Godard Mon Amour Playlist

Godard Mon Amour Playlist

Such is life on board the Redoubtable

     It was February of 2004. I went to see The Dreamers (2004) with a friend for my birthday. We had no idea what we were getting into. I was a fan of provocative indie cinema, like that of Larry Clark, Harmony Korine, & Lars Von Trier, but nothing could have prepared me for Bertolucci's love letter to late 60s French Cinema. In particular, the Nouvelle Vague. Sure, The Dreamers was a gateway drug into everything French Cinema but, more importantly, it kickstarted my obsession with French Pop Ye-Ye songs.

My mother, who grew up in Saigon, listened frequently to the likes of Francoise Hardy and Sylvie Vartan so when I heard Tous les garcons et les filles I was transported back in time when I would hear these songs in my childhood. More than anything, the nostalgia and retro mod chic style of the era  gave me an unhealthy obsession with all things 1960s and French. I devoured all of Godard's early work. I came to admire the childlike wonder and romanticism of early Truffaut. And I all but fainted over the pulpy, zen cool of Jean-Pierre Melville.

Godard Mon Amour (2017) is something of a wonder to that pretentious, self-absorbed, yet idealistic "world is my oyster" version of myself. I regurgitated Maoisms and Oliver Stone leftist cinema perspectives. I listened to Rage Against The Machine. But something about Godard's early work gave me a newfound adoration of not only transcendent cinema but the poetic nature of youthful rebellion and of pop culture. Watching Louis Garrel , who ironically starred in Bertolucci's The Dreamers - the film that perversely got me into Godard and Nouvelle Vague, as Jean-Luc Godard, was something of a revelation. His egomaniacal and elitist mannerisms, his high-brow view of art as an ever changing revolution (all while rejecting any and all outside forms of this change), his love for youth culture amidst the self-loathing of his own misanthropic aging all struck a personal chord for me. He's a walking, endlessly talking, contradiction. But I digress.

It is really Stacy Martin's Anne Wiazemsky's perspective, though, that gives this movie, not only a jubilant frame of reference and structure, but of a romanticism of an old Godard that ultimately he himself rejects and disavows like his first film, Breathless (1959). Stacy Martin's stunning visage and uncanny resemblance to Chantal Goya is only matched by her transformative naiveté and mastery of the French language. Sure, a critic could say her character is not a strong female presence. That she doesn't have agency or independence. But that's not the point. Her wide eyed youthful adoration of the idea of Godard is what makes the brutal realism of the eventual downfall of their marriage and relationship tragic and something on par with the breakup scene in Godard's own Contempt (1963) or even Linklater's Before Midnight (2013).

(I'd like to interrupt this blog post and apologize for my self-indulgence and the longer-than-usual duration of this post. I didn't mean to write a review for the film. I just wanted to add some context to my perspective of the film. But if you'd like to read a more in depth write-up, read this Variety review.)

This is a delightful gem of a film. And the soundtrack is so eclectic and never misses a beat and never takes you out of the film nor calls attention to itself. I do wish it had more bubblegum Ye-Ye pop or some Hendrix or just more. But it is probably more than enough. A couple of tracks in particular are standouts. First, Renato Carosone's Magic Moments from the film's trailer is so cheerful and catchy. How can you not be happy listening to it? Of course, there's the Martial Solal rendition of Michel Legrand's iconic New York Herald Tribune piece from the Breathless score. But once in a blue moon, you'll hear the holy grail of eclectic gems from a movie soundtrack. And that track is Tayla Ferro's Cuando Calienta El Sol. Whoa! This song knocked me on my ass when I heard it in the film. One of those songs you immediately search for after watching the film. I'm so glad I did. :)

So enjoy the playlist, fellow cineastes and cinefiles!