender, h e occupies a subordinate positio n a t work. And what happens within the socioeconomic sphere finds displaced expressio n withi n th e home . " I fuck m y wife, " say s Pierre , after Sandrin e ha s left th e room , "bu t it' s all wrong. Thanks, boss." The next scen e clarifies i n what sens e it's "al l wrong" between San drine and Pierre. We look from th e corridor into the bathroom whil e Pierre complains abou t th e broke n toilet , an d pee s in th e sink . San drine, who is brushing her teeth fro m a hidden position , ask s if the y will have se x in th e evening . He answers, evasively: "We'l l see. " She responds wit h th e sam e word s Pierr e use s i n th e precedin g scene : "Thanks, boss." Pierre then explain s that at the end of a day of work, he is often impotent . Number Two thereby establishe s tha t th e mal e body can function a s hysterically as the female .

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HF: The next episode dramatizes yet another failed exchange betwee n Sandrine and Pierre. She finds him painting a chair on the balcony, and offers t o help . This time i t i s Pierre who rebuff s Sandrine' s overture . Sandrine angrily responds : "You know, there are other guys/ ' Throug h this episode , which i s shown o n th e lef t monitor , th e righ t monito r flickers unintelligibly, a s if to suggest an aborted communication.

KS: This episode also shows the most frequently reproduce d imag e in the film , o n a single, large monitor: th e imag e of Pierre anally penetrating Sandrine. Vanessa's distressed fac e bleeds into an d ou t o f thi s image. Pierre says in voice-over: "Somethin g terribl e happened . Sh e fucked anothe r guy. Never said who. I wanted to rape her. She let me, so I ass-fucked her . She began screaming. Then we saw Vanessa watching us. Family affairs, I guess." It is important t o keep in mind, whe n attempting t o understand th e entirel y negative metaphoric networ k which Number Two weaves around ana l sexuality , that thi s particula r act of sodomy is a rape. Although Sandrine "allows" Pierre to take her violently, sh e screams when h e enters her anally, suggesting that thi s is not wha t sh e agreed to . Vanessa's distress further underscore s th e violence o f this scene . Second, Pierr e means t o punish Sandrin e fo r her infidelity by sodomizing her. He means, that is, to insist upon he r "shitlike" status, and he chooses his orifice accordingly . HF: Finally, readin g thi s episod e throug h th e pris m o f th e res t of th e film, it is clear that, by sodomizing Sandrine , Pierre also seeks to situate himself sexuall y i n relatio n t o th e ma n sh e slep t with. 14 Indeed , h e seeks to us e her a s if sh e were hi s rival . Priso n novel s would hav e us believe that certain men , when i n prison, use the anus of other me n as a substitute for the missin g vagina. These particular men—a s oppose d to thos e for who m th e rectu m i s the preferre d orific e — are not gay . Rather, they sleep with othe r me n as if they were women. Conversely, Pierre here treats Sandrine as if she were a man.

KS: Several episodes later, Pierre is shown lyin g in bed, with the back of hi s hea d facin g th e camera . Sandrine , a t hi s request , sit s o n hi s chest wit h he r buttock s towar d him . Sh e says : "Wh y alway s lik e this?", makin g clea r tha t sh e i s often aske d t o si t o n Pierr e i n thi s way, an d thereb y indicatin g hi s genera l interes t i n he r posterio r region. H e answers: "I see parts you neve r do. " A moment later , sh e

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complains "you , you , you," suggestin g that hi s tastes d o not corre spond t o hers. This is hardly surprising, sinc e he has just defined he r viewing position a s one o f manifest exclusion . Ironically, Pierr e says at the end of this scene that when Sandrin e assumes this position h e is able to see her violence. HF: Pierre compares the mas s of he r body to a river, and its outline t o the bank s which enclos e the river . 'The y tal k of the river' s overflowin g violence," h e adds, "neve r o f the bank' s violence to th e river. " Whe n Sandrine sits on him , he can see the bank' s violence, which i s the violence of an articulation o r a formal "cuttin g out, " o f the impositio n o f an identity upo n a n otherwise shapeles s mass . Again, we hav e a very metaphoric treatmen t o f sexuality. I t i s also clear from thi s scene that the same part of Sandrine' s body—he r buttocks—ca n mea n very different things to her and her husband. Signification is never stable in this film—never a matter of matching u p a signifier with a single signified.

KS: The next episod e follows ver y closely from thos e which preced e it. Sandrin e an d Pierr e lie in bed together , sh e in cente r frame , an d he semidiagonally acros s the lower frame. Sh e throws back the blankets t o revea l hi s body , asking : "Ca n I look, too? " Then , a s i f i n direct respons e t o Pierre' s rive r an d ban k metaphor , sh e says : "See, Pierre, I look facin g you . Mornings yo u leave . You walk out. I don't criticize, no . I'v e go t n o work . I see your as s go out th e door . You r ass i s of f t o work . That' s a par t yo u neve r se e o f yourself . S o evenings I have t o loo k a t you. Facin g you whe n yo u com e in . Facing me is your cock . Not your ass. " In this extraordinar y resemanti cization o f th e body , buttock s com e t o represen t wor k an d separation, th e divisio n an d asymmetr y o f man' s an d woman' s spheres, an d nonreciprocity . Th e fron t o f th e body , o n th e othe r hand, mean s home, reunion , an d reciprocity . HF: The notio n tha t sexualit y was a liberatory forc e was very muc h i n the intellectua l ai r in the lat e 1960s and early 1970s, but Godar d seems to have a more complex view. He suggests that sexuality can represent every human relation , negative as well as positive.

KS: Number Two shows that sexualit y is the sit e at which al l forms of repression ar e most full y felt , an d wher e the y become mos t legible . At the sam e time , th e ne w politic s th e fil m put s forwar d i s route d

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through th e sexual . Sandrin e wil l com e t o a t leas t a rudimentar y feminism vi a her bodily relations with her husband . HF: The workers of the present tense of Number Two have access to the media i n a way i n which thei r predecessor s did not , bu t the y ar e very isolated from each other. Excep t for on e neighbor, there is not a single nonfamily membe r i n the film. I n this respect , they are in striking con trast to the grandfather's generatio n o f workers. Bu t Number Two conveys the hope that something new , something bette r grounded, might come ou t o f thi s isolation . Becaus e i t force s th e famil y t o focu s o n itself—because i t oblige s it s six member s t o interrogat e thei r sexua l and othe r interaction s wit h eac h other, an d what the y signify—th e possibility for a new politics is created.

KS: The enablin g rol e tha t suc h auto-reflection s ca n perfor m wit h respect t o th e politica l become s apparen t i n a scene sho t fro m th e balcony o f th e apartment . Thi s scen e dramatize s a n exchang e between Sandrine and a neighbor in the courtyard below. The neighbor invites Sandrine to a meeting about th e mistreatment o f wome n political prisoner s i n Chile . Sandrine decline s to come , sayin g she' s too busy, and anywa y not interested . The neighbor persists , withou t avail, an d finall y give s Sandrine a handbill o n th e subject . Afte r th e neighbor leaves , Sandrine read s the handbil l aloud : ''Everyda y [th e women political prisoners] pass in the hall from thei r cells to the toilet, singl e file , a hand o n th e shoulder , blindfolded . The y hav e n o right t o see , but tr y t o wal k straight , proud , despit e obscen e jeer s from th e guards , wh o mak e the m stumble . The y hav e t o reliev e themselves in record time while the guards joke. They return silently , handled b y th e soldiers , wh o bea t an d tortur e them. " Unti l thi s scene, Sandrin e ha s stubbornl y individualize d he r problems , func tioning a s if sh e wer e th e onl y woma n i n th e world . Now , fo r th e first time, she realizes that sh e is not alone. "Other women exist. . . " she says out loud, after readin g the handbill . HF: This scene is depicted o n the lef t monitor . At first, the righ t show s only a disturbance, bu t late r a shot i n which Sandrin e fellates Pierre . This second image interacts complexly with the first. It can be read as a critical commentar y upo n Sandrine' s initia l indifferenc e t o th e condition of the Chilean women—"she doe s not fight for other women, she only suck s cocks. " Bu t i t als o functions a s an externalizatio n o f th e

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Fig. 31 thought whic h presumabl y permit s Sandrine t o mak e a connection between hersel f an d th e politica l prisoners , an d s o t o say : "Othe r women exist. " Throug h th e imag e o f fellatio, the film suggest s tha t while readin g th e handbil l sh e recollects the sexua l services she per forms for Pierre , and the narrownes s o f he r world, and says to hersel f something like : " I , too , live in a prison, confined and sexually abused!" Later i n the film, we will b e in a better positio n t o understan d why i t should b e an image of fellatio rathe r than the anal rape which i s made to bea r this meaning . We will lear n then tha t Pierr e does no t gladl y provide hi s wife with a comparable pleasure.

KS: Several scenes later, a conversation occur s which furthe r extend s the networ k o f meaning radiatin g outwar d fro m th e ana l rape. Sandrine i s shown sittin g a t th e kitche n tabl e i n he r by-no w familia r white bathrobe , gloomil y drinkin g a n unidentifiabl e liqui d (figur e 31). Pierre , who i s only partiall y visibl e i n th e righ t o f th e frame , holds ou t t o her som e laxatives in the for m o f suppositories , whic h he offer s t o insert. Sh e responds: "It' s my kitchen, m y kids, my ass. Too much there/ ' H e protests: "But you've got to shit. " She answers: "It's more complicated tha n t h a t . . . I t reminds me of filth." Earlier ,

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9

Fig. 32

Sandrine leave s without tryin g to understand Pierre' s work. Now, h e leaves without trying to grasp what her constipation means . HF: After Pierr e is gone, Sandrine explains to he r son that she has been constipated for two weeks. This scene indicates that th e two everyda y meanings of numbe r two—shit an d woman—have becom e inextricably linked for Sandrine, presumably through the anal rape and her husband's general interest i n he r buttocks. He r constipation represent s an attempt t o disentangl e thos e tw o signifiers . I t also signifies he r diffi culty wit h respec t t o production , a topic whic h wil l becom e mor e important towar d th e en d o f th e film . Industr y an d metabolis m ar e related; in both cases, things flow i n and out.

KS: Sandrine could be said to be blocked a t the level of production — not t o produce, in the conventiona l sens e of the word. 15 Alternately , we could rea d he r constipatio n a s the unconsciou s renunciatio n o f production, because she feels that what sh e produces is shit. As Freud tells us, and Godar d repeatedl y shows us, the psyche can attach mul tiple and eve n contradictory signified s t o the sam e signifier. 16 I n th e next scene , the image of Sandrine sittin g at the kitche n tabl e move s

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to the right monitor. The left i s given over to a scene of Sandrine masturbating (figure 32). These two images comment upon and complicate each other. Masturbation i s represented i n part as a displaced expression of the need to excrete. As Sandrine comes into the bedroom where she will masturbate, her voice-over narrates: "I came home. I was beside myself. Really beside myself. Still loaded down . . . " A moment later, as she pulls down her panties, she says: "I show my flower an d unload/ ' But if what Sandrine produces is shit, and shitting can be compared t o masturbation, the n masturbatio n ca n also be analogically linked back to her production. HF: Sandrine's production i s onanistic becaus e she's a solitary machine. Godard establishes himself at the outset as a machine which plug s into other machines . Sandrine does not. "Machinically " speaking , Number Two suggests, she is onanistic.

KS: This is perhaps the film's wa y of saying that Sandrin e has a troubled relatio n t o productio n becaus e sh e i s outsid e symboli c exchange. Her products d o not circulate . Number Two will make thi s crucial point again , i n othe r ways, and i t will later clarif y th e condi tions under whic h a woman lik e Sandrine migh t b e brought withi n symbolic exchange , or—t o us e your metaphor—plugge d int o othe r machines. Bu t it's important t o not e tha t masturbatio n i s no mor e unequivocal a signifier i n this film than i s anal sexuality. It connote s not onl y a noncirculable for m o f production , bu t als o Sandrine' s retreat fro m th e difficultie s o f se x with he r husband , an d a n insis tence upon he r own pleasure. HF: Yet anothe r readin g i s possible . I n thi s scene , a s in th e kitche n scene, Pierre offers "help" ; h e comes int o the roo m while Sandrin e is masturbating, and asks if she would lik e him to caress her. But for Sandrine, Pierre' s suggestion tha t h e caress her genitals i s contaminate d by his earlier offer to inser t the anal suppository.

KS: For her, t o accept tha t cares s would be to allo w Pierre to put he r sexuality onc e agai n unde r th e sig n o f anality , s o she ask s him t o leave the room, and satisfie s he r own sexua l desires. HF: As if to insis t once again upon the multifaceted natur e of sexuality, Number Two cuts fro m th e masturbatio n scen e t o on e offerin g a n

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almost Utopian account of the erotic. In this scene, Pierre and Sandrine introduce Nicola s and Vanessa to sexuality through th e display of thei r naked bodie s befor e sendin g th e childre n of f t o school . The implica tion i s that the y hav e more to lear n i n the school o f lif e than throug h formal education . Sandrine lie s diagonally acros s the single imag e displayed on the screen, her head in the left upper corner. Pierre kneels to her right, with an obvious erection. His head is cropped. When Vanessa enters, she sits to the left of Sandrine. Nicolas assumes a position in the lower cente r frame. His head — like that o f a spectator befor e the cinematic scree n — partially obscure s Sandrine' s body , an d s o render s i t more mysterious and interesting.

KS: In this scene , we are given a n entirel y ne w conceptua l acces s t o the body' s mos t eroticall y code d parts . "Se e that?" Sandrin e asks , pointing t o he r vulva , 'They'r e lips . M y se x lips. " Touchin g hi s penis, Pierr e explains: "See here, it's a kind o f mouth. S o this mout h and thi s on e . . . you kis s your lover' s lips . Understand?" Sandrin e adds: "When we make love, he puts his sex's mouth i n the lips of my sex as if we were kissing, like talking. . . . It's called love. Love gets us to talk." Pierre, finally, concludes : "When it's over, death touches th e lips, an d says : 'Be quiet.'" Thi s accoun t o f th e bod y privilege s th e metaphor o f th e mouth . T o have se x is to kiss , or—better yet—t o talk together . HF: Thi s scen e reprise s th e firs t prologue , wher e th e connectio n between languag e an d lov e i s already established . Everythin g i n thi s film i s magically repeate d at least once; it is a film with a memory.

KS: For Sandrine and Pierre to compare their lovemaking to talking is to suggest that both are forms of communication, an d that at least in the cas e of the caresse s they exchang e a t the en d o f this scene , the y are finally "listening " and "speaking " to eac h other . This scene thu s dramatizes somethin g which elude s Pierre and Sandrin e a t s o man y other moments in Number Two: relationality. HF: In the very nex t scene specifically involvin g thos e two characters , we loo k agai n a t a very differen t kin d o f image—th e spli t imag e i n which Pierr e seemingl y walk s awa y fro m Sandrin e t o th e nuclea r demonstration, while she apparently sleeps with he r back to him. Their conversation i s clearly over.

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KS: Relationalit y i s no t th e onl y featur e o f th e famil y se x scen e which set s it apart fro m mos t o f the rest o f the film . Pierr e and San drine's behavior suggest s that th e more se x is talked abou t an d seen , the les s repression ther e will be, but a t othe r time s it seem s as if th e contrary i s the case . The image o f Vanessa' s fac e bleedin g int o th e image o f the ana l rap e is a particularly poten t reminde r tha t sexua l showing an d tellin g ca n hav e traumati c effects . A s i n Jea n Laplanche's account of the primal scene, adult sexuality here invades an unprepared psyche , and the only possible defence i s repression. 17 HF: The family sex scene is followed by one stressing the incommensurability of mal e and female desire, and the conflicting meanin g for Pierr e and Sandrine of the concept "home. " What i s normal for th e wife, we learn, i s totally inconceivabl e for he r husband . Pierre is shaving i n the bathroom, with th e door open . From off-screen, Vanessa asks: "When you and mom fought, you said 'impossible.' What's 'impossible'?" Pierre answers: "When we fought ove r the washer, she said I don't help . True, it's hard for me to see her dirty panties, because it means her ass is dirty. For her, it's automatic—it's th e factory for her . For me, it's home. That's why some things are possible and some impossible." Pierre' s "impossible" attests to a profound psychic intractability .

KS: This is an astonishin g speech , give n th e fac t tha t Pierr e anall y rapes Sandrine. On the one hand, h e maintains her "shitlike " status; on the other hand, h e insists that sh e facilitate hi s desire by presenting herself t o him onl y i n th e mos t idea l form. Her e we see one of the classi c double binds o f femininity : th e necessit y fo r th e norma tive female subjec t t o assume responsbility fo r representin g simulta neously everythin g tha t i s most abject , s o that th e mal e subjec t ca n be "clean " an d "proper, " an d everythin g tha t i s mos t femininel y desirable.18 We also see how a n identificatio n wit h th e "clean " an d "proper" can quickly become a masculine alibi for having nothing t o do with work connected t o bodily functions an d everyda y life—fo r the so-calle d "separat e spheres" of man's and woman's labor . HF: At the end of this scene, Pierre turns on hi s electric razor . As we all know, when turned on , an electrical razo r disturbs television transmission. The nex t sho t seem s to sho w u s just that : tw o vide o monitor s with a n identica l flickerin g image . Thi s flickerin g i s the n mad e a metaphor for the sexual excitement produce d i n Pierr e when h e reads

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the pornographic magazine s his son brings home, and thinks about his wife's genitals. It's a kind of measuremen t device for tabulating desire.

KS: This train of thought, give n to us by Pierre's voice-over, leads first to the recollectio n o f Sandrine' s infidelity , an d hi s still-curren t jeal ousy, an d the n t o a meditation o n thei r sexua l practices : "Fuc k an d be fucked. She' s the ma n sometime s an d I' m th e woman . Bu t sinc e I'm a guy, then, sometime s it's like fucking anothe r guy . That's why I like her finge r u p m y ass. I ask her to. " Pierre here makes absolutel y explicit th e homosexua l underpinning s o f hi s relationshi p t o San drine. But sinc e the thematizatio n o f Sandrine' s production a s masturbation, w e are in a better positio n t o understand wha t i t mean s for Pierr e to imagine tha t h e is a man havin g se x with anothe r ma n when makin g lov e to hi s wife. The wish tha t Sandrin e b e a man a t such a moment ca n be read a t least i n part a s Pierre's desire to brin g their sexualit y withi n symboli c exchange : th e desir e t o b e i n be d with another full y socia l subject . HF: Pierre comes close here to elaboratin g the conditions unde r whic h his sexual relation s with Sandrin e could achiev e that transparen t communication fantasize d i n the se x education scene . Unfortunately , h e fails to d o so. He can imagine bein g a man to Sandrine' s woman, or a man to Sandrine' s man . However, h e can only fo r a second imagin e being a woman to Sandrine's man, and fails altogether to articulate the other possibl e transmutation implici t i n this paradigm—tha t h e be a woman to Sandrine' s woman.

KS: Not surprisingly , then , th e ver y nex t scen e dramatize s Pierre' s inability to perform cunnilingi s o n Sandrine—t o engag e in tha t on e form o f sexua l activit y which i s specific t o her , rathe r tha n hi s own , pleasure. Equally significantly, h e explains that his disaffection i n this situation comes from th e disgust he feels in having to say "I love you" all th e time , onc e agai n conflatin g sexualit y wit h speech . O n thi s occasion, as on s o many others, speech is blocked o r strangulated . HF: Near the en d o f Number Two comes another scen e full o f Utopia n potential, this time set in the kitchen, rather than the bedroom. For the first time, Sandrin e i s fully dressed , and we see Pierre helping he r wit h the housework . Eve n more remarkably , Sandrin e talk s abou t herself , and Pierr e listens . As she washes the dishes , and h e dries them , San-

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drjne explain s why sh e gave u p he r briefl y hel d job a t the pharmac y ("It's too fast and I don't understand , my eyes can't follow m y hands"). She then goe s on to describ e he r lif e i n the apartment . Afte r relatin g the activities she is good at—cooking , helping Nicola s with hi s homework, cock-sucking—sh e concludes : "there' s too muc h . . . too muc h and yet not enough." Too much family, and too littl e sociality. There is still one momen t o f conspicuou s friction durin g thi s conversation, bu t it nevertheless point s to the possibilit y of a new beginning.

KS: The camera cut s to two monitors. The one on th e lef t show s th e grandmother cleanin g th e floor , an d th e on e o n th e righ t Sandrin e performing fellatio—women' s work . Sandrin e continue s speaking , now i n voice-over : " I thought I was producing, bu t th e good s ha d already been sold . I was producing a t a loss." She thereby generate s yet anothe r metapho r fo r understandin g tha t peculia r for m o f production whic h i s housework, a form o f production whos e product s are used rathe r tha n exchanged , an d whic h ar e either s o immaterial or s o quickly consume d tha t the y ar e scarcel y visible a s such. San drine asks : "Who was profiting? Who ? " She quickly answers : "No t him." I n s o doing, sh e onc e agai n prevent s u s fro m slottin g Pierr e into th e categor y o f "exploiter, " an d put s i n tha t positio n instea d "someone behind" an d then , mor e abstractly , "somethin g betwee n us," which sh e characterizes as "work." HF: Ther e i s a certai n vaguenes s abou t thes e categories . Sandrine doesn't sa y "capital," or "th e system, " as we would hav e said in I968. By I975, it wasn't s o easy to identif y th e forces of oppressio n as it ha d been a few years earlier. At one point, Sandrin e even imagines solvin g her sexual difficulties throug h money ; sh e tells Pierr e that i f she were rich, she would pa y him to sleep with her .

KS: In the fina l sho t o f the stor y proper, w e return onc e again t o th e scene where Sandrine sit s in he r white bathrobe a t the kitchen tabl e and speak s about he r constipation . Now , it becomes eve n mor e evident tha t constipatio n i s a signifier bot h fo r he r troubled relatio n t o production ("Nothin g happen s i n my ass. I make the food, i t goes in and down , bu t no t out") , an d fo r he r force d identificatio n wit h excrement o r wast e (" I fee l lik e a bitch an d a shit"). Bu t th e nex t words sh e utters sugges t tha t sh e is beginning t o understan d thes e difficulties i n thei r gende r specificity . Sh e asks: "I wonder i f man y

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Fig. 33

women are like me?" For the first time, she grasps not only that ther e are other women in the world, but also that they, too, might feel as if they ar e excrement, o r produce excrement . I n progressing fro m a n identification wit h a strictly private "me " to on e with th e categor y "women," Sandrin e assume s a n overtl y socia l identity . Simpl y b y virtue of grasping herself a s a member of a group, she makes possible a vast rang e o f social , economic , an d psychi c transactions wit h th e world outsid e th e family . Suddenl y th e doo r leadin g t o symboli c exchange i s throw n wid e open . I n th e epilogue , Number Two will show Sandrin e goin g through tha t door , an d puttin g he r discours e into circulation . However , sh e will d o s o in he r capacit y no t a s th e protagonist, but rather as the lead actress of the film . HF: At the end of the story about the proletarian family, the camera cuts to Godard in his workroom. He sits with hi s head on the table, listening to Sandrine' s voic e emanatin g fro m a tape recorde r i n front o f him . Behind hi m ar e two vide o monitors . At a certain poin t th e one on th e left lights u p with a n image of Sandrin e in the kitchen , and the one on the right with an image of Vanessa taking a bath (figure 33). Sandrine is

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no longe r talkin g a s her fictional character , bu t firs t a s an actres s i n GodarcTs film ("m y rol e is over. . . "); then seemingly as an actual wife ("always lik e him , who say s 'wash up , go o n strike, come home , let' s fuck, go on vacation.' What's worse, I say it for him") ; and, finally, as a cinematic spectato r ("yo u g o to a movie; you bu y a ticket: you sell out to the producer. Turn on the TV, and you're an accomplice").

KS: But since the imag e of Sandrin e in he r white bathrobe i s on th e screen fo r muc h o f thi s monologue , th e actres s als o clearl y speak s here for the character she plays. This scene offers u s something like a "Sandrine complex. " HF: Increasingly, th e theme o f he r length y monologu e i s the crim e of letting others make the films you watch. Number Two seems to b e suggesting that everyon e should hav e access to the mean s of production , and b e making films themselves , rathe r tha n dependin g upo n other s to do it for them.

KS: Many people gav e voice to this belief i n th e lat e 1960s and earl y 1970s. But Number Two elaborates th e familia r argumen t i n new an d gender-specific terms . Sandrine says that a man is in the place where she shoul d be . A s she put s it : "He' s wher e h e shouldn' t be . . . . I ought t o b e ther e an d I' m not. " Thi s someon e els e woul d finall y seem t o b e Godar d himself , or—i n som e mor e globa l sense—th e masculine filmmaker . Again , Sandrin e speak s not onl y fo r herself , but als o fo r he r fictiona l character , and—b y implication—ever y other woman i n an analogous situation . HF: Elsewhere i n he r monologue , sh e explains what i t mean s to allo w someone els e to b e i n your place : it mean s to permi t tha t perso n t o speak for you, rather than speaking for yourself .

KS: And t o spea k fo r yourself , an d s o to occup y tha t place , woul d seem to mean somethin g lik e "t o put you r discours e int o socia l cir culation," o r "t o contribut e t o th e productio n o f publi c meaning. " We can no w understand bette r why Godar d goe s to suc h length s i n Number Two to dives t himsel f o f hi s authoria l power s an d preroga tives, an d why—bot h i n th e secon d prologu e an d i n th e epilogue—he give s Sandrine's voice the metacritical function, rathe r than assumin g it himself. Godard is trying to make a film withou t a t

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the sam e time assumin g th e enunciator y positio n becaus e h e want s to giv e tha t positio n t o a woman. Number Two stages no t onl y a n authorial divestiture , but als o the accessio n o f the femal e subjec t t o the place where she belongs. As Sandrine continues talking about th e necessity for women to speak for an d about themselves, and—in th e process—to participate in symbolic exchange, she realizes that sh e is doing jus t that . Significantly , sh e doe s no t thereb y "become " a "man/' o r occupy the "numbe r one " position. Instead , becaus e San drine comes to public discourse only after effectin g a n identificatio n with th e categor y "women, " sh e step s into a n altogethe r ne w position, on e outsid e sexua l differenc e a s we kno w it . "Finall y i n m y place," she says, "number three. " HF: For a moment, wit h Godard , we liste n once mor e to som e chords of a song from Ferre . Then th e camer a cut s to a close-up o f Vanessa bathing. Pierre , partially visible in the frame, reads aloud the text to his rental agreement: "Th e rente r will accep t the local e as it i s upon occupancy. I t will b e use d only for hi s persona l residence , and tha t o f hi s family. H e will answe r t o polic e an d cit y requirement s . . . [and be ] a respectable citizen . . . " It' s very muc h an idea of the 1970 s that Pierr e should b e hel d t o th e obligatio n t o b e a good fathe r b y th e socia l housing administration . It' s analogous to anothe r notio n expresse d b y Godard durin g th e sam e period—th e notio n tha t filmmaker s shoul d only make films they can show to their families. 19

KS: For me, thi s i s the mos t importan t scen e i n th e fil m fo r under standing Pierre . Whe n Pierr e read s th e renta l contract , h e make s something explici t which ha s until no w been onl y implicit, signale d through hi s impotence . Lik e Sandrine , h e i s subjec t t o a highe r authority, which we might cal l the Law. This Law, which ca n assum e an infinit e variet y o f local forms, fro m hi s boss to his landlord, lay s out hi s social , economic , an d familia l responsibilitie s fo r hi m i n advance. Even the positio n o f father transcend s him ; it will succee d him, jus t a s i t precede d him . I t i s a function whic h grasp s him. 20 Once again , Godar d refuse s t o conceptualiz e "numbe r one " an d "number two " in simple opposition t o each other . HF: But although this scene maps out the symbolic positio n int o which Pierre has been socially slotted, it does not reduc e him to a behaviorist exemplification o f tha t function . Pierre' s "fatherhood " i s simultane-

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ously articulated o n a number o f othe r registers . When finished reading, Vaness a asks: "When yo u die , will you stil l b e m y papa? " Pierr e answers: "O f course , don't worry, " an d h e pat s he r reassuringly . We see that for Vanessa he signifies no t only "hea d of the family," o r "sex ual aggressor," bu t a protector who m sh e hopes will alway s be there. It's complicated i n the family.

KS: In th e fina l moment s o f Number Two, Godard manipulate s th e audio controls. Over the soun d o f Ferre singing, Sandrin e carrie s o n a disembodied conversation , firs t wit h Vanessa, an d the n with Nicolas, now once again a s their mother . Now that Sandrine-as-characte r has understoo d hersel f t o b e a member o f a collectivity, an d no w that Sandrine-as-actres s ha s succeede d i n speakin g fo r hersel f i n a form capabl e o f circulating within th e large r society , housework ca n have a ne w meanin g an d value . I t ca n b e though t i n relatio n t o other kind s o f work. Perhap s i t ca n eve n becom e somethin g othe r than productio n a t a loss. HF: To Vanessa, Pierre poses the question, "So is papa a landscape or a factory?" a question also posed at the beginnin g o f the film, bu t neve r answered. I n th e fina l spoke n lin e i n th e film , Vaness a obliquel y answers the questio n b y deconstructing thi s las t antithesis—by insist ing onc e agai n upo n "this " an d "that" : "Ther e wa s . . . a factory. Around i t they pu t a landscape." A s Vanessa speaks these words, we hear the by now familiar sound of birdsong , through which Godard so often put s the landscap e aroun d tha t mos t importan t o f al l factories: the family. 21

KS: After Sandrine , Vanessa , an d Nicola s hav e stoppe d speaking , Ferre hal f sings , hal f declaim s a kind o f musica l cod a t o th e film : "Those eye s watching yo u nigh t an d day , sai d to b e fixed o n num bers and hate, those forbidden thing s you drag yourself t o .. . will be yours when you close the eyes of oppression." Still sitting at the con trols, Godar d close s the li d t o th e soun d equipment , an d put s hi s film—like Nicola s and Vanessa—to bed . HF: In the epilogue , h e has seemingly becom e a simple conducto r o f prerecorded music . N o longe r the heroi c creator , h e is content t o con trol th e volume, and turn th e video an d audio equipmen t o n and off . But even here, he does not altogether succeed in throwing off the man-

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tie of authorship. Music in the film i s associated both with wonder, an d with the fourth dimension—with a larger life, and with the ability to see what can't b e seen. And he is still the one who provide s access to it .

KS: Perhaps th e crucia l questio n t o as k i n closin g i s no t whethe r Godard succeed s i n Number Two in altogethe r negatin g himsel f a s the sourc e o f meanin g o r affect , bu t rathe r whethe r h e manage s t o avoid being where he shouldn't be : whether h e makes room fo r San drine, as character an d actress , to be "finally i n [her ] place." It seems to me that h e does.

seven Moving Picture s Passion (1981 )

HF: Passion (1981) takes place in an ordinary tow n i n Switzerland , during an unremarkable winter. Bu t in a studio i n that town, an extraordinary film i s being made : masterpieces o f ar t are "reproduced/ 7 stage d with stand-ins assuming Rembrandt and Delacroix poses . The resulting images are spectacular, bu t the produce r i s unhappy with th e produc tion because it lacks a story, jerzy (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) i s dissatisfied for another reason : for him , the studio ligh t i s always wrong.

KS: The images which Jerzy reconstructs i n hi s studi o signif y ''hig h art," i n ever y sens e o f tha t term . The y depic t tableau x i n whic h human being s ris e above their everyda y condition , an d the y hav e a similar effec t upo n th e spectator . Lookin g a t them , w e to o fee l exalted, expansive , jubilant . Th e worl d outsid e th e fil m studi o seems, by contrast, almos t hyperbolically quotidian. But Passion does not allo w u s to conceptualiz e thes e tw o domain s i n oppositio n t o each other . I t links the se t on whic h Jerzy is shooting hi s extraordi nary film t o the ordinary town i n which it is located throug h a complex serie s o f relationships . Th e stand-in s fo r Jerzy' s fil m com e mostly from a factory i n the town. Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert), one of Jerzy's girlfriends, als o works i n th e factor y unti l sh e lose s her job . 170

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The fil m cre w stay s i n a hotel owne d b y Han a (Hann a Schygulla) , Jerzy's other girlfriend . An d Han a i s married t o Miche l (Miche l Piccoli), who own s th e factor y wher e Isabell e an d th e stand-in s work . Passion explores al l o f thes e relationship s i n detai l b y crosscuttin g between studio , hotel, an d factory . HF: Passion is not just the narrative of Jerzy, Hana, Isabelle, and Michel, and their respectiv e work sites , but also the narrative of Godard him self. The film's diegeti c directo r i s a surrogate in certain respect s for its extra-diegetic director . Fo r Godard, as for Jerzy, storytelling i s the least interesting par t of filmmaking. And for Godard, as for Jerzy, cinema is above all light. Finally , for Godard, as for Jerzy, art means creating texts which ar e in a dialogue wit h earlie r texts . Godard underscore s thes e metaphoric connection s betwee n himsel f an d his protagonist b y giving the same title to Jerzy's film a s to his own. But the analogy i s no t absolute; whereas Godard completes hi s film, Jerzy does not. KS: Passion is concerned wit h eve n mor e tha n huma n o r authoria l liaisons. It als o obliges us to rethin k th e relationshi p betwee n con cepts which have been traditionally opposed. Often th e human inter actions seem subordinate to this conceptual reconfiguration, whic h is effected i n par t throug h th e transformation s t o which th e fil m sub jects the painting s i t reconstructs, an d i n part throug h th e comple x montage through which it moves from studio , to hotel, to town. 1 HF: Passion open s wit h a shot filme d b y Godard personally , wit h a camera buil t to his specifications b y Jean-Pierre Beauviala . In this shot, which i s given t o us in four segments , a n invisible plan e inscribe s a white lin e across a chiaroscuro sky . It was produced on the spur of the moment, without pla n or preparation. Godard saw the exhaust trail of the plane , grabbed a camera, and filmed it. Here, the camera is subordinated to the pro-filmic event , which i t can only follow blindly . The spontaneity of this shot is underscored by the unsteadiness of the camera's exploratory pans . They registe r the movements of Godard's eyes, scanning the sky to see what i t can tell us , and never sure in advance what they will find . KS: But a s is so often th e cas e in Godard' s films , thi s documentar y shot move s inexorabl y i n th e directio n o f fiction . Th e secon d seg ment o f th e shot , i n whic h th e exhaus t trai l doe s no t appear , i s so

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artificial i n appearanc e tha t i t coul d b e mistake n fo r a studio sho t from Jerzy's film. And , sinc e Godar d situate s a series of shot s intro ducing u s t o th e mai n character s i n th e fram e stor y o f Passion between th e four part s of the sky shot, the chiaroscuro expanse soo n becomes the heaven abov e their heads . HF: Still , a t leas t for th e duratio n o f thi s sequence , th e sk y i s mor e important tha n th e earth , and ligh t mor e significan t tha n narrative . Regarded from th e vantage poin t o f the sun and clouds, the five char acters to whom w e are introduced ar e as insignificant a s ants. And i t is precisely from this vantage point that the astral music, Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, encourage s u s to look . This is especially pronounce d in the las t of the introductor y shots , in which Jerz y and Laszl o (Laszlo Szabo), Jerzy's productio n manager , figh t wit h th e Italia n producer . They are small shapes in the back of the image, which i s dominated b y a large flower bed.

KS: The openin g sequenc e introduce s u s t o tw o o f th e antithese s which Passion will most insistently dismantle: heaven and earth, an d truth an d fiction . I t als o deploy s th e tw o trope s throug h whic h i t will mos t frequentl y pu t oppose d term s i n communicatio n wit h each other . W e hav e a time-honore d wor d fo r th e firs t o f thes e tropes—oxymoron, th e rhetorica l figur e throug h whic h tw o mutu ally exclusive thing s ar e simultaneously affirmed . I t is dramaticall y at work i n th e sk y pan, whic h signifie s a t th e sam e time "rea l sky " and "imaginar y worl d o f Jerzy and Hana. " W e lack a category wit h which t o characteriz e th e secon d trop e throug h whic h Passion undoes opposition , bu t i t could be designated throug h an y on e o f a number o f words with th e prefi x "trans" : "transferral," "transition, " "transposition," "transformation, " eve n "translation, " i n the biblical sense of that word. Through this trope, Godard asserts the derivatio n of a term fro m it s ostensibl e opposite . I n Passion, crosscutting i s a privileged vehicl e fo r establishin g suc h derivations . I n th e openin g sequence, Godard uses it to show that heaven come s from earth , an d earth from heaven . HF: The nex t scen e takes plac e i n the film studio . Jerzy is filming th e first of the recreated masterpieces: Rembrandt's Nightwatch (I642). It is not surprisin g tha t Godar d woul d begi n wit h thi s painting , sinc e i t offers on e o f th e mos t celebrate d studie s o f ligh t i n th e histor y o f

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painting. I t is also an image which would especiall y appea l to Godar d because i t i s so "underlit. " Th e Nightwatch show s ho w muc h ligh t there i s even i n darkness. Indeed , it reveal s that i t i s above all within darkness that ligh t i s to be found.

KS: But Godard seem s ultimately les s interested i n duplicating thi s painting tha n i n reconceiving i t in filmic terms . The fixed vantag e point o f th e painte r give s wa y to th e mobil e camera , whic h ca n adopt multipl e positions , pa n across the surface o f the image, and even invad e th e spectacl e itself. 2 Rembrandt' s figure s ar e release d from thei r froze n poses , an d begin t o mov e an d breathe, an d the banner drape d i n the background blow s in the studio wind. Passion also cuts back and forth betwee n th e Rembrandt scene , and shots of Isabelle performin g factor y work , remindin g u s tha t montag e i s another featur e o f cinema which distinguishe s it from painting . HF: The central issue here seems to be "transformation/' i n the strictest sense of that word—the change s which occur when we shift from one form o r textua l syste m t o another . An d i n the transformation fro m painting t o cinema , movemen t i s all-important—camera movement , movement withi n frame , an d movement fro m on e shot t o another . Passion suggests as much b y having one figure step out of the composition, and later retur n to it.

KS: Significantly, i t is a female figure who leaves the position assigne d to her in Rembrandt's painting : th e little gir l in the elaborate gol d dress who joins the adult citizen s in their nocturnal watch. 3 This is a recurrent motif ; a s Jean-Louis Leutra t observes , th e studi o scene s consistently sho w "women in movement"* HF: A s w e loo k a t th e reconstitute d Nightwatch, w e liste n t o a n off-screen conversatio n abou t it . Mos t o f the participants i n this con versation ar e member s o f Jerzy' s crew , bu t on e i s a membe r o f Godard's crew. This scene thus blur s the usual distinction betwee n the "diegetic" an d the "extra-diegetic." Jerzy' s production manager , Laszlo initiates this unorthodox exchang e with the query: "Qu'est-ce que c'est cette histoire?"5 He means to ask: "What's the story here? " Bu t Laszlo's listeners are no more concerne d wit h narrativ e tha n Jerz y is. Instead, they treat Laszlo' s question as if it signified something like : "What's the main issue in this painting?"

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KS: Patrick (Patric k Bonnel), Jerzy's assistant, provide s one answe r t o this question. He says: "Don't scrutiniz e the structure or the distanc e severely. Do what Rembrand t did : examine the human being s atten tively . . ." For him, th e Nightwatch signifie s abov e al l "fidelit y t o life/' o r "truthfulness. " Fo r Sophie, Jerzy's production assistant , th e Nightwatch i s rathe r "somethin g imaginary. " Bu t sh e goe s o n a moment late r t o defin e th e imaginar y a s not exactl y the truth , bu t also no t it s opposite , thereb y deconstructin g th e oppositio n t o which sh e seems to contribute . Sh e proposes tha t w e think o f Rembrandt's painting as something like a "true fiction." 6 HF: Raoul Coutard, the cameraman who sho t all of Passion except th e opening sk y shots, offers yet another respons e to Laszlo' s query. What interests hi m abou t th e recreate d Nightwatch i s what interest s Jerzy: the light . However , wherea s Jerz y i s passionately unhapp y wit h th e way i n whic h th e tablea u vivan t ha s bee n illuminated , Coutar d i s entirely satisfied . The reconstitute d Nightwatch i s sufficient becaus e i t allows u s to answe r th e questio n whic h preoccupie d painter s fro m Rembrandt t o th e Impressionists , the question: "Where doe s the ligh t come from?" "Th e lighting' s right, " h e insists, "from lef t to right , a bit from the top, a bit from behind. "

KS: Since Coutard is not, strictly speaking, a character in the diegesis, but rathe r on e o f the enunciator s o f the large r film, hi s words carr y considerable weight. There is a second enunciatory intrusion late r in Passion, an d on e which agai n overtl y overrules Jerzy on th e topi c of light. I n th e middl e o f the Goy a scene , Jerzy yells "stop, " and com plains once more abou t th e way it has been lit . Passion nevertheless not onl y continues its rapturous exploratio n o f three recreated Goy a paintings afte r thi s directoria l intervention , bu t show s the diegeti c camera doing so as well. It thereby affirms wha t Jerzy rejects. HF: I have the sense that Jerzy and Coutar d ar e not talking abou t th e same thing when they refer to the light in the Rembrandt scene. When Jerzy complains about the light , h e clearly means that provide d b y the studio lamps . Bu t whe n Coutar d praise s th e light , h e seem s t o attribute it to the sun. He says that the reconstructed Rembrand t is not a Nightwatch, but rathe r a Daywatch.

KS: Jerzy and Coutar d see m t o be talking a t cross-purpose s becaus e Jerzy is referring t o the ligh t i n his film, bu t Coutar d t o the ligh t i n

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Godard's film. And , althoug h ther e ar e point s o f commonalit y between th e two , there ar e also striking differences. Wherea s Jerzy's film consist s only of recreated masterpieces, Godard always cross-cuts between th e tableau x vivants an d th e fram e narrative . He also inter sperses the studi o scene s with scene s from th e village. There i s as a result a constant derivatio n o f natural ligh t fro m artificia l light , an d artificial ligh t fro m natura l light . The light i n on e scen e could thu s be said to come from th e one before. It is in this sense that the reconstructed Nightwatch i s really a Daywatch; it i s illuminated wit h th e sun of the sky sequence. HF: It seems that for Passion the light i s "right" whe n i t is transferred in this wa y fro m elsewhere . W e coul d indee d g o further . Th e ligh t i s "right" whe n i t derives from wha t i t i s habitually oppose d to—in thi s case, the studio ligh t from th e sun, the artificia l from th e natural . The light i n Jerzy's film i s "wrong," o n th e othe r hand , because i t i s hermetic, closed in upon itself .

KS: The subtitle of Jerzy's film coul d be A la recherche de la lumiere perdue; not the mother, but rather light, is his impossible lost object. He seeks to recover i n th e studi o th e illuminatio n whic h wa s availabl e to Rembrandt an d E l Greco, and will accept n o substitutes . Godard , on th e othe r hand , embrace s th e imperativ e t o displace . He recognizes that th e light which ha s been los t can never be found agai n i n the sam e location , no r i n th e sam e form . Indeed , h e understand s that i t is not situate d punctually in any location o r form, bu t onl y in transferal an d transformation . HF: Still, i t i s clear that th e distinctio n betwee n th e two film s i s never absolute. The cinematic reconstitutio n o f masterpiece s i s as much th e project o f Godard' s Passion as it i s of Jerzy's. Indeed, the reconstructe d paintings ofte n see m to belon g mor e to Godard' s than t o Jerzy' s film. As if to la y claim to the m symbolically , Godar d alway s shows u s these paintings throug h hi s own camera , not Jerzy's . Godard an d Jerzy are also in search of the same thing: what migh t b e called the "sublime. "

KS: Yes , bu t her e agai n w e fin d differenc e a s wel l a s similarity . Whereas Jerzy looks for the sublime in the light of Rembrandt, Goya , and E l Greco, which h e attempt s t o recreate , Godar d know s tha t i t isn't "in" things, even when they are as immaterial as light. Rather, it is "in" relationships. We access the sublim e a t those moments whe n

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the orderin g principl e o f th e binar y i s defeated : whe n contrarie s meet, either in time or space. HF: At the end of the Rembrandt scene, Jerzy announces that he's quitting. A rapid traveling shot to the left across a stand of trees dramatizes this "runnin g away. " A t first, the onl y illuminatio n i n this sho t i s provided b y the few ray s of ligh t which ca n penetrate the branches of the trees. Then the camera break s into the open, revealing a lake and th e sun. Isabell e begin s to spea k to Jerz y in voice-over; sh e also ha s work difficulties, and has just lost her job at the factory. She tells Jerzy that a meeting ha s been planned for that evenin g to discus s problems at the factory, an d ask s him t o come . Jerzy talks about hi s problems a s well, but les s to Isabell e than to himself . Although he' s a Pole in the time o f Solidarity, h e doesn't seem to believ e in collective action.

KS: This exchange, which continue s ove r a shot o f Isabell e walkin g beside Jerzy's car , an d on e o f hi m driving , mark s th e beginnin g o f Passion's experiments wit h asynchronicity . Durin g thes e tw o shots , there i s agai n n o "marriage " o f voic e an d image . Bu t Jerz y an d Isabelle's voice s def y th e categorie s o f voice-ove r an d voice-off . Godard create s a new vocal categor y with thes e voices, what migh t be called the "voic e between." In the process, he suggests that voices do no t spea k "from " o r "above " bodies, bu t i n th e interva l whic h separates them . Althoug h w e are accustomed t o thinkin g o f speec h as something highl y individua l an d locatable , i t i s in fac t intersub jective, traveling between a speaker and a listener. HF: I n silen t films , ther e i s always a disjuncture betwee n th e move ments of a character's lips , and the accompanying intertitles . This prevents u s from imaginin g tha t meanin g eithe r preexist s it s articulation, or i s identical with it . Godard does much the same thing here ; he separates the enunciation from what i s enounced, and so allows us to see that meanin g mus t b e produced—that i t entails work. A s the conver sation betwee n Jerz y an d Isabell e shoul d hel p u s t o understand , "work" i s a privileged categor y i n Passion, an d one which wil l als o be subjected to a reconceptualization.

KS: Th e experimentatio n wit h soun d continue s i n th e scen e i n which Isabell e an d he r colleague s discus s difficulties a t the factory , and devis e a collective strateg y fo r responding . Sometime s Isabelle' s

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voice i s aligne d wit h he r lips , bu t fo r th e mos t par t ther e i s n o attempt t o assig n word s t o thei r speaker . Rather , the y floa t onc e again "between " al l o f thos e present . Bu t i n thi s scen e "between ness" assumes a new value. The difficulties whic h on e characte r ha s at the factor y ar e not specifi c t o hi m o r her; rather , the y ar e almos t always generalizable t o everyon e present , o r eve n t o "workers, " i n some mor e globa l sense . Godard consequentl y film s th e conversa tion i n a way whic h discourage s u s fro m thinkin g o f problem s a s "private property." Here , there i s no ownership , but rathe r a socialism of speech . HF: Socialism i s also thematized i n this scene through quotation . Early in the meeting , everyone starts quoting line s or titles which doubl e as revolutionary slogans . Th e grandfathe r inadvertentl y initiate s thi s group projec t wit h hi s "phrase" : "th e poo r ar e usually right. " Other s provide "Th e Commun e an d the Military, " "Th e Words Which Shoo k the World," "Poverty , th e Nation' s Wealth. " I n an unheroi c momen t like the present , where the worker ha s nothing t o gai n or to los e but a job, suddenly the entire history of the socialist movement i s once again conjured forth.

KS: In a n earlie r historica l period , suc h a conversation woul d hav e been accompanie d b y th e International, bu t i t i s no w onl y i n a Bertolucci fil m tha t thi s son g can b e played withou t irony . Godar d accompanies thi s conversatio n wit h a very different piec e o f music , one less militant than devotional : Mozart's Requiem. In other ways as well, this scen e suggests that th e trul y revolutionar y aestheti c i s not social realist, but sublime , on e which produce s th e sacra l out o f th e everyday. Like the Rembrand t scene , this scene is once again noctur nal—not a "Nightwatch, " bu t a "Nigh t o f th e Proletariat, " a s th e first o f the slogan s suggests. HF: Isabelle lift s a hanging lam p when talkin g t o he r grandfather, an d we register the subsequent swaying of the lamp in the play of light and shadows o n he r face. Later , she sits i n front o f a pole lamp , which sil houettes he r form . Nea r th e en d o f th e scene , sh e draw s th e lam p closer t o herself , an d lower s th e bulb , first illuminatin g he r face an d then extinguishin g it . O n eac h of these occasions, Isabelle' s profil e o r features ar e sharply delineated . Fo r some time now , Godard ha s been developing a n art of cinemati c portraiture , aki n to tha t develope d fo r

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painting b y a painter lik e Vermeer. I n addition t o being a little essay addressing th e ar t schoo l question , "Wher e doe s th e ligh t com e from?" this scene is part of that project. 7 KS: It's interesting that Passion should deploy the art of portraiture in a scene devoted t o the dramatizatio n o f a political meeting. Vermeer portraits usuall y offe r glimpse s o f privat e life . Bu t the n thi s scen e belies the opposition between "public " and "private. " The meeting it dramatizes take s place in th e intimac y o f Isabelle' s home, an d mus t be delayed until he r grandfather ha s finished hi s dinner . HF: And this private roo m opens onto the world. The theme of worker revolt i s inscribed int o the film no t merely throug h thi s and assorted other scene s which dramatiz e conflic t betwee n Miche l an d his workers, but also by various reference s to Poland and the Solidarity move ment. Jerzy is always assumed to be automatically o n the side of the workers, simply becaus e he is a Pole. And although he generally disappoints suc h expectations, h e does in fact inadvertentl y introduc e the notion o f an international proletaria t int o the film, an d so provides a displaced inscriptio n o f that revolutionar y son g which , a s you suggested, it is no longer possibl e to play. Manuelle ask s jerzy if Poland is beautiful, and he responds: "It's beautiful everywhere. " KS: The workers' scene would thu s finally see m to signify somethin g like "private publicness," or "intimat e sociality. " HF: Passion cuts from the shot of Isabelle adjusting the standard lam p in he r livin g roo m t o a high-voltag e lam p i n Jerzy' s studio , an d Mozart's Requiem continues uninterruptedl y fro m th e one scene int o the next . Again, terms which ar e generally assume d to be discrepant are shown to be in a generative relationship to each other: factory production an d artistic creation . Three reconstitute d Goy a painting s are being simultaneousl y filmed : The Nude Maja (circa 1800) , The Parasol (\777), and Madrid, 3rd May, 1808: Executions at the Mountain of Prince Pius (1814). In this scene, Passion propose s something lik e "Th e World of Goya." KS: Like the Rembrand t scene , th e Goy a scen e pose s th e question : "What i s cinema? " An d onc e again , th e answe r i s somethin g lik e "moving pictures. " Goya' s Parasol, on e o f th e painting s whic h thi s

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scene animates, signifie s "immobility. " A woman sit s tranquilly o n the ground , wit h a dog o n he r lap . A servant hold s a parasol, wit h which h e protects her fro m th e sun . Jerzy's film convert s this passivity into activity ; i t depict s th e woma n strollin g alon e with he r do g and parasol . In this scene , we are also reminded onc e again o f othe r kinds o f cinemati c movement . Th e camer a tilt s dow n fro m th e close-up o f th e studi o lam p t o figure s fro m Goya' s Madrid, 3rd May, 1808. Behin d them, Jerzy's camera tracks to the right . HF: And a s with th e Nightwatch, th e camer a show s u s the reconsti tuted Goy a image s from perspective s unavailabl e to th e spectators o f the originals , makin g thei r two-dimensiona l inhabitant s three-dimen sional. We enter the worl d o f Goya , rathe r tha n remainin g a t a fixed distance from it . Fo r Godard, as for Bel a Balazs , cinema differ s fro m other art forms in offering "th e changing distance , the detail taken out of the whole, the close-up, the changing angle." 8

KS: Although we are at times virtually "inside" the images themselves, they remai n mysteriou s an d elusive . Ever y ne w sho t reveal s ne w aspects of the reconstituted paintings , but close s off previou s aspects. We never have the sense that we are grasping them i n their "totality. " Consequently, although we come "closer" to them than we are able to come to the originals, they retain their "distance" or "aura." 9 The only image which provides a coherent tableau, the group portrait at the end of this scene reconstructing Goya' s The Family of Charles IV (1800) , is by contras t altogethe r quotidian , despit e th e fac t tha t th e camer a shows it to us first in long shot, and then in extreme long shot. HF: There i s another wa y i n which th e recreate d Goy a painting s resis t visual mastery : they canno t b e circumscribed. With th e exceptio n o f The Family of Charles IV, ther e i s no implie d frame aroun d th e image s Jerzy films. Rather , the painting s interpenetrate . The woman wit h th e parasol walks by the nude Maja and the soldiers aim their guns as if she were a nineteenth-century flaneuse, an d they were some of the sight s on which he r eyes came to res t during a n afternoon strol l (figure 34) .

KS: As if to underscore this point, Passion exploits another of cinema's representational possibilities : it show s us most o f this scen e almos t entirely from th e mobil e point o f view of the woman wit h th e para sol. In s o doing, i t codes looking as feminine, eve n in th e cas e of a n

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Fig. 34

image like The Nude Maja, which implie s a male spectator . Here , fo r the first time, sexual difference overtl y figures as one of the antithese s to whose reconfiguration Passion is devoted. By proposing somethin g like the oxymoronic rubric " A Woman Looks/ ' this scene undoes th e conventional oppositio n of male look to female spectacle. 10 HF: At the en d o f th e Goy a sequence, Jerzy tells Sophi e to orde r th e crew to stop filming. She objects that he' s the boss. He responds: T m nothing, Sophie , nothing a t all. I do absolutely nothing . . .. I observe, transform, transfer , I smoot h th e roug h edges—that' s all. " Jerz y thereby distance s himsel f emphaticall y fro m tha t kin d o f artisti c pro duction whic h i s assumed to entai l a n ex nihilo creation . He suggests that h e does no t s o much generat e ne w image s a s give preexistin g images a new form.11

KS: Sophie is not conten t with this formulation, bu t not because sh e clings t o a more romanti c notio n o f artisti c creation . Fo r her , th e

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filmmaker i s subject t o certain rules, which h e or she is not a t liberty to break. Jerzy retorts that ther e are no rules in cinema . HF: Doe s Jerz y reall y believ e this , o r doe s h e just no t wan t t o hea r about rules from an officious assistant? Godard himself doesn't seem to be beyond rules : the framing o f hi s images accords with classica l rules about harmon y an d tension. He knows that withou t them , there ca n be no "just" sound s or images.

KS: I don't think that Godard is any more interested in rules than Jerzy is. The only kind o f art which interest s the directo r o f Passion is one which puts into motion what was hitherto stationary , whether tha t is conceptual (ou r binary categories), the human form , o r point o f view. This is by very definition filmi c production. I n the cinema, character s move, the camera moves, and the film strip moves through the gate of the projector . Ever y image but th e firs t coul d als o be sai d to "com e from," an d ever y image but th e las t to "g o toward," another . Passion not only provides an extended interrogation of what it means to represent somethin g filmically , rathe r tha n wit h canva s and paint , bu t i t also uses cinema as a metaphor fo r what might be called "passage," or simply "transferral. " It' s less interested i n arriva l than embarkage ; i n destination tha n i n travel. Sophie, on th e other hand, wit h he r rules, might be said to stand for destination an d stasis: for the "end. " HF: So far, we hav e discussed shots an d scene s which ar e sublime i n one wa y o r another . However , mos t o f th e scene s i n th e villag e ar e devoid o f mystery . They sho w u s epiphenomenal building s fro m th e late industria l period , building s intende d t o las t onl y a few years : a parking lot , a modern hotel , a gas station. These buildings d o no t display themselves t o th e publi c eye , or form a n architectural ensemble ; they ar e no t strivin g for th e mytholog y o f a city. There ar e of cours e ways o f photographin g a ga s statio n o r a parkin g lo t s o tha t i t becomes symboli c i n some other sense , but Godar d doesn' t tr y t o d o this. Rather , h e films the scenes in the village i n a banal way, presumably s o a s t o stres s th e "everydayness " ou t o f whic h th e sublim e emerges. Perhap s he also means to sugges t once again that ar t i n the late twentieth centur y i s only possibl e when i t can reproduc e a preexisting tex t i n a ne w form , whethe r tha t b e Mozart' s Requiem o r a n Ingres painting . Bu t these building s no t onl y hav e n o interes t i n th e future, they hav e also forgotten that there was a past.

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KS: Althoug h th e scene s immediatel y followin g th e Rembrand t scene are examples o f precisely this diminishe d affect , the y serv e a n important themati c function . Thes e scene s dramatiz e a libidina l configuration whic h i s at the hear t o f the film , an d which the y giv e us in a reversible form . I n one , Sophi e finds Patrick , he r boyfriend , kissing Magali, one of the stand-ins, in his car. In another, Han a eat s breakfast i n he r hote l wit h he r husband , Michel , wh o complain s about he r interes t i n Jerzy . I n th e first , a ma n i s "between " tw o women, an d in the second a woman i s "between" two men . HF: Another scen e in the hote l articulate s th e secon d o f these trope s compositionally a s well as verbally: Hana stands behind the bar, talking with Jerzy , who sit s on the othe r sid e to th e right . Miche l enter s from the left , behin d the bar . Han a is now literall y a s well as metaphorically in the middle.

KS: But i t i s of cours e th e relationshi p betwee n Jerzy, Isabelle , an d Hana which mos t dramaticall y represent s Passion's primary libidina l paradigm. An d Jerzy is not onl y "between " thos e tw o women, bu t also "between " th e studi o an d th e factory , an d th e studi o an d th e hotel.12 HF: The pinbal l conversatio n betwee n Magali , Sophie , an d Patric k introduces anothe r crucia l antithesis. Sophie complains that he r job a t the factory isn' t pleasant . Patric k respond s "Lov e i s one thing, work is another," a s if to suggest that only the former i s supposed to b e enjoyable. As usual, this oppositio n i s no soone r introduce d tha n erased . Shortly after their conversatio n a t the bar , Jerzy and Han a meet again, outside th e hotel . Jerzy wants t o continu e wit h thei r "work. " Han a responds: "Th e work yo u deman d o f m e i s too clos e to love. " And a few moment s later , Jerzy asserts the impossibilit y o f distinguishin g i n any way betwee n th e terms Han a ha s brought together . Calle d awa y from hi s work with Han a to the telephone, he says to hi s producer: "T o love, to work, to work, to lov e . . . show me the difference."

KS: The wor k whic h Jerzy an d Han a perfor m i n hi s hote l roo m i s unlike that dramatize d i n the studi o scenes . It involves video rathe r than film— a smal l television monito r rathe r tha n th e "mos t expen sive studi o i n Europe. " I t i s privat e rathe r tha n public . An d i t involves lookin g a t image s rathe r tha n producin g them . Jerzy an d

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Fig. 35

Hana view a videotape of Hana listening to and pretending to sing to a recording of Mozart's Mass in UT Minor (figure 35). HF: Interestingly, when Jerzy first proposes to Han a that they work, she says that sh e doesn't want to , becaus e it' s borin g gettin g undressed . We assume then that the work h e wants he r to perfor m i s comparable to tha t o f th e actresse s i n som e o f th e studi o scenes—bein g nud e before a camera. However , whe n w e se e Han a an d Jerz y actually a t work, sh e i s full y dressed . W e realiz e the n tha t "t o undress " i s a metaphor for another kin d of exposure—self-scrutiny, o r even self-criticism. Perhaps Jerzy and Hana expend mor e effort lookin g at the video than the y di d makin g it . That activit y ha s always seeme d t o m e th e biggest part of filmmaking.

KS: This scen e als o need s t o b e rea d i n relatio n t o Passion's larger experimentation wit h asynchronicity . I n it, Godar d effect s a "false " synchronization; h e put s togethe r Hana' s bod y wit h anothe r woman's voice . But this "puttin g together " i s not a t th e servic e of coherence; rather, Passion attempts thereby to make it possible for u s

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to "see" the Mozart—to "see " the auditory or invisible.13 The transfer between th e sense s of sigh t an d hearin g represents a crucial compo nent o f the Godardia n sublime , an d i s once again a potentiality spe cific t o cinema . However , i t ca n onl y be effected onc e th e nor m o f synchronization ha s been abolished—onc e th e heterogeneity o f seeing and hearin g ha s been established . Unti l then , w e are under th e illusion that the relation between seeing and hearing is purely supplemental. HF: Hana's performance , lik e Jerzy's film, involve s quotatio n o r repro duction. As is always the case, Schygulla imitate s pose s from Germa n cinema of the 1940 s and 1950s. She conjures forth suffering faces from earlier films a s the visual correlative o f th e Mozar t mass . Once again, we see that artistic productio n i s only possibl e when i t is based upon a prior textua l mode l — here no t onl y a sacral piec e of music , bu t th e exalted rendition s o f sufferin g wome n produce d b y actresse s lik e Magda Schneide r and Paula Wessely.

KS: At the sam e time , paradoxically , acces s to th e sublim e dimen sions of these prior text s is dependent upo n a certain los s of under standing. When , nea r th e en d o f th e video scene , Han a complain s that sh e doesn't kno w ho w Jerzy wants he r t o dramatiz e th e music , he responds: "Profit fro m that . I f the sentenc e isn't formed , yo u ca n begin t o speak , begi n t o live . . . . Perhaps i t isn' t ver y helpfu l t o understand [comprendre]; it' s enough t o take [prendre]." T o reproduce something wit h "understanding " i s to b e guide d b y it s syste m o f intelligibility—to pla y by its conventions or rules. It is to respect th e boundaries pu t i n plac e by that text' s structurin g antitheses , an d it s system of representation. "Taking, " on the other hand, implies doing a certai n violenc e t o th e text : allowin g it s contraries t o interpene trate, or to emerge out of each other . HF: There i s yet anothe r feature o f this scene which set s it apar t fro m the studio scenes. The way Han a is shot in Jerzy's hotel room , both o n video an d within th e large r film frame, is in sharp contrast to th e way in which the female stand-ins are depicted i n the studio scenes. Rather than shootin g he r from behind , as Godard usuall y shoots those othe r women, h e gives her to u s in an individuating close-up .

KS: In addition , Han a function s no t simpl y a s spectacle, but als o as spectator. And Jerzy, too, appears o n th e televisio n monitor ; fo r th e

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first tim e th e film' s mos t importan t mal e spectato r i s also a diegetic spectacle. As with the terms "work" and "love, " "male" and "female " are thus show n t o be "th e same. " For the secon d time , Godar d use s analogy rathe r tha n oxymoro n o r transferral a s the mechanis m fo r dismantling opposition . Bu t there i s nothing sublim e about similar ity; it is not the point where contraries meet, but the site of their disappearance. Passion will later decisively renounce this trope. HF: The hotel scene forms a unit with tw o others—th e on e beginnin g when Isabell e and two o f he r co-worker s attemp t t o preven t Miche l from drivin g int o th e factory driveway , an d the on e i n which Passion provides it s voluptuou s recreatio n o f Ingres ' Small Bather (I826) . Godard cut s bac k and forth betwee n factory, hotel , and studio, onc e again stressing the necessit y of conceptualizing thes e locations i n relation to each other. H e also puts figures whom we associate with on e of them i n another—Jerzy i n Hana's hotel, and Sophie in Michel's factory. The factory scene provides a little allegory about class warfare. Isabelle, the representativ e o f "Labor, " struggle s wit h Miche l an d the police , who stand for "Capital. "

KS: At th e en d o f th e factor y scene , Isabell e ask s Sophie , wh o i s there lookin g fo r mor e stand-ins , wh y fil m an d televisio n neve r show people a t work. When Sophi e respond s tha t it' s forbidde n t o shoot i n factories, Isabell e says: "So I was right. . . work is like pleasure. I t ha s th e sam e gesture s a s love . No t necessaril y th e sam e speed, but th e sam e gestures." As she speaks, Passion cuts to the stu dio scene . Thi s scen e onc e agai n undoe s th e oppositio n betwee n work an d love—betwee n wha t i s generally assume d t o b e utilitar ian, an d o n th e side of th e forwar d marc h o f civilization , an d tha t which i s usually regarde d a s nonutilitarian, an d o n th e sid e o f a n asocial pleasure. 14 HF: Godard doe s so by dramatically intensifyin g th e eroti c charg e o f the Ingres ' painting , and thereby o f th e ter m "work. " I n the origina l painting, a woman sit s on a stool b y an outdoor pool , he r nake d back to th e spectator . He r bod y i s turned t o th e left , an d he r hea d to th e right. Sh e wears a red and white turban , and a white shee t or towel is wrapped around her left arm. Five other women bathers , some dressed and some undressed, can be seen in the distance. Godard reduce s the cast of supportin g character s t o fou r women , al l gathere d aroun d a pool o f water . Tw o o f thes e women ar e dressed i n Orienta l fashion ,

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and two ar e nude. One of th e nud e women brushe s the other' s hair . The scene is evocative of a harem, or a Turkish bath. 15

KS: Yes, within Passion, the basi s for th e analog y between lov e an d work would see m to be libido, as much a s gesture. In Freud, this similarity would immediatel y giv e way once agai n t o antithesis , sinc e work represent s a "cool " o r sublimate d for m o f Eros , an d lov e a "hot" o r unsublimated form. 16 Bu t Passion resists thi s distinction . There is nothing sublimate d abou t work on the se t of Jerzy's film . HF: I am disappointed tha t Godar d shows the similarity betwee n wor k and th e gesture s o f lov e b y focusin g o n th e reconstructe d Ingres , rather tha n o n the factory. It' s a pity tha t h e can't prov e hi s point b y showing machin e work rathe r tha n nake d women. All the ol d preju dices agains t filming insid e industria l space s are confirmed, even as they are deplored.

KS: It may be that Godard does not do much in this scene to alter our prejudices agains t industria l spaces . However, a s will become clea r when w e have accounte d fo r al l the change s t o whic h h e subject s Small Bather, h e really does sho w us more tha n "nake d women. " I n addition t o the modification s yo u hav e already mentioned, Godar d makes the bather's turban white, and her towel red. He also alters her sitting position . Finally , h e show s us not onl y th e imaginar y scen e from whic h the painting might be said to derive, but also the bather's journey from scen e to painting. She walks toward the prepared stool , is divested o f a robe, ceremoniall y seat s herself, an d hold s ou t he r arm for the draped towel (figure 36) . Once again, a woman moves. HF: Th e nex t tim e w e se e Jerz y i n th e fil m studio , h e stil l seem s engrossed i n thinking abou t sound/imag e relationships . H e arranges for a nude stand-in to "d o a star" i n the poo l o f water earlie r use d for the Ingre s scene, and befor e lookin g a t he r h e orders a sound technician to pla y another excerp t from Mozart' s Requiem. As soon as he has contemplated th e gir l floatin g i n the pool , h e commands th e soun d technician t o tur n of f th e music , makin g clea r that the Requiem i s that through whic h h e attempts t o "hear " wha t h e would otherwis e onl y see. Retroactively, we understan d tha t just as the video scene makes it possible for u s to "see " music , s o the scenes inside Jerzy's studio hel p us to "hear " Rembrandt , Goya, and Ingres.

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Fig. 3 6

KS: When Laszl o asks Jerzy what he' s looking at , Jerzy responds no t "a nude girl/ ' but rathe r "th e Universa l Wound. " I t is very risky t o bring together th e term s "wound " an d "femal e body " in thi s way in a film dedicate d to the reconceptualization o f sexual difference, eve n when i t is specified a s "Universal." Bu t Godard i s very carefu l here . As if knowing tha t seein g generally mean s believing i n cinema , h e does no t allo w u s t o visualiz e "woundedness " i n th e usua l way, 17 but maintain s i t i n it s metaphoricity . Althoug h Jerz y look s a t the stand-i n fro m th e vantag e poin t o f he r sprea d legs , th e camera itself discreetl y maintains its position on the other side of the pool. HF: After Jerz y "sees " th e Universa l Wound, Laszl o sits down besid e him. They bot h face away from th e pool , towar d a scale set of Con stantinople. The two halve s of the sky backdrop ar e open, for th e first time admitting natura l light into the studio. That light mixes imperceptibly wit h th e artificia l ligh t o f th e film studio , s o that i t i s no longe r possible to distinguis h betwee n them . Languag e does no t see m adequate to the task of designating the resulting oxymoron.

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KS: Jerzy orders a technician t o turn of f al l the studi o lights , an d t o reduce th e spac e between th e tw o parts o f th e backdrop t o a small opening. The contras t betwee n th e studi o an d th e outsid e world i s powerfully reasserted ; i t become s literall y a matte r o f blac k an d white. Through th e exchang e between Laszl o and Jerzy which the n takes place, Passion provides a new conceptua l acces s to the secon d trope through which it effects th e sublime conjuncture o f contraries: Laszlo:... I see day and night . Jerzy: Lik e the tw o women , Han a an d Isabelle . On e ope n an d one closed . . . I'm between the two, searching. Laszlo: Everyone is searching. Everyone is in between . Jerzy: That's right. I'm lik e everyone else. The notion o f "betweenness" now explicitly emerges not only as one of the primar y metaphor s o f Passion, bu t a s one o f th e mos t centra l vehicles i n th e fil m fo r reconceptualizin g th e relationshi p betwee n terms whic h ar e generall y assume d t o b e antithetical . W e hav e already see n tha t "betweenness " i s somethin g tha t characterize s both femal e an d mal e character s i n th e film , an d s o overrides th e gender distinctio n betwee n Hana , o n th e on e hand , an d Jerzy an d Patrick on the other. Passion also conceptualizes speech as something which i s ''between " a speake r an d a listener . Bu t i n thi s scene , "betweenness" is generalized beyon d th e triangula r situatio n withi n which Jerzy and Han a fin d themselves . It also becomes more than a metaphor fo r conceptualizin g linguisti c exchange . "Betweenness " now mean s somethin g lik e "th e interval " betwee n antagonisti c terms. 18 Everyone occupie s thi s position ; t o be huma n i s to resid e within th e interval . That doe s no t mea n t o mediat e betwee n con traries until the y ca n n o longe r be distinguishe d fro m on e another . Rather, i t means to have the possibility o f "comin g from " th e black , and "goin g toward" the white. Unlike oxymoron, which insist s upon the copresenc e o r even interpenetratio n o f opposites , an d eve n les s like similitude, which abolishe s difference altogether , "comin g from " and goin g toward" maintai n thos e terms in their separateness . However, by simple virtue of his or her "betweenness, " every human sub ject dramatizes the continuity between those distinct categories, and so definitively undoe s the binary between them . Each one of us has the capacity to journey back and forth ever y day between the celestial and the terrestrial, the sublime and the quotidian, or fiction an d documen -

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tary, which ar e placed i n a relation o f mutua l derivatio n an d conse quence. Because we are "between/' transferra l i s possible. HF: At the end of the first par t of the scene devoted to the reconstruction of Delacroix's Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (1840), in which we see crusaders walking with their half-dresse d female captives, and others ridin g on horses through the miniature street s of Constantinople, there is another inscriptio n of "betweenness." Standin g to one side of the action, but still within th e Constantinople set , Patrick reads to hi s daughter from a book: "[Delacroix ] bega n by painting warriors , then saints; from there , he passed to lovers, and then to tigers. At the end of his life he painted flowers." The evolution described by Patrick is from the sublime of war toward the everyday of flowers. Passion itsel f here effects precisel y the same transition. When Patric k completes his reading, th e camera cut s from a scene of war to a greenhouse. But Patrick and his daughter belon g neithe r to the sublime nor to the quotidian—or rather , they belong to both at the same time. KS: Delacroix's Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople is the painting with which Passion takes the greatest liberties. In the original, a group of crusader s o n horsebac k hav e pulle d u p shor t befor e fiv e abjec t townspeople: an older man, who reaches out imploringly for mercy; a woman—presumably hi s wife—wh o kneel s besid e him , clutchin g his garments, alon g with he r child ; an d a half-clothed woman , wh o bends protectivel y ove r th e lifeles s o r unconscious bod y o f anothe r woman, lyin g on he r lap . The horses ar e champing a t the bit, an d i t seems unlikely that their riders will halt for very long before thi s pitiful scene . In the background, a t a considerable distanc e from th e hil l where this tableau i s located, li e the buildings o f Constantinople . As with Ingres ' Small Bather, Passion show s somethin g lik e the "comin g to be" of Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople. HF: Here, Codard draws on countless other paintings from the history of Western art . Crusader s o n horsebac k tro t throug h th e cit y streets , abducting nake d virgins. The scene is a hyperbolization o f traditional sexual relations. In the original painting, the buildings of Constantinople lie far in the background, and are scaled accordingly. That is also the case with the concluding tableau in Passion's reconstitutio n of that painting . However, i n th e scen e leadin g u p t o it , wher e th e crusader s rid e through the city, seizing fleeing women, those buildings are situated in

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the foreground o f the image, but are as small as they would b e if they lay far in the distance. The effect i s almost comic, a denaturalization o f the gender relation s this part of the scene dramatizes.

KS: The camer a track s fro m on e o f th e buildings , an d a prostrat e female figur e o n th e ground , t o the olde r ma n wit h wif e an d child . He reaches ou t t o the crusaders , a s in Delacroix' s painting , bu t th e gesture now has a new meaning. It is no longer an appeal for pity, but a warning to the horsemen not to come closer. The crusaders halt as a platform slowl y descends from abov e in fron t o f them. I t holds Passion's version o f the group in th e lower right o f Delacroix's painting : one woman ben t ove r the other, wh o lies on he r lap. However, wha t was generative o f pity is now conduciv e o f awe. The two female fig ures have been transforme d fro m helples s victims o f male violenc e and sexua l desir e int o a spectacle o f inviolabl e beauty , on e whic h belongs mor e to heave n tha n t o earth . And on th e face s o f the cru saders can be read that emotio n whic h Luc e Irigaray suggests shoul d always predominate in relations between men and women: wonder. 19 HF: It is as if Godard has shown us not only what lies to the right of the family grouping—wha t th e frame migh t b e said to cu t off—bu t als o what lie s above: the celestial. In so doing, he introduces a n axis which does not a t all figure i n Delacroix' s painting : the vertical. He also dramatizes intercours e betwee n tw o categorie s whic h ar e initiall y opposed to each other i n Passion—the celestial and the terrestrial.

KS: Commerce between th e tw o domains happen s vi a the figur e o f woman. Th e (unseen ) transitio n fro m eart h t o heave n occur s b y means o f th e cinemati c translatio n o f Delacroix' s tw o very morta l women int o th e sublim e figure s wh o the n descen d fro m above . Thus, although Jerzy maintains tha t everybod y is "in between," tha t seems mor e dramaticall y th e cas e wit h th e femal e tha n wit h th e male subject . HF: "Betweenness" i s also coded feminine i n a subsequent scene , in which Jerzy and Laszlo talk in Jerzy's hotel room. A tape of Hana talking is shown o n the video monitor . Afte r completin g a telephone conver sation, Laszl o reports: "The y want a story." jerzy' s respons e i s to gesture toward th e imag e of Han a with th e words: "Look , she'd b e good for th e Rubens ; there ar e stories and light there. " Han a thus provide s

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the poin t o f convergence for terms which hav e seemed until no w irremediably binary .

KS: Laszlo doe s no t understan d th e significanc e o f Jerzy's remark . Instead, h e tells Jerzy to forge t Hana . Jerzy turns t o the video moni tor fo r hel p in thi s task. "I' m forgettin g you , I' m forgettin g you, " h e murmurs; "don' t forge t me. " As he speaks , he repeatedly freeze s th e image of Hana . HF: I n arrestin g th e flo w o f vide o images , )erz y perform s a n actio n which i s the revers e of what h e does on the film set : rather tha n ani mating an d bringin g withi n tim e what i s inanimate an d outside time, he immobilizes an d detemporalize s wha t i s mobile an d temporal. I n the process, he mortifies Hana , shows the skull beneath her flesh.

KS: Jerzy's experiment doesn' t hav e the desired result. We know fro m the en d o f the fil m tha t h e doesn't succee d i n forgettin g Hana . And Jerzy's death driv e will later be turned bac k upon himself . In the gas station scen e early in Passion, wher e al l of the majo r character s con verge, he says that he is searching for a knife cut. This remark remains inexplicable unti l h e "looks " at the Universa l Wound. Retroactively , we understand Jerzy to be searchin g fo r th e commo n denominato r linking him t o what i s ostensibly antithetical : woman. H e unexpectedly finds what he is looking for in the scene in the kitchen, where he talks with Manuelle, the maid. Through a slapstick comedy of errors, he i s injured wit h th e knif e whic h sh e directs jokingl y firs t agains t herself, an d the n agains t him. "Woundedness " now becomes as full y definitional o f masculinity as it is of femininity, an d so in fact univer sal. Once again, sexual difference i s erased through analogy . HF: The next scene begins in Isabelle's kitchen. Jerzy is ostensibly there to sa y goodbye t o Isabelle ; h e has decided t o abando n hi s film, an d return t o Poland . At the climacti c momen t i n this scene, he asks her if she loves to work . When sh e responds i n the affirmative , h e queries: "When you sa y that you lov e to work , doe s 't o lov e [t o work] ' com e from 'love'? " "I t doesn' t 'com e from,' " Isabell e responds , "i t 'goe s toward.'" "Well , then , Isabelle, " Jerzy urges, "let' s go. " Th e film itsel f then cut s bac k and forth fro m image s o f thei r lovemakin g t o image s from the film studio, in a cinematic realizatio n of the trope at the heart of their conversation.

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KS: Isabelle migh t b e sai d t o "g o toward" lov e twice. After sh e an d Jerzy have lef t th e kitche n downstair s fo r th e bedroom upstairs , sh e must g o downstairs agai n t o dea l firs t wit h Michel , an d the n wit h Hana. Sh e then return s t o th e bedroom . Bu t Passion doe s not sho w either ascent . HF: Instead, as Isabelle begin s t o g o t o th e bedroo m fo r th e secon d time, Passion cuts to Jerzy's studio, where a nude woman i s helped u p to a platform, before descending an d climbing agai n to a higher one. Between thes e las t two acts , the woman pause s for a moment, a s if waiting fo r th e music—Faure' s Requiem —to accompan y he r move ment an d mitigat e he r exposure . After sh e ha s reached th e secon d platform, th e camer a cut s bac k to th e kitchen , where Jerzy will soo n say: "Well , Isabelle , let' s g o [upstairs]. " Sh e thus climb s th e step s i n anticipation o f Isabelle' s ascent to th e bedroom ; in fact, she climbs for Isabelle. Yet this woman wil l subsequentl y take he r plac e i n a reconstructed version of El Greco's Assumption of the Virgin (1608-1613). The principle o f "nudity, " whic h properl y belong s t o profan e love , thu s manifests itsel f i n th e reconstitute d Assumption, no t i n th e carna l exchange between Isabell e and Jerzy.

KS: This sequenc e repeatedl y situate s element s belongin g t o th e Assumption in the scen e in Isabelle' s bedroom, an d element s belong ing to the se x scene in th e biblica l scene . For instance, Passion is at pains t o establis h Isabelle' s virginity , rathe r tha n Mary's , an d th e Immaculate Conceptio n transpire s i n he r bedroo m rathe r tha n o n the se t of Jerzy's film. I n addition , befor e sexua l intercourse, Isabell e and Jerzy both recit e the Agnus Dei, underscoring th e sacra l dimen sions of what i s about t o happen (figur e 37) . Carnal an d divin e lov e interpenetrate, lik e natural an d studi o ligh t i n th e poo l scene . The result is something like "sacred carnality. " HF: This represent s perhap s th e mos t scandalou s o f Passion's oxy morons. I t i s made mor e s o b y Jerzy' s suggestion tha t h e sodomiz e Isabel rathe r tha n vaginall y penetratin g her , s o tha t ther e b e "n o trace"—by hi s proposal, that is , to effec t the Immaculat e Conceptio n in the "dirtiest " possibl e way.

KS: This suggestion woul d als o seem a further ste p in th e erasur e of the term s "male " and "female. " Th e anus i s what ma n an d woma n

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Fig. 37

have in common , th e corporea l sit e at which antithesi s give s way to similitude. I t could eve n be calle d th e "Universa l Wound." 20 How ever, a moment afte r Jerzy makes his proposal, somethin g extraordi nary happens . Godar d decisivel y repudiate s analog y a s a trope fo r undoing th e oppositio n "male/female/ ' an d insist s upon th e speci ficity o f the femal e body . The camera cut s back to The Assumption of the Virgin a s Jerzy says, off-screen, "No , it doesn' t work . It' s not th e right passage. I have to keep searching for the opening. " HF: Perhaps the search must be continued becaus e sexual difference is in excess of an y one opposition. Identifyin g a particular aspec t as that which link s ma n t o woma n threaten s t o blin d u s to th e antinomie s which continue to structure our thinking a t other points .

KS: Or perhap s Godar d doe s no t finall y wan t t o dismantl e gende r entirely. It would see m that onc e again his project i s the debinariza tion, but not the abolition, of difference. I t may even be that, in order

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to undo al l of the other antithese s in Passion, Godar d must maintai n the distinctio n betwee n "male " an d "female. " W e hav e see n tha t "woman" i s the mos t privilege d sit e for th e convergenc e o f antino mies in Passion, whether the y be story and light, the celestial and th e terrestrial, or—in th e case of this scene—sacred an d profane love . HF: Apart from the addition of the nude woman, Godard doesn't effect as many visual changes in El Greco's Assumption of the Virgin as he does in Ingres' s Small Bather, o r Delacroix' s Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople. Already, the origina l ha s two feature s which ar e very ger mane to hi s project. First , the paintin g i s characterized b y an extreme elongation. Her e i s the vertical acces s which Godar d was obliged t o add to the Delacroix , and which dramatizes the straining of the terrestrial toward th e celestial . The bod y o f th e Virgin Mar y i s so extended that he r head almost touches the sun. The topic o f the paintin g i s also immediately german e to Godard' s purposes , and already implies feminine movement : Mary' s ascent to heaven . Godard i s content t o stress precisely these two features of the original i n his cinematic adaptation.

KS: Interestingly, E l Greco's Assumption of the Virgin i s described b y one art historian a s a "perpetual Assumption"; 21 the Virgin goes ever higher, never reaching her goal, much like the characters in Godard' s film. I t is also important t o kno w tha t som e scholar s believe th e El Greco painting to be an Annunciation, rathe r than a n Assumption. 22 There is thus a certain undecidabilit y i n th e origina l abou t whethe r the celestial is approaching th e terrestrial, or the terrestrial th e celestial. Passion exploits thi s ambiguit y throug h it s simultaneous refer ences to heavenly ascent, an d the Immaculate Conception . HF: Finally, the paintin g depict s tw o angel s with musica l instruments . Perhaps this suggested to Godar d the ide a that Passion should mak e it possible for u s to hea r paintings, and see sounds.

KS: A t th e en d o f th e film , Han a searche s fo r Jerz y i n a snow y meadow. Underneat h th e sno w ca n b e see n grass ; winter coexist s with summer . Thi s i s not th e onl y visua l oxymoron : a n old-fash ioned shi p with sail s and actor s in eighteenth-centur y costum e mi x anachronistically wit h a tractor, bringin g together th e pre-industria l with the industrial, and making the earth simultaneousl y a sea.

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HF: In the meadow , on e las t masterpiec e o f ar t i s reconstituted: Watteau's Pilgrimage to Cythera (1719). 23 But now the studio and the world are fully imbricated , and costumes an d prop s which wer e destined t o be filmed with artificia l ligh t are irradiated b y the sun.

KS: In th e origina l painting , a group o f lover s prepare t o depar t fo r Cythera, th e Gree k island o f love . A statue o f Aphrodite , Cythera' s presiding deity , stand s a t th e extrem e right , an d a ship wit h pin k sails a t th e extrem e left . Bu t th e idylli c landscap e i n whic h th e human figure s ar e situated , an d thei r obsessiv e heterosexua l cou pling, suggest that the y have already arrived at their destination. 24 HF: In hi s reconstitution o f Pilgrimage to Cythera, Godard retain s onl y the ship, whose sails he shades red, and some of the human figures. He rearranges man y of these figures into les s conventional groupings , and he gives pride of place to the solitary figure of Hana, whom h e adds to the picture.

KS: Hana run s throug h th e meado w lookin g fo r Jerzy, makin g th e larger scene unambiguously on e of quest an d unsatisfie d desire . Like the fldneuse in the Goya sequence, whose umbrella she seems to have borrowed, Hana takes in the view along the way. Again, mobility and the look are coded feminine . HF: Soon, there will b e a literal embarkage : three o f th e lover s i n th e film will depart for their islan d of love : Poland. Once, the inhabitants of that country dream t of going to America. Now onl y Laszl o wants to g o to the lan d of Sternberg light . Fo r the other centra l characters, Poland has become the new America. Manuella an d Jerzy will travel there on a magic carpet, or perhaps in the ship with sails, like the original Pilgrims . Hana and Isabelle adopt a more conventional mean s of transportation— Isabelle's car. But they travel together, i n acknowledgement o f what is "between" them.

KS: Movement i s the dominan t metapho r o f th e fina l scene s o f th e film. I n addition t o the ship, and th e running figur e o f Hana, we see two cars, and a plane, al l in motion . An d in a n importan t reminde r of what makes cinema the textual form mos t suited to this late twentieth-century sublime , th e camer a i s also hyperbolically mobile . I n

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the Assumption scene, it repeatedly cranes up and down the groupin g of Virgi n an d angels , providin g a formal inscriptio n o f th e doubl e meaning implici t i n th e original . An d i n th e meado w scene , th e camera constantl y track s vertically, firs t t o the left , an d the n t o th e right. Once again Godard underscores the "trans " implicit in his textual transformation . HF: Although man y miracle s are enacted i n the final moment s o f Passion, they occu r i n th e mids t o f th e ordinary . Apar t fro m th e magi c meadow, al l we see in the las t scenes of the film ar e an inconspicuou s airport, a n ordinary countr y road , and a car with chains . But no w w e understand tha t thi s quotidia n landscap e itsel f lead s to heaven . Perhaps Poland will b e the site of the next Annunciation.

eight The Same, Yet Other New Wave/Nouvelle vague (1990)

KS: Most of New Wave (1990) takes place on a large country estate facing Lak e Geneva. I t is owned b y Elen a Torlat o Favrin i (Domizian a Giordana), a wealthy Italia n industrialist . He r love r (Alai n Delon) , who goe s under th e nam e Roge r Lennox in th e first hal f o f the film , and Richard Lennox in the second, lives on the estate with her. Elena and Lenno x ar e not s o much "characters, " in th e usua l sens e of th e word, a s archetypes; the y represen t th e heterosexua l coupl e a t th e end o f th e twentiet h century . Thi s coupl e i s still define d throug h dominance an d submission . However , th e role s o f "man " an d "woman" n o longe r see m fixed. Th e one who dominate s i n th e firs t half o f the film late r submits, and New Wave ends on a note of undecidability with respect to the question o f power. HF: New Wave refer s severa l times t o Raymon d Chandler' s The Long Goodbye, a novel about a man who i s assumed to hav e been killed during th e war , bu t wh o late r reappear s wit h a differen t face . I t als o includes a character name d "Deli a Street, " i n homag e to the stories of E. S. Gardner. These stories ar e full o f peopl e who ar e believe d t o b e dead, but who liv e on in a different guise . Pulp novels in which peopl e switch thei r identitie s ar e always ontologica l projects ; th e detectiv e 197

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asking "Is A really A, or B?" is a mask for the philosophical question: "Is a human bein g reall y hi m o r herself? " As GodarcTs allusions to Chandler an d Gardne r hel p u s to see , this questio n i s also at the hear t o f New Wave.

KS: The film i s divided into two parts, each culminating in a boating scene on Lak e Geneva. In the firs t o f these, Elen a catapult s Lenno x into the water, and ignores his subsequent appeals for help. In the second, Lenno x knocks Elena into the water, and eventuall y rescues her. Making thi s a recurring serie s i s an earlie r episode , i n whic h Elen a saves Roger after a n automobil e accident . But this is only one of th e forms repetitio n assume s in New Wave. Virtually every line is a quotation, fro m source s as diverse as Dante, Proust, Chandler , Schiller , d e Rougemont, Marx , Hemingway, Lacan , and Rimbaud. 1 Many of these lines are spoken mor e than once , sometimes by the sam e and some times by different characters . Certain images are also reprised. Finally, the sam e tw o piece s o f music—Din o Saluzzi' s Andina-Winter an d David Darling' s Journal October/Far Away Lights—are playe d a t th e beginning an d a t th e end , an d man y othe r scene s ar e place d i n a metaphoric relation to each other through musical echoes. HF: Godard once said that we should take cinema where it isn't. 2 With New Wave, h e does just that. I t i s a "new wave, " o r fresh beginning . Although th e film deploy s modernis t strategie s lik e quotation, temporal discontinuity, an d repetition , which ar e familiar t o u s from man y earlier Godar d films, it ha s strict rules . Indeed, it i s almost mathemati cal. At the same time, New Wave has the grace and harmony which we associate wit h a n earlie r perio d o f representation . It s depictio n o f nature recall s the great landscap e painters. It is thus no t so easy to say what the film "is. " Perhaps it will b e fifty years before we have the lan guage to do so.

KS: New Wave begins wit h word s whic h consig n wha t follow s t o memory. A disembodied mal e voice, which we will later recognize as that of Lennox, says to the accompaniment o f Dino Saluzzi's meditative Adina-Winter: "Bu t I wanted thi s t o b e a narrative . I still do . Nothing from outsid e to distract memory. I barely hear, from tim e to time, th e earth' s sof t moan , on e rippl e breakin g th e surface . I am content wit h th e shad e o f a singl e poplar , tal l behin d m e i n it s mourning. "3 At first, w e see nothing but white credits against a black

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screen. Bu t after Lenno x ha s decisivel y banishe d th e "outside, " i n favor o f recollection , Godar d paradoxicall y show s us a n imag e o f a park in summer , wit h a luxuriant an d mos t unpoplar-like tre e fillin g most of the frame, an d two blue horses in the background . HF: The next two image s are also suggestive more of an outer than and inner scene. In the first, an outstretched han d is framed, palm upward, against the gree n o f a meadow. Another han d enter s the frame, an d seemingly place s something i n it . This shot i s followed b y a stationary shot of a pool of water in a green field, surrounded b y rushes waving i n the wind. A dog barks off-screen, and thunder menaces .

KS: These image s hav e a n unusuall y intens e sensor y appeal , bot h visual an d acoustic . But because they ar e at the sam e time placed s o emphatically unde r th e sig n o f memory , the y troubl e th e usua l oppositions between "interior " and "exterior. " The film suggest s tha t the oute r worl d manifest s itsel f t o us most profoundl y fro m within , via recollection. As we subsequently learn , th e issue of memory i s at the heart o f New Wave. HF: Whatever the status of the landscape, it seems more central to New Wave than do the huma n figures. It is as if, i n making the film, Godar d was attempting t o answe r the question: "Ho w doe s this plac e loo k a t different time s o f th e day , an d differen t season s o f th e year? " Or : "What possibilitie s does it provide for a narration?

KS: It's no t finall y s o eas y t o differentiat e th e landscap e fro m th e human character s i n New Wave. At first, th e fil m seem s t o tel l tw o stories—that o f Elena an d Lennox , an d tha t o f the house , park, an d lake. Sometimes on e i s more prominent , sometime s th e other . Bu t through th e operation s o f memory , Elen a an d Lenno x com e t o occupy the landscape, in the most profound sens e of the word. 4 And then th e two stories become one. HF: Yes, but the film keep s a strange distance from it s characters. Usually film s ar e "human-centere d systems. " Here , th e cente r i s elsewhere. I t i s a s i f Elena , Lennox , an d th e other s ar e incidentall y included i n th e film becaus e they happe n t o inhabi t th e estate , lik e dwarfs, animals , an d ghost s i n a fairy tal e forest. The film attend s t o them muc h a s servants atten d t o thei r masters ; sometimes maid s o r

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butlers liste n quit e closel y t o wha t thei r employer s sa y or do, but always with a certain detachment , knowin g tha t i t does not pertain directly to them. Perhap s this metapho r occur s to me because Jules, the gardene r (Rolan d Amstutz), often seem s to represent New Wave's point of view. KS: Significantly , fo r you r reading , Jule s i s th e firs t characte r t o appear in the film. H e pulls up in his green tractor in front o f Elena's house. He is joined almos t immediately by his daughter, Cecil e (Laurence Cote) , who ride s into th e fram e o n a bicycle; his wife, Yvonn e (Violaine Barret) , who drive s u p wit h newspaper s i n a vintage Cit roen; and th e chauffeur, Laurent , who washes the window of a black Mercedes sedan. Elena herself emerge s from th e house onl y after th e servants have been assembled . She announces he r intention t o driv e alone. This first glimps e of La Contessa make s clear that sh e belongs to the new, working rich. HF: Jules is not only the first character to appear in New Wave, bu t also the first character to speak within the narrative proper . As is typical, he addresses n o one else, and seems unintereste d i n the human event s unfolding aroun d him . Jules's preoccupatio n throughou t th e film is with the garden in which he labors, and for which he attempts to find an adequate language. KS: Sometimes that language is poetic, and sometimes philosophical . Here, he i s a poet: "We'v e ha d n o tim e t o discover , lik e a lamp jus t lighted, th e chestnu t tre e i n blossom , o r a fe w splashe s o f brigh t ochre, strewn amon g the jade-green shoot s of wheat. . . " HF: Jule s i s onl y th e mos t extrem e exampl e o f a principl e whic h obtains throughout New Wave: the characters do not really attempt to communicate wit h eac h other. Eve n when one character doe s address another, h e or she is likely to be answered b y a third. Sometime s thi s displacement i s so extreme tha t i t is more words tha t spea k to other words tha n character s t o othe r characters . Ther e i s eve n a figure—Dorothy Parke r (Laure Killing) , the writer an d wife of a doctor who i s also one of Elena's business associates—whos e primar y func tion i s to recognize, and applaud others for recognizing, the texts from which the y quote , thereby further underscorin g the autonomy o f language in New Wave.

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KS: This scene adds five iro n horse s to the tw o flesh-and-blood one s we see in th e firs t shot—i n additio n t o thos e alread y mentioned , a white Mercedes sedan, an d a black Mercedes cabriolet. And, a s Elena drives of f i n th e las t o f thes e vehicles , th e camera—whic h track s right alon g a parallel meadow—disclose s anothe r iro n horse , an d one which i s a more fittin g mat e t o the romanti c horse s i n th e firs t shot: a white Cadillac. HF: Cars are almost a s important i n this scene as they ar e in Weekend. But here , rathe r tha n bein g pile d u p i n modernis t wreckage s o n th e highway, they are signifiers of luxur y an d wealth. In addition t o tellin g the story of the landscape, and dramatizing today's battle of the sexes, New Wave shows us the beauty that only mone y can buy.

KS: As the sound of Elena's car dies away at the end of this scene, it is replaced by Darling's Journal October/Far away Lights, which contin ues unti l i t i s drowne d ou t b y mor e traffi c sounds . W e se e firs t a green fiel d betwee n tw o strip s o f a country road , an d the n th e dis tant figur e o f Lenno x walking o n th e shoulde r o f on e o f th e strips . The shot give s primacy t o the fiel d ove r either th e pedestria n o r th e cars traveling in both directions . Then th e camer a track s right, unti l our access to Lennox is entirely blocked by a tree trunk. In the ensu ing sequence, h e i s forced agains t th e tree , and eventuall y knocke d to th e groun d b y speedin g cars . But eve n no w th e camer a focuse s insistently o n th e tree , throug h whos e branche s w e a t on e poin t glimpse th e su n an d sky . I s a s i f Lenno x can' t b e see n properl y because he hasn't yet found a way of being "in" this landscape. HS: A s Elen a drive s by , sh e see s Lenno x lyin g o n th e ground . Sh e brakes dramatically an d back s her car up to where h e is lying, but she does not immediately ge t out of he r car. Instead, she looks up twice at the branche s o f the tree besid e which h e lies, and the camera eagerl y follows. It stays there even after Elen a leaves her car, and asks Lennox if he is injured. Only when h e obliquely respond s does the camera begi n to tilt down to the human grouping below . The tree which i s the focus of al l thi s attentio n i s a kind o f heathe n god . O r better : New Wave treats nature as if it were animated b y the spirits of the dead.

KS: When Lenno x fails to respond t o Elena's inquiries, sh e begins t o turn away , presumably t o fin d help . What the n transpire s explain s

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Fig. 38

why th e openin g o f th e fil m give s such emblemati c importanc e t o an ope n hand . Lenno x reache s upwar d towar d Elena , an d a s h e does so she says: "How wonderful, t o give what you don't have/' 5 In a reverse shot we see his outstretched han d agains t the blue, brown, and gree n o f mountain s an d a field, an d Elen a claspin g it with he r own (figur e 38) . As their finger s touch , Lenno x responds : "Miracl e of empt y hands. " This luminous momen t stand s altogethe r outsid e the psychodynamic s o f power. Sinc e what i s given i s not owned , i t cannot indeb t o r obligate . I t i s eve n unclea r wh o ha s given , an d who ha s received , thi s pures t o f al l gifts. Lenno x suggest s that th e act has been reciprocal; the gift come s not from on e hand, bu t fro m both. HF: The image of Elena and Lennox's hands reaching out to each other is sho t a s i f i t wer e a painting . Usuall y whe n hand s ar e show n i n close-up, the background i s closed down rathe r than opened up. They are held agains t a body, or res t on a musical instrumen t o r table. Bu t Lennox's and Elena' s hands are shot as if they were huma n o r mytho logical figures in a three-dimensional space.

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KS: The title of this metaphoric painting coul d be "Hands in a Landscape/' Fo r a moment, th e stor y o f th e lover s an d th e stor y o f th e estate are one. Elena's attention t o the tree seems to have made possible this miraculous convergence . HF: New Wave here quotes no t onl y Renaissanc e portraiture , bu t als o Michelangelo's fresco of the creation in the Sistine Chapel, in which Cod reaches out to Adam. It thereby suggests that what is given in this scene is somehow life itself. But here the force of creation is human rather than divine love . With their delicate movements , Elena' s and Lennox' s hands perform a kind of ballet, in which the prince meets the princess.

KS: The next scen e takes place some months later , an d i s very differ ent i n spirit . No t onl y i s it locate d fa r fro m nature , i n th e Torlat o Favrini factory, bu t i t also shows the relationship between th e princ e and princess to be well-established, an d showin g signs of strain. This scene also introduces some new characters—the CEO , Delia, the Secretary o f State , a nameless functionary . Again , we are shown repre sentatives o f what , i n a n earlie r epoch , woul d hav e bee n a n oxymoron: the working rich. HF: The camera tracks back and forth laterally , which has the surprising effect o f strongly differentiatin g th e foreground from th e background . But the scene itself i s very much at odds with the expectations create d by this visual delineation. What happen s i n the backgroun d i s not subordinated t o wha t happen s i n the foreground, no r th e secondar y t o the primar y characters . Rather , we are given equa l acces s to what th e CEO (Jacques Dacqmine ) say s to Lennox , the CE O to th e Secretar y o f State (Raphael Delpard) , Delia , the CEO' s assistant (Laurence Guerre) , to the functionary, an d the Secretary of Stat e to Elena . There is also no real narrative progression . The characters ar e assimilated to thei r functions: the factory directo r directs , the Secretar y o f Stat e ministers, the Contessa rules. They inhabit les s a diachronic tha n a synchronic order .

KS: All of the conversations revert to two topics, which we are clearly being aske d t o conceptualiz e i n relatio n t o eac h other : lov e an d money. I t is perhaps mor e surprisin g tha t th e CE O should philoso phize abou t lov e than tha t th e economi c shoul d provid e a vocabulary fo r conceptualizin g th e erotic . Eve r sinc e th e publicatio n o f Freud's Three Essays on a Theory of Sexuality, we have become accus -

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tomed t o thinkin g o f affectiv e relation s i n th e languag e o f capital : we invest libid o in objects , thereb y increasin g thei r value but reduc ing ou r ow n psychi c reserves , sometime s t o th e poin t o f absolut e bankruptcy. 6 However , wherea s term s lik e "investment, " "value, " and "bankruptcy " ar e for Freu d onl y metaphor s fo r th e erotic , New Wave again refuse s t o subordinat e on e ter m t o another . Th e eco nomic i s not merel y metaphoric , bu t litera l a s well, and i t not onl y signifies, bu t i s signified by , the erotic . The cross-reference s whic h this scen e set s up between th e tw o domain s als o put i n place a very different psychi c "ledger " tha n tha t describe d b y Freud, a s well a s one i n shar p contras t t o the pur e gif t o f the precedin g scene . As we will se e later, libidina l investmen t i n New Wave generally implie s a greater loss for the recipient tha n fo r the donor. Bankruptcy i s therefore mor e likel y to be experienced b y the on e who receive s than b y the one who gives. HF: Nea r th e en d o f th e factor y scene , a n exchang e take s plac e between Elen a and Lenno x which consolidate s th e equation betwee n love an d life . He says: "So it' s no t m e you plac e your trus t in , but i n love." Sh e responds: "[Love ] doesn' t die , it's peopl e who die . I t goes away, when you'r e no t goo d enough. " Wherea s the acciden t scen e represents th e arriva l o f lov e as a creation, this scen e associates th e departure of lov e with death.

KS: In th e shor t scen e tha t follows , th e deat h driv e onc e agai n sur faces dramatically . Thi s scen e introduce s th e them e o f dominanc e and submissio n whic h wil l b e s o centra l t o th e res t o f New Wave. Cecile walks back and forth i n the garden behind Elena' s house with a tray o f glasses , under he r mother' s hars h supervision , he r hand s trembling convulsively . Yvonn e shouts : "Bette r tha n that ! Disci pline, Cecile ! We're poor—don' t forge t it! " Here , sadomasochis m provides a vehicle for theatricalizin g the difference betwee n master s and servants . HF: But elsewhere it provides the vehicle for denying this difference. In an almost immediatel y adjacen t scene, Raoul speaks to Lenno x abou t Elena's "destructive " nature , an d he r desir e "t o b e conquered " fo r once "in her own eyes." It seems that although sadomasochism can be deployed for the purpos e o f representin g clas s relations, i t i s itself n o respecter of socioeconomic boundaries .

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KS: Indeed, th e categor y o f "slave " will ultimatel y b e instantiate d more fully by Elena and Lennox than by Jules, Yvonne, or Cecile. New Wave undoes the opposition between masters and servant s in a number o f othe r way s as well. It is not onl y the wealthy character s wh o worry about currency exchange rates, but Cecile as well; and not onl y Dorothy Parke r who speak s in quotations , bu t als o Jules. New Wave deals with class relations within a late-capitalist framework . Al l of the traditional alibi s separating ric h fro m poo r hav e disappeared . Now , the only support fo r tha t differenc e i s wealth. The film say s as much at the en d o f the scen e with Cecil e and Yvonne. Cecile asks: "But are the ric h the n s o differen t fro m us? " an d Yvonn e respond s wit h a famous lin e from Hemingway , "Yes , they have more money. "7 HF: At the same time, words spoken several times i n voice-over b y the CEO indicate that i n the world o f New Wave class still make s a psychic difference: "On e can take as defunct the society that we inhabit. I f it is evoked i n future ages , it will appea r a s a charming instan t i n the history o f men . One will say: It wa s a time when there were still rich and poor, fortresses to tak e . . . things . . . well enoug h protecte d t o con serve their value. Luck was in the running/ "

KS: Yes, class still ha s a psychic purchas e i n New Wave, and tha t i s perhaps wha t i s being theatricalize d i n th e scen e with th e glasses . These line s fro m th e CE O explain why . In withholding wealt h an d material goods from th e poor, the rich produce in them a longing t o possess those things , an d s o the servan t clas s a s such. Becaus e it is the CE O who the n add s tha t "luc k was in th e running, " New Wave seems at first t o be suggesting that i t is the rich who profit fro m thi s arrangement. Bu t the lyricism of the images which accompan y thes e lines, a s well a s their anticipator y nostalgia , sugges t tha t the y con tain a profounder truth . It seems that, fro m th e vantage point of New Wave, it is ultimately the poor for whom luc k is in the running, sinc e they ar e the riches t i n th e onl y lastin g good : desire . Although thi s view of things i s inimical no t merel y to Marxism, but t o al l conven tional form s o f morality, i t i s fully i n keepin g with th e teaching s of psychoanalysis.8 HF: Immediately afte r th e exchang e betwee n Cecil e and Yvonne, the gardener utter s words whic h h e will repea t onc e mor e a t the en d o f the film: "Th e summe r wa s early thi s year, an d a little unruly . Every -

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thing bloome d a t once . . . " H e thereby characterize s th e seaso n i n which th e character s find themselve s i n terms o f a difference withi n repetition. Bu t it is only when h e speaks these lines a second time tha t we wil l registe r th e importanc e o f suc h a transformative repetition , because only the n will th e figures o f Elen a and Lenno x participat e i n the unruliness of the summer.

KS: After thes e tw o littl e episode s involvin g servants , New Wave focuses once again on the masters. Elena, Lennox, Raoul, and Raoul' s girlfriend ar e show n returnin g t o th e Torlat o Favrin i estate , wher e the camer a wil l hencefort h remain . A s he make s hi s wa y towar d Elena's house, Raou l says, in seemin g reference t o Lennox : "I n love, we generally fin d ou t to o lat e if a heart ha s only been loane d t o us, given to us, or sacrificed t o us." New Wave thereby indicates that love can assum e radically different forms . I t can be a gift, freel y given , i n which cas e it implies no debt on either side . But it can also be provisional, subjec t t o repossession ; s o lackin g i n reciprocit y tha t i t undoes th e on e who gives ; or a mechanism fo r imposin g indebted ness on the one who receives. HF: In this scene, Raoul's girlfriend asks, in a refrain which will often be repeated: "Wha t shal l I do?" This line , which echoe s one spoken b y Anna Karin a in Pierrot le fou, reminds u s that no t all of the rich have an active functio n i n New Wave. Some hav e n o othe r "job " tha n t o admire nature , th e architecture , th e light . New Wave cultivate s th e same indolent wonde r i n us . Time flows by , and suddenly somethin g starts happening which ha s nothing to d o with narrative . Raoul moves through th e garden , Lennox stand s i n front o f th e doo r makin g drol l faces, we see the photograph of Elena's parents, and then a shot of the interior staircase . The effect i s comparable t o a day o n which yo u si t outside and watch the clouds: after a while their patter n imperceptibl y changes, producing a completely differen t atmosphere .

KS: The immediately following scen e takes place inside the house. In the living room, Elena dances with Raoul without music while smoking a cigarette. She blows smok e aggressively i n hi s face, promptin g him t o slap her and walk away. Unruffled, sh e commands Lennox — who i s standing i n a corner o f th e room—t o pla y music . He com plies, and the y begin to dance to Werner Pirchner' s deepl y romanti c EU, Sonata of a Rough Life. The ensuin g exchang e i s filmed wit h a

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camera which track s back an d fort h fro m Lenno x an d Elen a t o th e adjacent hallway , wher e Raou l and hi s girlfriend—and later , Cecil e as well—stand listening . HF: Sometimes th e camer a cut s from thi s tracking sho t to a pan over water. I t i s as if Lak e Geneva wer e i n th e nex t room . At othe r times , we hea r th e wate r withou t seein g it , o r th e camer a cut s fro m th e waves t o Cecil e listening . Enchantmen t i s i n th e air : no t onl y ca n humans an d a lake inhabi t adjacen t rooms , bu t th e camer a ca n also pass effortlessly through a thick wall. Raoul and his friend miraculousl y listen through th e sam e wall, thei r face s transected b y melodramati c shadows. A bell ring s and a dog barks , after which the camera cuts to an image of the lak e at night, with rollin g waves. And when i t return s to Elen a an d Lennox , the y ar e frozen firs t i n on e dramati c tableau , and then i n another. They seem under a spell, as do those listenin g i n the other room .

KS: As th e camer a track s fo r th e firs t tim e awa y fro m Elen a an d Lennox t o Raou l an d hi s friend , Elen a seat s hersel f i n fron t o f Lennox, i n a position o f gratitude, an d kisse s his hand. Sh e says, in voice-over: "I t matters not tha t I am born. You become visible in th e place where I am no more/' She thereby articulates—and i n very psychoanalytic language—the master/slave logic which for the most part triumphs i n he r relationshi p wit h Lennox. 9 Th e succes s o f on e o f those character s generall y implie s th e subordinatio n o r eve n th e negation o f the other . For once, Elena submits to her own extinctio n rather than decreein g Lennox's. But then, as the camera first holds on Raoul an d hi s friend , an d subsequentl y track s bac k t o th e livin g room, she once again asserts her preeminence. She does so by offerin g to work for Lennox. "I'll work for you the livelong day," she promises. "At night you'll reproach me for my faults one by one." As we will see over an d ove r agai n i n th e firs t hal f o f New Wave, it i s abov e al l through he r prowess as a businesswoman tha t Elena negates Lennox. HF: This i s at first glanc e a surprising bu t seemingl y straightforwar d inversion o f Hegel' s accoun t o f the master/slav e relationshi p i n Phenomonology of Spirit, whic h ca n b e explaine d b y th e ver y differen t value which ou r century attribute s to work. I n the Phenomenology, i t is the slave who works. In New Wave, o n the other hand , it i s the maste r who works.

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Fig. 39

KS: Yes, but ther e ar e some curious inversions within th e inversion . In Hegel , the work o f the slav e at least initially accrue s to the credi t of the master . I t also signifies th e slave' s subordinatio n t o th e mas ter.10 But in New Wave, the master' s work accrues t o his ow n credit . The more the master does for the slave, the more the slave owes him. And the greater the slave' s debt, the more profound i s his subordina tion. This particular economi c metapho r hold s swa y in virtually al l domains o f lif e withi n New Wave. The CEO articulates th e reignin g ideology of Lennox's an d Elena' s world when h e says , in th e factor y scene, "We must impose the idea of debt. " HF: With th e words "on e b y one," th e camer a cut s to th e nocturna l image of the lake . The lake is the site where the struggle for the posi tions of maste r and slave will b e most decisively playe d out. When the camera return s to Lenno x an d Elena , they ar e frozen i n a tableau sug gestive of he r triumph: Lenno x i s bent ove r so that hi s back can serve as the suppor t fo r Elena' s outstretche d le g (figur e 39) . The camer a again tracks away from this image to Raou l and his friend. But when i t

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returns t o th e livin g room , Elen a an d Lenno x hav e forme d a ne w tableau: Lenno x i s standing i n fron t o f Elena , who fro m a kneelin g position reache s u p beseechingl y t o him . We hea r th e soun d o f th e lake even befor e th e film cut s bac k to it . This secon d tablea u antici pates later events, when it will be Lennox rather than Elen a who works, and thereby dominates an d indebts.

KS: On on e of the occasion s when th e camer a focuse s o n Raou l an d his friend , Elen a says : "By holding i n ou r hand s thi s beginnin g o f happiness, w e ma y b e th e firs t t o destro y it. " Th e emphasi s her e seems to be on th e wor d "holding. " Th e moments a t which lov e is productive o f lif e ar e those i n whic h i t i s given an d received . Suc h transcendent moment s canno t b e sustained , New Wave will repeat edly assert ; onc e possessed , lov e soo n lapse s int o a more everyda y form, i n which th e economic principle triumphs. But if it is possible to descend fro m th e extraordinar y t o the ordinary , i t is also possible to rise again fro m th e ordinar y t o the extraordinary . Elen a doe s jus t that a momen t later , whe n sh e say s t o Lennox : 'Than k yo u fo r accepting." I n s o doing , sh e acknowledge s tha t i t i s ofte n mor e blessed to receive than t o give in New Wave. HF: Part of th e magi c o f thi s scene ha s to d o with th e lighting . When one returns to a beach house or a country hous e after a long walk, per haps to ea t a meal o r take a nap, the beaut y o f th e da y i s always stil l present throug h th e ligh t tha t pour s i n throug h th e windows . New Wave captures this quality here , partly becaus e it was shot with natura l light, an d partl y becaus e — in orde r t o mak e that possible—Godar d must hav e spent man y day s i n th e hous e doin g nothin g mor e tha n learning wher e the sun falls at different hour s of th e day . Godard an d his team mak e use of it s rays as one would mak e use of a sundial.

KS: If th e scen e insid e Elena' s hous e someho w bring s th e outsid e inside, th e subsequen t scen e i n th e par k initiall y create s a n insid e out o f the outside . Elena and Lenno x walk and talk under a stand of trees, still moist fro m rain , throug h whos e thick boughs th e su n ca n barely penetrate . Th e soun d o f bird s singin g act s a s a synestheti c prompt t o remembe r wha t i s usuall y beyon d cinema' s evocativ e powers: th e fragran t smel l o f we t eart h an d trees . Elen a hand s Lennox postcard s fro m Doroth y Parke r an d th e doctor , wh o ar e as

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Fig. 40

usual travelin g apart . Eventuall y we see a close-up o f th e postcards , which provid e a striking case of non-identical repetition . The y both show a reproduction o f a Gauguin nude, but in differing hues . HF: Fo r almos t fort y years , now , Godar d ha s alternate d betwee n lon g shots an d close-ups , without an y mediatin g mediu m shots . On e o f th e results i s that, whe n a close-up i s provided , i t ca n hav e a very surpris ing, o r eve n disorientin g effect . Anothe r i s that th e productio n value s of narratio n ar e kept , bu t no t th e narratio n itself—muc h lik e Picass o paintings o f a particula r period , whic h giv e u s th e line s o f thre e women a t a beach, without th e wome n themselves . The way th e post cards ar e sho t i s a good exampl e o f this . Lenno x an d Elen a stan d nex t to a tree, naivel y wonderin g wh y suc h a simple paintin g shoul d b e s o valuable. W e se e Lenno x an d Elen a i n mediu m shot , bu t th e postcard s in lon g shot , an d hav e onl y a vague impressio n o f what the y show . Th e identifying close-u p come s onl y muc h late r i n thi s scene , a s Delia , shown sittin g i n a car, meditate s upo n love . Includin g suc h a close-u p at thi s point , rathe r tha n earlier , i s a bi t lik e makin g a headlin e ou t o f the word s i n a phrase . I t permit s the m t o asser t thei r independenc e from th e narrative , t o escap e semanti c subordination .

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KS: Later in this scene , Elena and Lenno x si t on a bench outsid e th e stable, next to a tethered horse (figure 40). Their conversation focuse s upon memory , which no w begins to emerge as the principle both of tragedy and salvation . Lennox says: "Memory is the sol e paradise we can't b e expelle d from. " Elen a responds , wryly : "That' s no t alway s true." Lenno x nod s hi s hea d slightl y i n acknowledgmen t o f he r point, an d doe s a complete volte-face: "Memor y i s the onl y hel l t o which we'r e condemne d i n al l innocence. " A momen t later , i t becomes clear that Lennox and Elena are somehow saying farewell t o each other . Lenno x ask s Elena i f sh e has an y regrets . She respond s with th e crueles t o f th e film' s economi c thematization s o f love : "Regret is seldom anythin g othe r tha n th e consciousnes s o f havin g paid too high a price for indifferen t value. " The irony o f this formulation is that it is only when we have withdrawn ou r libidinal invest ment i n someone that we are able to perceive him o r her in this way. Indeed, b y reclaimin g ou r psychi c "chips, " w e ourselve s hav e brought abou t that person's "depreciation. " HF: Although Elen a and Lennox hav e just said good-bye to eac h other, for al l intents and purposes, the conversation continue s unde r anothe r of th e film's animisti c trees . Here , we hav e one o f New Wave's mos t striking example s o f words speakin g to words. I n voice-over, th e gar dener declaims : "Al l o f them, silhouetted agains t the summer's luxuri ant green , an d th e roya l blaz e o f autumn , an d th e rui n o f winter , before spring flowers anew, are dirty now. " There is a short pause, during whic h Elen a ask s Lenno x fo r a "phrase, " an d h e begins : "I t occurred to him , that sh e . . ." I n the lon g interva l befor e h e finishes his sentence, the chauffeu r an d the gardene r the n complet e th e tex t begun by the gardener, in a kind of "canon": "Dirty now , blackened by time an d weather an d use , yet calm , inscrutabl e . . . not protectin g with thei r monolithi c mas s the livin g fro m th e dead , bu t rathe r th e dead from the living . .. fro m anguish and pain, and the inhumanity of the huma n race. " A s the y speak , Lenno x look s u p a t th e uppe r branches of the tree, and the camera follows hi s look. When i t return s again to the humans at the base, it is to focus on the rapt expression of Elena's upturne d face . Lennox , too , look s a t Elen a befor e endin g hi s sentence: "She had the impression that he r happiness, if ever she hesitated, migh t wel l i n it s turn vanis h a s swiftly a s the leave s burned b y the unsettle d summer. " A s he utters these words, h e and Elen a gaze once agai n ou t o f frame. The nex t shot , which begin s afte r th e wor d

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"vanish/' show s u s what the y ostensibl y see : a cluster o f trees , stil l green with summer leaves.

KS: In thi s scene , we have on e o f thos e importan t convergence s o f the tw o storie s o f New Wave —the stor y o f Elen a an d Lennox , an d the stor y o f th e Torlat o Favrin i estate . I t i s no t onl y tha t Lenno x metaphorizes the fragility o f Elena's happiness through the mortalit y of th e leaves , bu t als o tha t th e tw o o f the m ar e engrosse d i n th e landscape i n a way which i s reminiscent o f th e acciden t scene . I n finding themselve s there, they momentarily achiev e something very much a t odd s wit h th e word s "indifferen t value. " A s Elen a an d Lennox loo k upward a t those trees , whose solemnit y i s thematize d by th e chauffeu r an d gardener , the y alig n themselve s wit h "th e dead" ove r an d agains t "th e living" ; the y solici t protection , a s i t were, from thei r own cruelty and inhumanity . HF: When th e camer a cut s to th e cluste r o f trees , i t first pan s across them, an d then crane s slowly upwar d befor e beginnin g it s descent . But when i t cranes down, it i s on the other sid e of the trees. We see a road, along which Cecil e bicycles . Jules runs across the road , and i t is suddenly apparent that—without a cut—a ne w scene has begun.

KS: And thi s ne w scen e i s radicall y differen t i n tone . I n th e nex t shot, w e see Elena an d Lenno x standin g nex t t o a car, wearing th e same clothes. Cecile rides up in he r bicycle, and Jules runs by. Elena talks o n th e phone , absorbe d i n a conversatio n abou t currenc y exchange, an d Lenno x assure s himself i n voice-over tha t h e is helping her, althoug h actuall y reduce d t o inactivity . W e are once agai n deeply within the quotidian . HF: And returnin g t o it , we hav e occasion to notic e onc e agai n that , although Delo n is approaching sixty, and time ha s ineradicably marke d his features an d body , ther e i s still somethin g ver y boyis h abou t hi s appearance. H e has found a n interesting way to b e a forever youngis h man wh o know s ho w t o dea l wit h th e humiliation s o f time . Delo n therefore fits into the role of a dressed-up "nobody" singularl y well.

KS: Since the centra l character s o f New Wave say their farewell s t o each othe r i n the par k scene, there is a certain narrativ e necessit y t o the scen e in which Elen a knocks Lennox into the water, and ignore s

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his appeal s fo r help . When lov e goe s away, people die , a s we hav e learned i n th e factor y scene . At the beginnin g o f thi s scene , Elen a begins for the first tim e to quote from Dante' s Divine Comedy, alway s in Italian . She speaks the firs t line s from tha t tex t o n he r way to th e lake: "Now—i n th e hou r tha t melt s wit h homesic k yearning/Th e hearts o f seafarer s who'v e ha d t o say/Farewel l t o thos e the y love , that ver y morning-/Hou r whe n th e new-mad e pilgri m o n hi s way/Feels a sweet pang go through him , i f he hears/Fa r chime s tha t seem to knell the dying day . . ." These lines appear at the beginnin g of Cant o VII I of the Purgatory, 11 an d ar e part o f a n epi c simile. As is the cas e with man y o f the quotation s fro m The Divine Comedy, this simile contains a marine reference : "seafarers/ ' I n th e origina l text , this word i s metaphoric. Here , it is literalized, no t onl y by the boa t ride tha t follows , bu t b y the tw o image s o f th e lak e which accom pany the quotation . HF: This scene also literalizes the metapho r o f deat h i n the epic simile, and th e lin e "Farewel l t o thos e the y love " refer s bac k t o th e fores t scene.

KS: But what i s perhaps mos t importan t abou t thi s quotatio n i s the yearning desire which i t introduces into the film. I t is as if, i n antici pating Lennox' s death , Elen a i s lookin g forwar d t o th e momen t when sh e will once again be able to love him. HF: Lennox himsel f als o recite s line s of poetr y a s he waits a t the doc k for Elena . "Alas , I waste awa y i n impoten t striving,/T o retur n t o th e confusion fro m whic h I strayed./How ofte n wil l I die, yet g o o n liv ing?/Do yo u kno w th e crime , b y whic h yo u ar e betrayed? " h e declaims, first to himself , an d then to Cecile . These words, too, are full of anticipation . They spea k no t onl y o f a crime, bu t als o of a victim who eagerly awaits the fate which will befal l him.

KS: Lennox seem s "hal f i n lov e with easefu l death, " a s Keats would say.12 But the lin e "Ho w often wil l I die, yet g o on living? " suggest s that th e deat h which Lenno x will undergo in the lake will not reall y kill him, but provide the opportunity fo r anothe r kin d of life . HF: After Elen a gets into the boat that will carry Lennox to hi s death, he removes hi s shoes, and throws the m ove r the wall. H e then descend s

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the few steps from th e dock to the water. The camera pan s from an overhead angle across the green depths of the water to Jules, who sits in anothe r boat , starin g int o thos e depths . H e asks, "What ar e these images?" As usual, he is "elsewhere." The camera continue s it s overhead pan slowly over the water, unti l a boat of burnished wood comes partially into frame. From an unseen and unexplained vantage, Lennox steps from th e right fram e int o it . We can only imagin e tha t h e ha s been carried there in another boat—perhap s i n Jules's. Again, we have the principle s o f narration withou t th e actual narration . This ellipsi s works wit h jules' s questio n an d the strains of Darling's journal October/Solo Cello to freight the embarkage with mystery . KS: As Lennox steps into the boat, the chauffeur ask s from off-frame , "Have you eve r been stun g by a dead bee?" Lennox's bafflement wil l later b e show n t o signif y a failure t o remember . Th e chauffeu r sug gests that Elen a coul d als o onc e hav e answere d th e question . "Sh e knew," he shouts after th e disappearing boat. 13 HF: The moments leadin g u p to Lennox' s drownin g ar e fully repre sented. We see Elena dive int o the lake, and call out to Lennox to join her. We hear Lenno x repeatedl y remin d Elen a that h e can't swim, and Elena escalate her demands. We also observe Lennox' s wary respons e when Elen a asks him to help he r climb bac k int o th e boat. Bu t New Wave's depictio n o f the ostensible clima x o f thi s scen e i s typicall y anti-actionist. We do not see the actual momen t o f Lennox's fall int o the water, or the momen t at which he is finally submerged. KS: At a crucial juncture , Godar d eve n cut s away to Cecile and Jules, who ar e sittin g o n th e groun d starin g int o space . "Cecile , what ar e these images , sometime s free , sometime s confined , thi s vas t space , where shapes pass, while colors shine?," Jules asks. New Wave cuts back to this pair a moment later so that we can hear Cecile's answer, as if it is at least as important as what is happening on the lake: "It's space." HF: But it is not necessary that we see Lennox's death. What i s important her e are the images of his hand extende d i n vain for assistance (figure 41). KS: The camer a doe s no t retur n t o Lenno x an d Elen a afte r th e sec ond tim e i t cut s awa y t o Cecil e an d Jules. Instead, i t remain s wit h

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5

Fig. 41

them a s Cecile says, meditatively: "Le t the wail of the wind, the sig h of the wave, the gentle perfume o f your sweet-scente d air , all we see, hear an d breathe , all , everywhere , le t i t say : the y hav e loved. " Towards the en d o f this speech , we see a now tranquil lake , throug h the trees , and—wit h th e word s "the y hav e loved"—th e woode n boat, empt y o f human inhabitants . Earlier , we were asked to under stand Lennox' s deat h a s the preconditio n fo r hi s an d Elena' s futur e love. Now we are aske d t o understan d i t a s an affirmatio n o f thei r previous love . It is becoming mor e an d mor e eviden t tha t deat h i n this film signifie s somethin g other than simpl e physical extinction . HF: The drowning scen e is followed b y a sequence suggestive o f violence an d conspiracy—Yvonn e chop s th e hea d of f a dead fish , an d Raoul tries to dispose of the shoes Lennox left behind when he got int o the boat . This sequence gives way to a nature montage . Over the first image i n thi s sequence , a gree n meado w i n lat e summe r o r earl y autumn, Elen a quotes the famous line s from th e beginnin g o f Dante' s Inferno: "Midway through thi s way of lif e we're boun d upon/ I woke t o find mysel f i n a dark wood,/Where th e righ t roa d was wholly los t and

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gone./Ay me ! how hard t o spea k o f it—tha t rude/An d roug h and stubborn forest ! The mere breath/O f memor y stir s the old fear i n the blood;/lt i s so bitter, i t goes nig h to death . . . "1 4 Six images of the land and water follow, suggestiv e of the coming o f fall, and then win ter. Lik e the Dante passage, the landscape tells simultaneously it s own and Elena' s story—her dar k nigh t o f the soul. Then jules's voice indi cates that winter i s almost gone , and—over a n image of the veranda of he r house in the midst of April showers—Elena speak s the immediately followin g line s fro m Dante' s Inferno: "Ye t there I gained suc h good, that, to convey /The tale, I'll write what els e I found therewith " (p. 71) . This passage signals a dramatic chang e of mood. KS: As Elena's monologue progresses , we see first th e titl e "Veni Creator" ("Come, Creator" ) ove r black, an d the n image s o f Raou l arriv ing at Elena's estate on a late spring or early summer day . The Dant e text an d th e image s o f a regenerated natur e tel l us that anothe r cre ation i s about to occur . HF: Althoug h th e creato r ha s bee n summoned , h e ha s no t yet announced himself . Bu t as we look a t the words "Veni Creator/' we hear the CEO saying the following words : "We plot within se t E of an algebraic structur e b y connecting tw o random points : x and y of E. This corresponds t o a third: Functio n (x,y). " We know the n tha t i t is from the miraculous convergence of x and y, or Elena and Lennox, that life will issue. KS: The nature montag e conclude s with a n extraordinar y stationar y shot of a pool in which trees and rushes are reflected. Polle n floats i n the ai r abov e th e water . Delo n enters , via his reflection, an d stand s above th e pool , wit h hi s leg s authoritatively sprea d (figur e 42) . He will subsequentl y clai m t o b e no t Roge r Lennox , Elena' s forme r lover, but Richar d Lennox , Roger' s brother. HF: Throug h th e wa y i n whic h thi s characte r walk s an d stand s throughout th e second hal f of the film, h e repeatedly take s imaginar y possession of Elena's house and estate. KS: The next shot is an intertitle, against black, which reads: "Je est un autre" ("I i s an other"). 15 This famous lin e fro m Rimbau d i s usually used t o theoriz e th e othernes s o f th e self—th e externa l derivatio n

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Fig. 42

both o f desir e an d identity. 16 Tha t Lenno x i s given t o u s her e a s a reflected imag e suggest s tha t th e Rimbau d quotatio n stil l carrie s these connotations. But the quotatio n als o serves as the provocatio n to pos e a number o f b y no w urgen t questions : Why doe s th e ma n who stand s abov e the pool o f water see m the same , although osten sibly other? Is he really the brother o f Roger Lennox? Or is he in fac t Roger, returned t o life ? HF: We learn shortly afte r why Raoul has come to Elena's estate. The entire cast of business partners has been assembled to deal with the crisis created b y Lennox's appearance/return . I n a series of little scene s inside Elena' s house, New Wave stitches togethe r somethin g muc h more approximatin g a conventional narrativ e tha n anythin g i t has given us until now. Lennox has clearly arrived to claim Elena, but also to demand a cut of the business in exchange for remaining silent about his brother's death . The other character s sto p philosophizin g abou t love . Instead, they plot , scheme, and eavesdrop on each other. They interrogate Lennox, under the guise of ascertaining whether h e is a fit partner. He must repea t everything h e was in a position to learn in the first hal f

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of the film. This is more than a simple repetition. It might b e characterized as a "memory test." Earlier , on the boat, he failed such a test. No w he demonstrates hi s ability to provid e on demand the birt h nam e and employment recor d of Deli a Street , and an account o f the subatomi c particle the Torlato Favrini factory thinks it has discovered.

KS: Thi s i s a n everyda y kin d o f memory . Bu t immediatel y afte r Lennox's display of recollective powers, a conversation take s place in which he gestures toward a more redemptive form o f memory. Walking bac k an d fort h o n th e step s outsid e he r house , Elen a repeat s words spoke n earlie r i n th e par k b y Lennox: "Memor y i s the onl y paradise w e can't b e expelle d from. " H e responds, fro m off-frame : "It's not enough to have memories, one must forget the m when the y are numerous, an d wai t for the m whe n the y return. Becaus e memories are not just that. It is only when they become, in us, blood, look , gesture, when they have no longer a name, and can no longer be distinguished fro m u s . . . i t i s then tha t i t ca n happen , i n a very rar e hour, i n th e middl e o f the m . . . " Lenno x doe s no t finis h hi s sen tence, but New Wave does so for him . It suggests that i t is only whe n memories becom e blood , look , an d gesture—onl y whe n Elen a an d Lennox ar e prepared t o assum e the m a s their ver y substance—tha t their stor y and the story of the estate can become one. But their way of behaving wit h eac h othe r show s tha t the y ar e not ye t figure s i n the landscape . HF: Durin g th e interrogatio n o f Lennox , h e provide s on e o f thos e speeches which would see m as significant within th e psychi c as within the economi c domain . H e says : "It' s gettin g harde r t o cop e wit h imbalances runnin g ou t o f control. Central bank s are puppets; raisin g lending rate s is just lik e pulling strings . Excep t people die . In the past , such rampant manipulatio n o f credit and debt always led to majo r disaster." A s we will see , Lennox i s speaking her e as much abou t hi s new relationship with Elen a as about corporate capital. It is not merel y tha t this relationshi p onc e agai n impose s deb t o n th e recipient , bu t als o that i t i s governed b y the principl e o f qui d pr o quo . Richar d Lenno x seems determined t o extrac t a profit from hi s liaison with Elen a equal to the losses earlier suffered b y his ostensible brother .

KS: As Elena walks up and down on the veranda, Dorothy Parker provides a n implici t commentar y upo n thi s stat e o f affairs . "There' s a

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price t o b e pai d fo r bein g good, " sh e says , "th e sam e a s for bein g bad. . . . And it' s the goo d wh o can' t refus e th e bill when i t arrives . The bad, the y ca n refuse . N o one expect s them t o pay, now o r later . But the goo d can' t d o that." Wit h thes e words, sh e reminds u s tha t we hav e traditionall y moralize d economi c relations : thos e wh o pay—whether wit h thei r lives , thei r money , thei r libido , o r thei r work—are "good, " an d thos e wh o don' t ar e "bad. " Bu t n o on e i s really prepared t o pa y forever. W e expect presen t losse s to be offse t by future profits . Fo r centuries, thos e who pai d i n thi s lif e believe d that the y would rea p extravagant reward s in heaven . They als o took comfort i n th e though t tha t thos e who di d no t pa y on eart h woul d be obliged to do so in hell. HF: But the world whic h Doroth y Parke r describes—which i s also, of course, our world — is one where these promise s n o longe r hold . The good pa y without th e assuranc e o f future recompense , an d the ba d need fear no retribution for no t paying.

KS: Yes, the inhabitants o f this world no longer believe in an eternit y in whic h divin e justic e will rectif y th e imbalance s o f huma n exis tence. However , the y stil l cling to th e belie f tha t thos e who pa y ar e good, an d thos e who don' t ar e bad, a s well a s to th e correspondin g belief tha t th e goo d mus t ultimatel y b e rewarded. Sinc e there i s n o afterlife, th e fiel d o f huma n relation s mus t no w itsel f provid e th e domain withi n whic h al l losses are recouped, an d al l payments full y recompensed. Bu t this is a fundamentally impossibl e stat e o f affairs , since one person' s recompens e alway s means anothe r person' s loss. And, as New Wave repeatedly shows , a fatal ambiguit y surround s th e terms "donor " an d "recipient. " Wh o i n fac t pay s in a n econom y i n which receivin g implies loss, and givin g a gain? Who ha s the trues t claim upon "goodness" ? HF: Th e relationshi p betwee n Elen a an d Lenno x provide s a vivi d dramatization o f th e danger s o f conductin g libidina l affair s a s a n "economy." Bu t Lennox's speech about memory seems to hol d out the possibility for something else—for anothe r kin d of life.

KS: It also seems to hold ou t the possibility for another kin d of erotic relationship. We are given a glimpse of what that relationshi p migh t entail in the nocturnal sequenc e shot of Elena's house.

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HF: In that shot , the camer a tracks the full lengt h o f the hous e first t o the right , an d then to the left , i n a reprise of the earlier tableau scene. Lights illuminate every room the camera passes as it makes its outward journey. On its return journey, Cecile comes along, moving at approximately th e sam e speed . Sh e extinguishe s ligh t afte r light , an d yet—thanks t o the miracl e o f the ne w Koda k film wit h whic h Godar d filmed New Wave —we can stil l se e a n astonishin g amount . A t on e moment, Cecile' s face i s rendered a pool o f brightnes s a s she bend s over a lamp, a moon swimmin g i n black . We are forced t o relinquis h our belie f tha t darknes s i s the opposit e o f light—t o understan d tha t there are only degrees of illumination .

KS: The opening of Schonberg's Transfigured Night accompanies thi s shot, suggestin g that i t represents anothe r o f those moment s whe n the centra l character s succee d i n transcendin g thei r everyda y lim its. Godar d quote s onl y th e mos t harmoniou s part s o f thi s mod ernist symphony—th e part s which coul d come from th e nineteent h century. HF: Again he insists simultaneously on modernism and classicism. As in the tablea u scene , the soun d o f crashin g wave s ca n als o b e heard . They contain a threat, but also a promise—the threat and the promis e of the destiny the characters carry within themselves, but which i s dramatized by the lake.

KS: The tableau scen e occurs before th e drownin g o f Lennox. Therefore, i t ca n functio n anticipatorily , bu t no t retrospectively . No w things are different. W e hear the drowning in the waves, what was in what is . We are not alone . What Lenno x an d Elen a sa y during thi s shot suggest s tha t th e memor y o f wha t happene d o n th e lak e i s growing within them. After passin g three rooms on its outward jour ney, th e camer a arrive s a t th e doorwa y wher e the y ar e standing . Because Elena is behind a glass door, her image has the instability of a watery reflection, a s if she inhabits the lake. HF: Lennox says: "The positiv e i s given to us . It's up to u s to mak e the negative." I take the "positive " a s denoting life , and the "negative " as referring to those definitionally huma n things with whic h we produc e the fatalit y o f meaning : words , images , ideas , o r even—a s i n Hegel—work.17

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KS: As the camera tracks to the left, i t eventually comes once again to the figure s o f Lenno x an d Elena . One las t light i s still burning, an d in its illumination Elen a ca n be seen to face Lennox , he r hea d lean ing against hi s chest. Sh e says: 'There's n o judg e anywhere . What' s not resolve d b y love remains foreve r i n suspense. " This means: ''W e inhabit a post-metaphysica l world . Ther e i s n o highe r arbite r t o determine what is wrong or right, who must pay and who can profit . Love is the onl y court o f appeal, an d i n this court competin g claim s are no t weighe d agains t eac h other , bu t rathe r 'resolved/ " Th e metaphor her e i s musical, suggestiv e o f th e reestablishmen t o f har mony. In the court of love, debts are not paid, but canceled. Violence is not punished, but neutralized . HF: It seems that thi s shot make s a religion o f love , and thereby rein troduces the metaphysical.

KS: I n holdin g ou t th e possibilit y o f transcendin g th e binarie s o f donor an d recipient, an d maste r and slave , through a libidinal resolution, New Wave does propose something like an ethics of love. But this principle of transcendence i s immanent; i t resides within th e characters themselves, not i n som e higher sphere . And in overcoming thei r everydayness, Elen a and Lenno x do not leav e the terrestria l behind ; rather the y become adequat e t o it, assum e their "i n th e worldness. " Finally, transcendence inexorabl y gives way to more "fallen " form s of being, from whic h it must be once again won. I take the word "fallen " from Heidegger , who uses it to designate not a postlapsarian conditio n from which we can be permanently redeemed, but rather the everyday human conditio n to which we will always revert. 18 HF: I wonder: i s there a resolution? This particular scene ends on a very irresolute note . Afte r Elen a say s the word s "foreve r remain s i n suspense," the camera cuts to the title "Sinc e the Beginning, " suggestin g that sinc e th e origi n o f th e worl d lover s hav e bee n metaphoricall y drowning eac h other i n lakes. And rather than allowing a musical resolution wit h th e en d o f th e scene , Godard postpone s tha t resolutio n until two shots later.

KS: As you noted, nea r the beginning of the Schonberg shot, Lenno x says: "We have been given the positive, it's up to us to make the negative." This i s a classic example o f thesis/antithesis . Th e fil m i n it s

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entirety provide s another . Thesis : Elen a knock s Lenno x int o th e water, and he appeals for help. Antithesis: Lennox knocks Elena int o the water , an d sh e appeal s fo r help . It is to tha t las t scen e that w e must ultimatel y loo k t o determine whethe r o r not ther e i s a resolution o f thi s opposition , and—i f ther e is—wha t for m i t takes . But first w e mus t discus s th e scen e whic h mos t full y foreground s th e negative: the one where a prospective buyer visits Elena's house. HF: I n this scene , Elen a i s at hom e alone , standing besid e a n almos t completely shuttere d window . He r postur e an d he r positio n sugges t that sh e i s waitin g fo r someon e t o arrive . Sh e thereb y fulfill s th e "woman" function , a s traditionally conceived ; singers sing , dancer s dance, and women wait for the return of their men. We hear footsteps, and thei r owne r says , fro m off-frame : " I hav e a meetin g wit h Mr . Lennox." I n the subsequent exchange, the unseen man treats Elena as if she were a servant i n the house , someone with who m h e is entitled to b e impatient an d a bit brusque . Elen a is strangely resigne d to thi s treatment. Lenno x arrives , and orders Cecile to fetch the newspapers . Delia appears with a document for hi m to sign . Lennox' s activity con trasts sharply with Elena' s inactivity. Elen a goes slowly, almost somnolently, to mee t him . Lennox embrace s her , while proudl y proclaiming : "Four millio n dollars." I t is as if he is quantifying hi s love.

KS: As is further demonstrate d by the conversation which takes place inside th e hous e a momen t later , th e debi t an d credi t syste m i s firmly i n place: Elena: Your face . . . Lennox: What, m y face? . . . Elena: I don't se e you. Lennox: But look at me, please! Elena: No, I don't se e you; not yet. . . Lennox: Let's go outside, one can't se e anything here . . . Elena: I f he didn' t hav e your fac e . . . I wouldn't b e obliged t o love you. Even if you were . . . not another , you would be . . . You have stolen my existence! Lennox: Because I take care of everything ? Elena: In delivering me from m y existence, you have stolen i t . . . You arrived fro m outside , and , throug h love , you installe d yourself i n me, and I welcomed you through lov e . . .

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Once again, we see that th e liberatio n lov e promises ca n tur n int o a new form o f oppression , an d it s gifts int o a mountain o f debt . An d once agai n we see that i t is paradoxically throug h hi s labor tha t th e master dominate s th e slave . I n th e secon d hal f o f th e film , i t i s Lennox who goes on busines s trips, writes checks, amasses millions, while Elen a ha s les s an d les s t o do . Finally , wherea s sh e earlie r addressed hi m wit h th e familia r for m o f the second-perso n singula r pronoun, an d h e addresse d he r wit h th e unfamiliar , her e tha t i s reversed. HF: All of this shows in Lennox's physical appearance. In the first half of New Wave, h e is primarily define d b y the boyis h charm with whic h h e wears clothes , assume s th e pensivenes s o r innocenc e th e momen t demands, and produces "phrases. " Hi s only job i s to please . Now h e is the master , an d ther e i s n o furthe r nee d fo r an y o f thes e blandish ments. Elena , on the othe r hand , becomes pale r and paler , an d mor e and more lethargi c i n the second half of the film. I t is as if she is losing her life substance.

KS: Significantly, Elen a is under a compulsion t o love the ma n wh o purports to be Richard Lenno x not becaus e of anything h e does, but because he has the face of Roger Lennox—because he is the reincarnation of the what-has-been. Like the past about which Heidegger writes, this face comes to Elena from th e future, i n the form o f her destiny. 19 HF: It is for thi s reaso n that, afte r Elen a utters the words "i n deliverin g me from m y existence, you hav e stolen it," Lenno x says, in voice-over: "The presenc e you hav e chosen admit s o f n o adieu. " I n one form o r another—either a s himself, or in the guise of the men who will replac e him—Lennox i s shackled to Elen a forever. On e of them will b e forever knocking the other int o the lake, and refusing to reac h out to the hand that seeks assistance.

KS: Bu t New Wave suggest s tha t thi s scenari o wil l compulsivel y repeat itsel f onl y s o long a s Lennox manifest s himsel f a s the othe r who i s at th e sam e time th e same—a s th e strange r name d Richar d Lennox, wh o i s entitle d t o b e Elena' s love r becaus e h e ha s hi s brother's face . There i s another optio n here , which th e fil m elabo rates through th e Rimbau d quote , an d tha t i s for Lenno x to be onc e again Roger, yet simultaneously other .

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HF: We are not surprised to find Lennox and Elena climbing once again into their boa t immediately after their exchange inside the house; their relationship clearl y cannot continu e i n its present form. At first histor y seems to be replaying itsel f i n reverse: Elena' s shoes are left behind , just a s Lennox's were ; Elen a fall s int o th e water off-screen , jus t as Lennox earlie r did ; and Lennox a t first ignore s Elena' s outstretche d hand, as she previously di d his. But then we notice the many differ ences in the way this scene is staged. The weather i s less fine, and the lake choppy. Lenno x throws Elen a almost violently int o the boat, while giving voic e t o some o f the paradoxes o f their love : "I' m a trap for you," "Th e more faithful I am, the more I'll deceive you," "My candor will rui n you." In the water, he demands a kiss from Elena , who refuses with the contradictory expressio n of someone who love s him, yet fears that h e will take he r life. Bu t the most importan t an d saving o f the many difference s come s at the end of the scene: Lennox reache s out and grab s the hand tha t appeal s for help. As in the accident scene , once again a pure gift is given. KS: S o we se e tha t ther e i s in fac t a resolution. Elen a an d Lenno x escape the logic of quid pro quo by grasping that th e only thing tha t can i n fac t b e give n belong s t o n o one . The y ar e abl e t o d o s o because the y hav e finall y assume d thei r past , le t memor y becom e blood, look , an d gesture . Knowledge o f what the y hav e been make s it possible for Elen a and Lenno x to take certain transformativ e liber ties with the narrative which i s their destiny—to repea t it less obsessively, an d les s exactly . I t eve n make s i t possibl e fo r the m t o transcend th e role s o f maste r an d slave , dono r an d recipient . A s Lennox say s in third-perso n voice-ove r a s he an d Elen a mak e thei r way from th e lak e back t o th e house , "I t was as if they ha d alread y lived all this. Their words seemed frozen i n the traces of other word s from othe r times. They paid no heed to what they did but to the difference which se t today's acts in the present [apar t from] paralle l acts in th e past . They felt tall , motionles s . . . above them pas t an d pre sent: identical waves in the same ocean/ ' HF: As Elena and Lennox wal k i n extreme lon g sho t acros s the park, she recites another tex t from Cant o I of The Inferno, again one dominated by an aquatic metapho r which the narrative of New Wave literalizes: "a s a swimmer, panting , from th e main/Heaves saf e to shore, then turn s t o face th e drive/Of perilou s seas , and looks, an d looks

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again,/So, while m y sou l yet fled, di d I contrive/To tur n an d gaze o n that drea d pas s once more/Whenc e n o ma n yet came ever out alive." These lines function to thematize what happen s on the lake as a miraculous escape. Elena and Lennox have survived an experience which has always previously le d to death.

KS: And now , a t last , w e understan d wha t deat h signifie s i n New Wave. Death i s the enervatio n whic h w e experience when w e fail t o make us e of th e creativ e potentialit y lov e give s us. It is the fadin g away of our life-force whic h occurs when we prove inadequate to the capacity which Ero s gives us for enactin g a n ol d stor y in a new way. When Elen a an d Lenno x ar e unable t o sustai n thei r relatio n i n th e mode of a pure gift, whic h neithe r indebt s nor obligates , love leaves, taking it s generative forc e wit h it . Bu t in th e miraculou s landscap e which the y inhabit , lov e alway s come s again , an d give s the m another chance . That i s why deat h signifie s no t onl y an ending , bu t also the possibility of a new beginning. HF: Near the end of this scene, the camer a crane s up and away fro m Elena and Lennox , unti l a large tree blocks our access to them. But this time the tree does not seem to cancel out the human figures, but rather to speak for them. If Elena and Lennox feel tall and motionless, it is in an implied analog y with th e trees i n the park . And the crane shot whic h finally gives such a prominent place to one of those trees provides nothing so much as a formal inscription of precisely this "tallness."

KS: Jules's primary function i n the film is to articulate ever anew for us the question: What i s the relationship between th e two stories of th e film—the stor y of man, an d th e stor y of nature? Sometimes, he proposes that grass and trees are nothing more than a human projection , the product of naming. At other moments, he suggests that naming is a violence which words do to things, and that the world should be left without huma n markers . However, th e film doe s not finall y endors e either o f these positions. The world i s neither "inside " us, nor "out side" us. It is, rather, wha t w e inhabit whe n w e assume ou r "there ness." Lenno x acknowledge s a s muc h whe n h e says , a t a crucia l moment o f the lake scene, "It happens here, on water and land. " HF: In the final scene, Elena says good-bye to her servants. She has sold the estate , which ca n no w becom e th e sit e where som e othe r se t of

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Fig. 43 lovers drown and save each other. Lenno x mimic s a professional tennis player a s the servants driv e off , and as Elena bend s dow n t o tie his shoes he compares himself to Art Larson, who once jumped the net to let hi s opponent ti e his shoes (figur e 43) . Hi s competitive juice s are clearly flowing once again. But the camera returns to the magical landscape as Elena quotes one last time from The Divine Comedy: " . . . I still clung closel y to my faithful guide;/Ho w ha d I sped without hi s comradeship? . . . M y mind, til l the n i n one strait groov e compressed / Expanded, lettin g eage r thought rang e free,/And I looked u p to that great mountain, soaring/Highest to Heaven from the encircling sea." 20 Again, the characters transcend their everydayness. KS: As Elena speak s these lines, Lennox repeats words he spok e onc e before i n th e film , an d whic h ar e b y no w ric h i n meaning : "M y mother onc e said : 'Givin g a han d wa s al l I aske d o f joy.' " Elen a responds: "So, it was you." She uses the familiar for m o f the second person pronoun, which earlier in the film would have obliged Lennox to use the unfamiliar, t o effect thi s temporal condensation . However , Lennox says instead: ""C'est toi, c'est moi"—"it's you, it's me."

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HF: But this rare moment o f equality cannot b e sustained. Elena immediately responds : "I'll lead. "

KS: Although Lenno x assume s his old role , it is under differen t con ditions. He now understands tha t h e is playing one : 'Th e exchang e is exchanged/' h e say s wryly. And whe n th e chauffeu r ask s an ol d question, whic h Lenno x wa s never abl e to answer—"Wer e yo u eve r stung by a dead bee"—Lennox show s tha t h e no w know s hi s lines . To the chauffeur' s ''I f yo u wal k barefoot," Lenno x quickl y adds , "i t stings as if it were alive—[provided that ] it died in a rage." HF: And, after announcin g tha t sh e will lead , Elen a surprisingly get s into the passenger seat, leaving the driver's seat for Lennox. 21

KS: The final lin e in New Wave is spoken by the chauffeur. I t consists of words which w e are only no w i n a position full y t o understand : "He's not th e same, he's an other. "

Notes

Notes to Chapter 1 1. James Blue , "Excerp t fro m a n Intervie w wit h Richar d Grenie r an d Jean-Luc Godard, " i n Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology, ed. Toby Mussman (Ne w York: E. P. Dutton, 1968) , p. 249. 2. Jean-Luc Godard , "Propo s Rompus, " in Jean-Luc Godard par Jean-Luc Godard, ed. Alain Bergal a (Paris : Cahiers d u Cinema-Edition s d e l'Etoile , 1985), p. 470. Translation by Kaja Silverman . 3. The notio n o f "empt y speech " derive s fro m Jacque s Lacan . I n 'Th e Function an d Field of Speech and Languag e in Psychoanalysis/' i n Ecrits: A Selection, trans. Ala n Sherida n (Ne w York : Norton, 1977) , pp . 42-45 , h e characterizes empt y speec h a s a use o f languag e i n whic h th e imaginar y predominates ove r th e symbolic—i n whic h th e moi or eg o takes priorit y over the je or subject o f desire. 4. When quotin g dialogue from Vivre Sa Vie, we have consulted the scrip t of the film publishe d i n LAvant-Scene Cinema, no. 1 9 (October 15,1962) . 5. Godard , "Th e Scenari o o f Vivre Sa Vie," in Mussman , ed. , Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology, p. 77. 6. Andre Bazin, "Th e Evolution o f the Languag e of Cinema," in What Is Cinema? vol. 1 , ed. Hug h Gra y (Berkeley : Universit y o f Californi a Press , 1967), pp. 23-40. 229

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7. These words com e fro m Bazin , "Th e Ontolog y o f th e Photographi c Image," in What Is Cinema?, vol. 1 , p. 15. 8. A diegetic elemen t i s one tha t i s internal t o th e fictiona l world , o r diegesis, of a film. An element that is external to the diegesis (e.g., a disembodied voice-over ) i s extra-diegetic. 9. Arthur Rimbaud , "Lettr e a Paul Demeny, 1 5 Mai 1871/' in CEuvre completes, presentee s e t etablie s pa r Loui s Forestie r (Paris : Rober t Laffont , 1992), p. 230. 10. Quoted by Marilyn Campbel l in "Lif e Itself: Vivre sa vie and the Language of Film," Wide Angle, vol. 1 , no. 3 (1976): 32. 11. In Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, trans . Alan Sherida n (New York: Norton, 1978) , p. 115 , Jacques Lacan remarks that "man's desire is the desire of the Other." It is through conformin g t o thi s axio m tha t w e enter th e symboli c order . 12. By "personal desire" I do not mean desires which are totally unique to a particular subject , but desires which have been claimed as his or her own . 13. Laca n als o oppose s empt y speec h t o a mor e authenti c for m o f speech, whic h h e call s "ful l speech " (se e "Th e Functio n an d Fiel d o f Speech an d Languag e i n Psychoanalysis, " pp . 46-48) . However , "ful l speech" i s no t equivalen t t o wha t My Life to Live calls "tru e speech. " I t means speech within whic h th e symboli c function reign s supreme . 14. Susan Sontag objects to this fracturing o f the fiction i n "O n Godard' s Vivre sa vie," in Mussman, ed. , Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology, p. 99. As we have attempted t o show, it is fractured fro m th e beginning .

Notes to Chapter 2 1. Albert Moravia, A Ghost at Noon, trans. Angus Davidson (Ne w York: Farrar, Straus and Young , 1955), p. 81. 2. Passages which underg o this kind o f reattribution i n Contempt can be found o n pp. 142 , 180, 181, 183-84, and 205-20 6 of the Moravia novel . 3. Jean-Luc Godard, "Le Mepris," i n Jean-Luc Godard par Jean-Luc Godard, ed. Alain Bergal a (Paris : Cahiers d u Cinema-Edition s d e l'Etoile, 1985) , p. 249. 4. In quoting from th e film, we have relied upon the French script, published in L'Avant-Scene Cinema, nos. 412/413 (1992). 5. Jose Lui s Guarne r maintain s tha t i t wa s Levin e i n particula r wh o insisted o n nud e shot s o f Bardot . Se e "Le Mepris," in The Films of Jean-Luc Godard, ed . Ian Cameron (Ne w York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 59. 6. Toby Mussman als o suggest s that Contempt tells the stor y of th e fal l in "Note s o n Contempt," i n Mussman , ed. , Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1968) , p. 156.

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7. A yellow blanket appear s i n th e middl e par t o f thi s shot , whe n ther e is a full rang e of colors. 8. "A n Intervie w wit h Jean-Luc Godard, " b y Cahiers du Cinema, trans . Rose Kaplin, in Mussman, ed. ; Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology, p. 113. 9. James Monaco suggest s tha t Godar d cas t Francesc a i n Contempt as a safeguard agains t dubbing . Se e The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chahrol, Rohmer, Rivette (New York: Oxford Universit y Press , 1976), p. 138. 10. Godard , "Scenari o d u Mepris," i n Jean-Luc Godard par Jean-Luc Godard, p . 246. 11. Freu d attribute s t o th e drive s a "'daemonic power,' " an d character izes the m a s a "malignan t fate " i n Beyond the Pleasure Principle. See The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, trans. James Strache y (London: Hogarth Press , 1955), vol. 18 , p. 23. 12. This exchange i s based o n Mauric e Blanchot's analysi s of "Vocatio n of th e Poet " i n "L'itinerair e d e Holderlin, " i n Uespace litteraire (Paris : Editions Gallimard , 1955) , pp. 283-92. 13. We have been abl e to locate only the secon d an d thir d o f these variants. The secon d i n fac t reads : "so lange der Gott uns nah bleibt." The thir d reads: "so lange, his Gottes Fehl hilft." See Friedrich Holderlin, Samtliche Werke undBriefe, ed. Michael Knaupp (Munich : Hanser, 1992), pp. 271 and 331. 14. See Moravia, A Ghost at Noon, p. 66. 15. The French word "revoir" mean s literally "t o see again." 16. Jacques Aumon t als o compare s Contempt to Voyage in Italy in "Th e Fall of th e Gods : Jean-Luc Godard' s Le Mepris," in French Films: Texts and Contexts, ed . Susa n Haywar d an d Ginett e Vincendea u (Ne w York : Rout ledge, 1990), pp. 219-20.

Notes to Chapter 3 1. Susa n Sontag , Styles of Radical Will (Ne w York : Farrar , Strau s & Giroux, 1969), p. 182. 2. I n quotin g fro m th e film, w e have relie d upo n Alphaville: A Film by Jean-Luc Godard, trans. Pete r Whitehea d (Ne w York : Simo n & Schuster , 1966). 3. Quoted b y Jean-Luc Douin i n Jean-Luc Godard (Paris: Editions Rivage, 1989), p. 161 . Translation b y Kaja Silverman . 4. Richar d Roud , i n "Introduction, " i n Alphaville: A Film by Jean-Luc Godard, p . 12. 5. Other critic s have als o stressed tha t Alphaville is more abou t th e pas t than th e future . Fo r James Monaco, Lemm y Cautio n i s "less . . . a travele r in th e future tha n . . . a man fro m th e past visiting in the terrible present " {The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette [Ne w York :

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Oxford Universit y Press, 1976], p. 156). For Robin Wood, Lemmy Caution is "a ma n fro m twent y t o thirt y year s ag o transporte d suddenl y int o th e world of today" ("Society and Tradition: An Approach to Jean-Luc Godard, " in Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology, ed. Toby Mussman (Ne w York: E. P . Dutton, 1968) , p. 186 . And Marie-Clair e Ropars-Wuilleumie r write s tha t Alphaville is really about a time lon g ago , when ther e was absolute poetr y ("La Forme et le fond, o u les avatars du recit," in Etudes Cinematographiques, ed. Michel Esteve (Paris: Lettres Modernes, 1967), pp. 26-27. 6. Fo r Ferdinan d d e Saussure , wh o make s th e distinctio n betwee n langue and parole, langue denotes th e abstrac t languag e system , an d parole the concret e discursiv e instance . Se e Course in General Linguistics, trans . Wade Baskin (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), pp. 7-20 . 7. Rolan d Barthe s write s i n "Rhetori c o f th e Image " tha t th e photo graph attest s to a "having-been-there." Se e Image-Music-Text, trans . Stephe n Heath (Ne w York: Hill and Wang, 1977), p. 44. 8. Fo r thi s linguisti c accoun t o f repression , se e Sigmund Freud , "Th e Unconscious," i n The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, trans. James Strachey (London : Hogarth Press , 1957), vol. 14 , pp.166-204. 9. Henri's las t words to th e seductress—" I lov e you"—also lin k hi m t o surrealism. A s Michael Benedik t ha s observed , "Lov e was . . . the centra l Surrealist doctrine" {"Alphaville and its Subtext," in Mussman, ed. , Jean-Luc Godard: A Critical Anthology, p. 214). 10. Fo r Saussure , thes e relationship s ar e unmotivate d o r "arbitrary " {Course in General Linguistics, p . 67). 11. Fo r a discussion o f th e operation s o f th e primar y process , whic h Freud associate s with th e unconscious, se e The Interpretation of Dreams, in The Standard Edition, vol. 5, pp. 588-609. 12. The "Land s Without " i s how resident s o f Alphavill e refe r t o othe r parts of the world . 13. Freud repeatedly emphasize s th e mutabilit y o f memory, th e vulner ability of the past to a subsequent rewriting. See, for instance, his Project for a Scientific Psychology, in The Standard Edition, vol . 1 , pp . 352-57 ; an d "Screen Memories," The Standard Edition, vol. 3, pp. 303-22. 14. Alphaville seems to attribute not onl y these lines, but Natasha's subsequent monologu e t o Capital of Pain. At the en d o f th e scene , Natasha i s shot throug h a window o f Lemmy' s hote l room , holdin g a copy o f tha t volume. However, onl y two of the passages seemingl y impute d t o Capital of Pain are direct citations from it , and they are both poem titles : "death i n conversation," an d "t o be trapped b y trying t o trap. " As Rob Miotke sug gested t o us , the othe r passage s ar e mor e reading s o f than reading s from the poems . For the Frenc h editio n o f Capital of Pain, see La Capitale de la douleur (Paris: Librairie Gallimard , 1926) . The Englis h version i s Captital of Pain, trans. Richard M. Weisman (Ne w York: Grossman, 1973) .

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15. I n How to Do Things with Words (Cambridge: Harvar d Universit y Press, 1962), J. L. Austin define s performativ e speec h a s speech that , rathe r than describin g a reality, creates it. 16. In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, i n The Standard Edition, vol. 18 , pp. 7-36, Freu d associate s th e psychoanalyti c cur e with th e linguisti c "bind ing" of affect . 17. In "Jensen' s 'Gradiva'/ ' i n The Standard Edition, vol. 9 , pp. 88-90 , Freud discusses the "cur e by love." 18. In th e transference , th e patien t "remembers " i n th e mod e o f a displaced repetition . Se e Freud, "Th e Dynamics o f Transference," i n The Standard Edition, vol . 12 , pp . 99-108 , an d "Observation s o n Transference Love," in The Standard Edition, vol. 12 , pp. 159-71 . 19. As Monaco say s in The New Wave, "Alpha-60 i s made i n th e imag e of its creators" (158).

Notes to Chapter 4 1. Because Weekend has n o credits , we have been unabl e t o determin e the name s o f al l actors. When w e do not provid e thi s information , tha t i s because it is unavailable. 2. In "Weekend/' Robi n Woo d writes : "Weekend is not abou t th e en d o f the world—i t i s simply abou t th e en d o f our world" (The Films of Jean-Luc Godard, ed . Ian Camero n [Ne w York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969], p. 169). 3. In quoting from Weekend, we have relied upon th e text as transcribed in Weekend: A Film by Jean-Luc Godard, trans . Marianne Sinclai r (Ne w York: Lorrimer Publishing , 1972). 4. Geor g Simmel , The Philosophy of Money, 2nd ed. , trans . Tom Botto more and Davi s Frisby (London: Routledge, 1990), p. 66. 5. Gu y Hocquenghem , Homosexual Desire, trans . Daniell a Dangoo r (London: Allison and Busby , 1978), p. 87. 6. Claud e Levi-Straus s wa s th e firs t t o theoriz e wome n a s object s o f exchange—as commoditie s circulatin g betwee n families , an d makin g ou t of the m a societ y (se e The Elementary Structures of Kinship, trans . Jame s Harle Bell, John Richar d von Sturmer , an d Rodne y Needham [Boston : Beacon Press , 1969], pp. 36, and 496) . See also his "Languag e an d th e Analysi s of Socia l Laws, " i n Structural Anthropology, trans . Clair e Jacobse n an d Brooke Grundfes t Schoep f (Ne w York : Basi c Books , 1967) , p . 60 . Gayl e Rubin an d Luc e Irigaray have writte n importan t feminis t critique s o f th e notion o f woman a s commodity (se e Rubin, "Th e Traffic i n Women: Notes on th e 'Politica l Economy ' o f Sex, " in Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed. Rayna R . Raiter [Ne w York: Monthly Revie w Press, 1975], pp. 157-210 ; and Irigaray , "Wome n o n th e Market, " in This Sex Which Is Not One, trans. Catherine Porte r wit h Caroly n Burk e [Ithaca : Cornel l Universit y Press ,

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1985], pp. 170-191) . Irigaray's reading of woman a s an objec t o f exchange , which i s conducted withi n a Marxian fram e o f reference , i s especially ger mane to our discussion o f Weekend. 7.1 of course use the word "gold " here metaphorically rathe r than liter ally. It signifies no t "preciou s metal," but "money. " 8. I dra w her e o n Jean-Josep h Goux' s importan t book , Symbolic Economies: After Marx and Freud, trans . Jennifer Curtis s Gag e (Ithaca : Cor nell Universit y Press , 1990). Goux argue s tha t gol d i s the genera l equiva lent withi n th e domai n o f commodities , th e phallu s th e genera l equivalent within th e domain o f objects, th e father th e general equivalen t within the domain o f subjects, and language the general equivalent withi n the domai n o f signs . I n al l fou r o f thes e domains , "a n identica l synta x allows one o f [its ] m e m b e r s . .. t o accede to power and gover n th e evalua tions of the se t from whic h i t is excluded" (p . 24). 9. Marx refer s t o gol d a s the Lor d o f commoditie s i n A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, trans . N. I. Stone (Ne w York: Internationa l Library, 1904), p. 166. 10. I take th e notio n o f th e "disenchantment " o f th e worl d fro m Ma x Weber, wh o attribute s i t t o th e ever-increasin g "intellectualizatio n an d rationalization" brough t abou t b y "scientifi c progress. " Se e his Essays in Sociology, trans . H. H. Gerth an d C . Wright Mill s (Ne w York: Oxford Uni versity Press, 1946), pp. 138-39 . Max Horkheimer an d Theodo r W . Adorno also speak of the disenchantmen t o f the world, an d attribut e it to the program o f th e Enlightenmen t {Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans . John Cum ming (Ne w York: Continuum, 1991) , p. 3. 11. A s Simme l say s i n The Philosophy of Money, "i f th e objec t i s t o remain a n economi c value , it s value mus t no t b e raised s o greatly tha t i t becomes an absolute " (p . 72). 12. I am theorizin g her e what w e will later cal l "ana l capitalism. " Ana l capitalism shoul d be understood a s a category for understanding th e oper ations o f th e commodit y genera l equivalent , no t a s a comprehensiv e account o f anal sexuality. There can be no suc h account. All forms o f sexu ality ca n be put t o infinit e metaphori c uses , a s Godard repeatedl y shows . Weekend, Number Two, Every Man for Himself, an d Passion al l find differen t ways o f symbolizin g ana l sexuality . Th e onl y thin g whic h thes e system s of symbolizatio n hav e i n commo n i s that the y al l represent analit y a s a n inadequate solutio n t o th e complexitie s o f heterosexuality . Onc e agai n we shoul d b e wary o f transformin g thi s int o a general principle . Godar d seems to be working throug h somethin g persona l here . What i s interest ing i s that h e consistentl y problematize s wha t seem s to obses s him mos t sexually. 13. Se e Sigmund Freud , Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, i n The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, trans. James Strache y (London: Hogarth Press , 1953), vol. 7, pp. 179-206 .

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14. Sigmund Freud , "O n Transformation s o f Instinc t a s Exemplified i n Anal Erotism/' The Standard Edition, vol. 17 , p. 128. 15. In 'Towards a Non-Bourgeois Camera Style," Brian Henderson argue s that Weekend refuses dept h o f fiel d (Movies and Methods, ed . Bil l Nichol s [Berkeley: University of California Press , 1976], pp. 422-38). For Henderson, this signifie s a rejection o f bourgeois inferiorit y an d values . We are her e advancing a contrar y argument—th e argumen t tha t Weekend attribute s "flatness" t o th e worl d constructe d b y late capitalism . A t those moment s when we are given compensatory acces s to a noncommodified, o r only partially commodified, nature , Weekend's images have a marked depth o f field . 16. "Whe n th e Good s Ge t Together" i s the titl e o f a chapter o f This Sex Which Is Not One. I n it , Luc e Irigara y describe s wha t woul d happe n i f women were suddenly to refuse t o be objects o f exchange . 17. In The Thiefs Journal, trans . Bernard Frechtma n (Ne w York: Grove, 1964), Jean Gene t describe s a tub e o f vaselin e take n fro m hi m b y th e police, which wa s for hi m "th e sig n o f a secret grace," and th e content s of which brought t o hi s mind "a n oi l lamp . . . o f a night ligh t besid e a coffin" (p . 20). 18. Marx's son , Pau l Lafargue, wrot e a book defendin g lazines s (se e The Right to Be Lazy [1883] , trans. Fred Thompson [Chicago : C.H. Kerr, 1975]). 19. The UN R stands fo r "Unio n National e Republicaine, " th e Gaullis t Party. 20. Fo r us, singularity ha s nothing t o d o with us e value. Use value, like exchange value, with which it is intimately conjoined, mus t be socially produced. Our "needs," as Jean Baudrillard argues in For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, trans. Charles Levi n (St . Louis: Telos, 1981), pp. 63-87, and 130-42 , are always ideologically generated. Singularity or absolute value is something altogethe r different . It , too, is an effec t o f the signifier . How ever, its production i s private rathe r tha n social , and ontologica l sacrific e rather than economi c or semiotic exchange is the means of that production . 21. Woo d uses the wor d "enclosure " to describ e th e wa y in whic h thi s sequence i s shot, an d th e relationshi p o f th e courtyar d t o th e res t o f th e film (p . 169). 22. Marx, Capital, trans. Ben Fowles (Ne w York: Random House , 1977) , vol. 1 , p. 165. 23. Sigmun d Freud , Totem and Taboo, The Standard Edition, vol. 13 , pp. 1-161.

Notes to Chapte r 5 1. Gay Knowledge was coproduce d b y ORTF , and destine d fo r televisio n transmission. However , the film wa s never show n o n Frenc h television. See Marc Cerisuelo, Jean-Luc Godard (Paris: Editions de Quatre-Vents, 1989), p. 142.

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2. This argument i s advanced b y Christian Met z in The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema, trans. Celi a Britton , Annwy l Williams , Ben Brewster an d Alfre d Guzzett i (Bloomington : Indian a Universit y Press, 1977), pp. 7-16. 3. I n 1969 , Godar d forme d a filmaking grou p name d afte r th e Sovie t filmmaker Dzig a Vertov. The most importan t film s produce d b y the grou p are British Sounds (1969), Pravda (1969) , and Wind from the East (1969). 4. James Monaco, The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette (New York: Oxford Universit y Press, 1976), p. 206. 5. These ar e onl y a few o f th e book s ou t o f which Godar d make s Gay Knowledge. A s Susan Sonta g argue s in Styles of Radical Will (Ne w York: Farrar, Strau s & Giroux, 1969) , Godard doe s no t distinguis h betwee n book s and other , more conventional profilmi c objects ; for him, ''book s and othe r vehicles o f cultura l consciousnes s ar e par t o f th e world ; therefor e the y belong in films" (p . 154). 6. The German title of the Nietzsche volume is Die Frohliche Wissenschaft. It has been translate d b y Walter Kaufmann unde r th e titl e The Gay Science (New York: Vintage Book , 1974) . Although ther e ar e good reason s fo r thi s choice of title, the Englis h word "science " does not precisel y correspond t o "Wissenschaft," sinc e that latte r wor d als o designates th e humanities . Th e French word "savoir" i s closer to "Wissenschaft," since it implies knowledg e of an objective sort . See the discussion o f "savoir" an d "connaissance" below. 7. Godard initiall y planne d t o bas e Gay Knowledge on Rousseau' s grea t treatise o n education , Emile (see Colin MacCabe , Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics [Bloomington : Indiana Universit y Press , 1980], p. 20). 8. And, a s Ian Camero n intimate s i n "Gay Knowledge," hearin g ma y b e even mor e crucia l her e tha n seeing , sinc e th e film' s soundtrac k "contain s all manner o f echoe s fro m th e event s o f Ma y 1968" (The Films of Jean-Luc Godard [Ne w York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969], p. 174). 9. Jean-Luc Godard , "Premier s 'Son s Anglais/ " i n Jean-Luc Godard par Jean-Luc Godard, ed . Alain Bergal a (Paris : Cahiers d u Cinema-Edition s d e l'Etoile, 1985), p. 338. 10. "La Chance d e repartir pour un tour, " in Godard par Godard, p . 408. 11. James Ro y MacBean maintain s tha t Gay Knowledge not onl y reflect s a certain disregar d fo r aestheti c concerns, but launche s a deliberate assaul t on th e "cul t o f the 'masterpiece.' " Fo r him, i t is a "purposely flawed " tex t (Film and Revolution [Bloomington : Indiana Universit y Press, 1975], p. 73). 12. As Ruth Perlmutte r observe s i n " vLe Gai Savoir': Godar d an d Eisen stein: Notions o f Intellectua l Cinema, " Jump Cut no. 7 (May-July 1975), neologism i s in a sense Godard's motto, whether h e is dealing with words, sounds, images, or film for m (p . 17). 13. By underlining th e zero, Godard emphasize s what a central concep t it will be in Gay Knowledge. A s Monaco observes , it is "the ke y to th e con stellation o f concepts which is [that film]" (p . 205).

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14. Gay Knowledge is especially indebte d t o Derrida' s Of Grammatology here. Th e Englis h editio n o f tha t tex t ha s bee n translate d b y Gayatr i Chakravorty Spiva k (Baltimore : Johns Hopkin s University Press , 1976). 15. Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, ed. David Weissman (Ne w Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), pp. 21-22. 16. Karl Marx and Frederic k Engels, The German Ideology, ed . C. J. Arthur (New York: International Publishers , 1970), p. 47. 17. The German Ideology, p . 55. 18. Michel Foucault , The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences-, n o trans. (London: Tavistock, 1970) , p. 385. 19. Appropriately, thi s new chapter begin s with a n indirec t referenc e t o Jacques Lacan' s assertio n tha t "th e unconsciou s i s structured lik e a lan guage^ (Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis, trans . Alan Sherida n [New York: Norton, 1978] , p. 149) . Patricia announce s tha t sh e an d Emil e are to be guided b y chanc e i n thei r selectio n o f sound s an d images , sinc e "chance is structured lik e the unconscious." And the rest of the film make s clear its commitment t o a linguistic notion o f the unconscious . 20. In "Silence s of the Voice, " trans. Philip Rosen an d Marci a Butze l (i n Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology, ed . Rose n [Ne w York: Columbia Universit y Press, 1986], Pascal Bonitzer suggest s that th e voice-over lend s itself t o thi s kind of epistemological aggrandizement , "sinc e it resounds from offscreen , in other words from th e field o f the Other " (p . 322). 21. See , fo r instance , Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung (Peking : Foreign Language s Press , 1972), p. 21, where Ma o writes: "Revisionism, o r Right opportunism, i s a bourgeois trend o f thought tha t i s more dangerou s than dogmatism . Th e revisionist s . . . pay lip-servic e t o Marxism . . . . But what they are really attacking is the quintessenc e o f Marxism. " 22. Loui s Althusser i s another representativ e fo r th e leftis t "scientism " which figure s s o centrally i n Gay Knowledge. I n For Marx, trans. Ben Brewster (London : New Left Books , 1969), Althusser a t time s associate s dialecti cal materialism with "scientifi c truth " (se e especially pp. 163-216) . 23. Wilhel m Reich , The Mass Psychology of Fascism, ed. Mar y Higgin s and Cheste r M. Raphael, M.D. (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1970). 24. Herber t Marcuse , Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (New York: Vintage, 1963), pp. 1 1 and 16 . 25. This formulation echoe s that articulate d b y Louis Althusser i n "Ide ology an d Ideologica l Stat e Apparatuses," i n Lenin and Philosophy, trans. Ben Brewster (London : Monthly Revie w Press, 1971), pp. 127-86 . 26. Jacques Lacan , "Th e Mirro r Stag e a s Formative o f th e Functio n o f the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience," in Ecrits: A Selection, trans . Alan Sheridan (Ne w York: Norton, 1977) , pp. 1-7 . 27. Thi s i s an expressio n coine d b y Laur a Mulve y i n "Visua l Pleasur e and Narrativ e Cinema " (Visual and Other Pleasures [Bloomington : Indian a University Press, 1989], p. 19).

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28. Th e fil m i n fac t say s "ar e true/ ' bu t th e contex t i n whic h thes e words are spoken indicate s that "seem s true" is meant. 29. Fo r Jean Collet , Gay Knowledge consistently pit s languag e agains t the imaginary , o r the regim e o f th e mirro r (se e Jean Colle t an d Jean-Pau l Fargier, Jean-Luc Godard [Paris : Editions Seghers, 1974], p. 55. 30. The theorists who brought about this revaluation of the linguistic signifier includ e not only Derrida, Foucault, and Lacan, but also such figures as Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes. The French journal Tel Quel also played a crucial role in shifting attentio n awa y from th e signified t o the signifier . 31. O f course, since Gay Knowledge, Godar d ha s devised man y strategie s for affirmin g tw o images at the sam e time, most o f them mad e possible by video technology. We discuss some of these strategie s in chapter 6 . 32. Hanna h Arendt , The Human Condition (Chicago : Universit y o f Chicago Press , 1958), p. 9. 33. The Croix Lorraine is a symbol o f Gaullism . The line drawing offer s an implicit critiqu e of police violence under d e Gaulle. 34. Thomas M. Kavanagh make s the sam e point i n "he Gai Savoir," Film Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 1 (1971), p. 52. 35. Kar l Marx , The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (Ne w York : International Publishers , 1963), p. 15 . The passage in question reads : "Men make thei r ow n history , bu t the y d o no t mak e i t jus t a s they please ; the y do not mak e i t under circumstance s chose n b y themselves, but unde r cir cumstances directl y encountered, given , an d transmitted fro m th e past. " 36. The moloto v cocktai l sequenc e wa s perhaps inspire d b y a passage from Lacan' s secon d seminar , i n whic h h e define s th e subjec t strippe d o f imaginary accoutrement s a s "acephalic " o r "headless. " The subjec t wh o grasps hi s o r he r linguisti c bases coul d thu s b e sai d t o be without a face . See The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book II, the Ego in Freud's Technique of Psychoanalysis, 19544955, trans . Sylvan a Tomasell i (Cambridge : Cambridg e University Press, 1988), p. 170. 37. In Four Fundamental Concepts, Laca n maintains tha t speec h induce s a "fading" o r disappearance o f the subject's being (pp . 209-29).

Notes to Chapter 6 1. Wolfried Reichart , "Intervie w mi t Jean-Luc Godard, " trans . Michae l Klier, Filmkritik no. 242 (February 1977): 61. 2. Stephen Heath , Questions of Cinema (Bloomington: Indian a Univer sity Press, 1981), p. 62. 3. Reichart, "Intervie w mit Jean-Luc Godard," p. 67. 4. A s James Monac o point s ou t i n The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette (New York: Oxford Universit y Press , 1976), p. 215,

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this collectiv e reall y include d onl y Godar d an d Jean-Pierr e Gorin , an d every film produce d b y it is hyperbolically Godardian . Number Two represents in m y view a more seriou s attemp t a t authoria l divestitur e tha n an y of these films. 5. "Deux heures avec Jean-Luc Godard/ ' i n Jean-Luc Godard par Jean-Luc Godard, ed. Alain Bergal a (Paris : Cahiers d u Cinema-Edition s d e l'Etoile , 1985), p. 335. Translation by Kaja Silverman . 6. Reichart, "Intervie w mit Jean-Luc Godard/' p . 56. 7. Colin MacCabe, "Intervie w wit h Godard/ ' i n Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics (Bloomington : Indian a Universit y Press , 1980), p. 103 . Anne-Marie Mieville is Godard's partner an d frequen t collaborator . 8. Gerhard Theuring , "Numero deux," Filmkritik no. 242 (Februar y 1977): 102. 9. Reichart, "Intervie w mi t Jean-Luc Godard," p. 56, 10. For a further elaboratio n o f the statu s of the traditiona l author , an d of what i t mean s fo r thi s autho r t o be relocate d withi n th e text , se e Kaj a Silverman, The Acoustic Mirror: The Female Voice in Psychoanalysis and Cinema (Bloomington: Indiana Universit y Press, 1988), pp. 187-234 . 11. Laur a Mulve y an d Coli n MacCab e als o commen t o n th e film' s "relentless insistence o n showing. . . the place of sex in the home" in MacCabe, Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics, p . 98. 12. In Studies on Hysteria, i n The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works ofSigmund Freud, trans . James Strache y (London : Hogart h Press, 1955), vol. 2, pp. 166-81 , Freu d maintain s tha t i n hysteri a th e bod y speaks in place of the psyche. In effect, i t articulates what cannot be other wise expressed. 13. Germain e Greer , The Female Eunuch (London : Paladin , 1971) , pp . 318 and 55. 14. MacCabe an d Mulve y als o note th e homosexua l dimensio n o f th e anal rape in MacCabe, Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics, p. 98. 15. MacCabe an d Mulve y also read Sandrine' s constipatio n a s a socioeconomic metaphor i n MacCabe, Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics, p. 99. 16. See, for instance , Sigmun d Freud , The Interpretation of Dreams in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, vol. 4, pp. 119-20 . 17. Jea n Laplanche , Life and Death in Psychoanalysis, trans . Jeffre y Mehlman (Baltimore : Johns Hopkin s Universit y Press , 1976), pp. 25-41 , and 102 . 18. For a discussion o f th e operation s o f abjection , an d th e associatio n of the category of the abjec t with the feminine, se e Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection, trans. Leon S . Roudiez (Ne w York: Columbi a University Press , 1982). 19. Jean Colle t an d Jean-Paul Fargier , Jean-Luc Godard: Cinema d'aujourd'hui (Paris: Editions Seghers, 1974), p. 169.

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20. This i s a very Lacania n understandin g o f fatherhood . Se e Jacques Lacan, ''Functio n an d Fiel d of Speech and Languag e in Psychoanalysis/' i n Ecrits: A Selection, trans . Alan Sheridan (Ne w York: Norton, 1977) , p. 67. 21. Jonathan Rosenbau m suggest s that Number Two is itself " a factory landscape wher e anythin g become s possible" in "Numero deux," Sight and Sound, vol. 45, no. 2 (1976), 125.

Notes to Chapter 7 1. Godard ha s suggested that th e true subjec t o f Passion is "liaison." See Jean-Louis Leutrat , Des traces qui nous ressemblent (Bodoni: Editions Com pact, 1990) , p. 60. Marc Cerisuelo makes a similar claim in Jean-Luc Godard (Paris: Lherminier, Edition s des Quatre-Vents, 1989), p. 207. 2. As Peter Wolle n observe s i n "Passion 1," Framework no. 2 1 (1983) , p. 4, "I n Passion, the loo k . . .moves. Moreover, i t moves not simpl y throug h space exterior to the tableau, but int o it and within it. " 3. In the original painting, there is a second girl behind th e first, wh o is difficult t o make out. She is similarly dressed . 4. See Leutrat, Des traces qui nous ressemblent, p . 28. 5. In quoting dialogue from Passion, we have relied upon the script published i n UAvant-Scene Cinema, no. 380 (1989). 6. Leutrat makes a similar point i n Des traces qui nous ressemblent, p . 16. Sophie's line s com e fro m Eugen e Fromentin , Maitres d'autrefois (Paris: Le Livre de Poche, 1965), p. 317. 7. Leutrat als o notes th e Vermeer-lik e qualitie s o f thi s scen e (Des traces qui nous ressemblent, p. 27). 8. Bel a Balazs , Theory of the Film: Character and Growth of a New Art, trans. Edith Bone (New York: Dover, 1970), p. 46. 9. Walte r Benjami n associate s th e aur a wit h precisel y suc h a distance-in-closeness i n "Th e Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Repro duction," in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arend t (Ne w York: Schocken, 1969), pp. 222-23 . For Benjamin, cinem a i s definitionally anti-auratic , bu t Kaj a Silverman ha s argue d otherwis e i n The Threshold of the Visible World (New York: Routledge, 1996), pp. 83-104. 10. As Laura Mulvey was the firs t t o point out , i n Hollywoo d cinem a i t is usually me n wh o look , an d wome n wh o ar e looked a t (Visual and Other Pleasures [Bloomington : Indiana Universit y Press, 1989], pp. 14-26) . 11. Thi s i s one o f th e moment s i n Passion where Jerzy function s a s a stand-in fo r Godard . As Leutrat suggest s in Des traces qui nous ressemblent, what Godar d wrot e abou t Anthon y Man n an d hi s relationshi p t o th e Western als o applie s t o himsel f an d hi s relationshi p t o prio r texts : "H e reinvents it. It would b e better t o sa y 're-invents': he display s a t th e sam e

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time as to he dismantles, innovates at the sam e time as he copies, critique s at the sam e time as he creates" (pp. 22-23). Translation b y Kaja Silverman . 12. Gille s Deleuz e suggest s that , i n general , Godard' s metho d i s "th e method o f BETWEEN, 'between two images', which does away with al l cinema o f the One . It is the metho d o f AND, 'this an d the n that' , whic h doe s away with al l the cinem a o f Being . . . . Between tw o actions , between tw o affections, betwee n tw o perceptions, betwee n tw o visual images , betwee n two soun d images , betwee n th e soun d an d th e visual " (Cinema 2: The Time-Image, trans . Hugh Tomlinso n an d Rober t Galet a [Minneapolis : Min nesota Universit y Press, 1989], p. 180). 13. These kind s o f sensor y transfer s ar e typically Godardian . I n a con versation with Hanna Schygull a ("Passio n Kin o oder die Harte, alles zu registrieren," ed . Hein z Trenczak , blimp [Marc h 1985] , p . 8) , Godar d als o imagines speakin g with one' s ears, and seein g with one' s mouth . 14. The text whic h ha s most influence d contemporar y thinkin g i n thi s respect i s Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, trans. James Strache y (London : Hogart h Press, 1961), vol. 21, pp. 64-145. 15. This scen e actuall y combine s detail s fro m a series of Ingres ' paint ings. I n additio n t o Small Bather, i t draw s upo n Half-Length Study of a Woman (1807); Valpincon Bather (1808); and Interior of a Harem (1828). All of these painting s giv e th e centra l positio n t o th e woma n show n i n Small Bather. In Half-Length Study of a Woman, this figur e agai n turn s t o th e left , and he r fac e is visible. In Valpincon Bather, sh e sits alone on a bed i n a curtained space , wearing only a red and white turban. Again, a white towel or sheet i s wrapped aroun d he r lef t arm . In Interior of a Harem, the woma n i s nude excep t fo r a turban, an d onc e agai n he r bod y i s turned t o th e left , and he r hea d t o th e right . Sh e sits with a group o f othe r wome n aroun d a pool. This las t paintin g woul d see m t o provid e a particularly importan t prototype fo r th e Ingre s scen e i n Passion, suggesting—amon g othe r things—the "harem " idea . 16. Again, se e Civilization and Its Discontents. 17. A s Freu d make s clea r i n "Som e Psychica l Consequence s o f th e Anatomical Distinctio n betwee n th e Sexes, " in The Standard Edition, vol. 19, pp . 248-58 , ou r cultur e generall y map s "woundedness " ont o th e female genitals . 18. As Paul Willemen put s it , th e "between " i s what "connect s insid e and outside , here and there . . . th e psychic and the physical, phantasy an d the real. " It is thus "th e ultimat e refusa l o f binarism" ("Passion 3/' Framework no. 21 [1983] , p. 7). 19. Luc e Irigaray, "Sexua l Difference, " i n The Irigaray Reader, ed . Mar garet Whitford (Cambridge , Mass.: Basil Blackwood, 1991) , p. 171.

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20. Willemen make s a similar poin t i n "Passion 3," p. 7 . For a furthe r discussion o f anality, and it s gender ramifications, se e chapter 4 of the present volume . 21. See Leo Bronstein, El Greco (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1950), p. 126. 22. Again, see Bronstein, El Greco, p. 126, as well as Jose Gudiol, El Greco, 1541-1614, trans. Kenneth Lyon s (London: Seeker & Warburg, 1973), p. 252. 23. Ther e ar e thre e version s o f thi s painting . Th e on e upo n whic h Godard dre w woul d see m t o b e th e on e i n Schlof i Charlottenbur g i n Berlin. The other tw o are in th e Louvre , and i n th e Stadtische s Kunstinsti tut i n Frankfurt . 24. I n The Complete Paintings ofWatteau, intro . John Sutherlan d (Ne w York: Harry N. Abrams, 1971), Sutherland argue s that i t is unclear whethe r this paintin g show s a n embarkag e t o o r a departure fro m th e islan d o f love. Giovann i Macchi a make s th e sam e poin t i n Antoine Watteau (1684-1721): Le peintre, son temps et sa legende, ed . H . A. Millon, P . Rosenberg, and F . Moureau (Paris : Editions Clairefontaine , 1987) , p. 187.

Notes to Chapte r 8 1. In a German pres s conference , Godar d indicate d tha t h e i s working with a complex notio n o f quotatio n i n New Wave: "I tried t o establis h a balance betwee n literar y quotations , verba l quotations , an d als o quota tions fro m nature . I n thi s film, ther e i s the quotatio n o f water, th e quota tion o f trees " ("E s Wiederfinden, " Germa n trans . Han s Zischler , Taz, November 22,1990) . English translation b y Kaja Silverman . 2. Godard' s precis e word s are : "Th e cinem a mus t leav e th e quarter s where i t i s an d g o t o thos e wher e i t isn't " ("Lutte r su r deu x fronts, " i n Jean-Luc Godard par Jean-Luc Godard, ed . Alain Bergal a [Paris : Cahiers d u Cinema-Editions d e l'Etoile, 1985], p. 320). Translation b y Kaja Silverman . 3. In quoting from th e film, we have relied upon th e script published i n L'Avant-Scene Cinema, nos. 396/397 (November/Decembe r 1990) . 4. Our reading of New Wave draws here and elsewher e upon Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, trans . John Macquarri e an d Edwar d Robinso n (New York : Harpe r an d Row , 1962) . Heidegge r argue s ther e tha t w e ar e Dasein, beings who have a specific "da" or "there." We will be arguing tha t the landscape signifies Elen a and Lennox' s u da." 5. The ide a o f lov e a s the gif t o f what on e doesn' t posses s come s fro m Jacques Lacan , Le seminaire, livre VIII: le transfer, ed. Jacques-Alain Mille r and Judith Mille r (Paris : Seuil, 1991), p. 147. 6. Se e Sigmun d Freud , Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, i n The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works, trans. James Strache y (New York: Hogarth Press , 1953), vol. 7 , pp. 217-18.

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7. In The Crack-Up, with Other Uncollected Pieces, Note-Books and Unpublished Letters, ed . Edmun d Wilso n (Ne w York : New Directions , 1945) , p . 125, R Scott Fitzgeral d record s th e followin g exchang e betwee n himsel f and Ernes t Hemingway : Fitzgerald: 'Th e ric h ar e different fro m us. " Hemingway: "Yes , they have more money. " 8. The notion tha t th e all-importan t huma n projec t i s to sustai n desir e is centra l t o Lacan' s psychoanalyti c ethics . Se e The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book VII: The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-1960, trans . Dennis Porte r (New York: Norton, 1992) , pp. 291-325. 9. Lacan suggest s that th e imaginar y logi c subtending th e master/slav e relationship take s th e followin g form , whic h Elena' s declaratio n echoes : "If its you, I'm not. If it's me, it's you who isn't" (The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, trans. Sylvan a Tomasell i [Cambridge : Cambridg e Universit y Press, 1988], p. 169). 10. Se e Geor g F . W. Hegel , Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A.V . Mille r (New York: Oxford Universit y Press , 1977), pp. 111-19 . In Hegel , the slav e ultimately triumph s throug h work . 11. The Comedy of Dante Alighieri, the Florentine: Purgatory, trans . Dorothy L . Sayers (Ne w York: Penguin, 1955) , p. 126 . We have use d thi s translation fo r al l quotations fro m The Divine Comedy. 12. This phrase comes from John Keats' s "Ode to a Nightingale." 13. The story about th e dea d bee, which wil l be completed onl y later i n the film , come s from Howar d Hawkes' s To Have and Have Not (1944). 14. The Comedy of Dante Alighieri, the Florentine: Hell, trans. Dorothy L. Sayers (London: Penguin, 1949) , p. 71. 15. Arthur Rimbaud , "Lettr e a Paul Demeny , 1 5 Mai 1871, " in CEuvres completes, presentees e t etablie s pa r Loui s Forestier (Paris : Robert Laffont , 1992), p. 230. 16. See, for instance , Jacques Lacan , "Aggressivit y i n Psychoanalysis, " in Ecrits: A Selection, trans . Alan Sherida n (Ne w York: Norton, 1977) , p. 23. 17. For Hegel, the slave' s work i s that throug h whic h h e "posit s himself as a negative i n th e permanen t orde r o f things , an d thereb y become s for himself, someon e existing on his own account " (Phenomenology of the Spirit, p. 118) . 18. Heidegger, Being and Time, p. 220. 19. Heidegger, Being and Time, p. 373. 20. Dante, Purgatory, p . 88. 21. "Conduire" mean s "t o drive" as well as "to lead. "

About the Authors

Kaja Silverman i s Chancellor's Professo r o f Rhetoric and Fil m at th e University o f Californi a a t Berkeley . Sh e i s the autho r o f severa l books, including The Threshold of the Visible World, Male Subjectivity at the Margins, an d The Subject of Semiotics. Berlin-base d directo r and fil m essayis t Haru n Farock i ha s mad e ove r sevent y films , including Still Life, Workers Leaving the Factory, Videograms of a Revolution and Images of the World and the Inscription of War.