The Redoutable review: Following a festival low with The Search back in 2014, Michel Hazanavicius returns for another pop at Cannes with a film based on French film god Jean-Luc Godard.
The Redoutable review by Paul Heath at the 2017 Festival de Cannes.
The Redoutable review
It has been six years since Michel Hazanavicius wowed the international film community with his Best Picture Oscar-winning silent movie The Artist back in 2011. With work on Les infidèles, a feature containing a series of short movies dropping the following year, and then war drama The Search arriving in 2014, the French director returns to the world of motion picture-themed narrative with this comedy-drama focusing on famed auteur Jean-Luc Godard in the time period of his second marriage 17-year old actress Anne Wiazemsky.
Related: The Square review (Cannes 2017)
The year is 1968 and French filmmaker Godard (Louis Garrel) is at the peak of his career, both Breathless and Week End already in his past. France itself is at a point of turmoil, the country on the brink of crisis with an uprising bringing it to an economic halt. Godard himself has fallen for the young actress Wiazemsky (Stacy Martin) after shooting the film La Chinoise. Living in Paris, the director is toying with politics and balancing it against his art, his new life with his new bride who is still pursuing her own career, her newfound love obviously now having an influence on her choices. The Redoutable of the title comes from a radio broadcast overheard by the pair comparing themselves to the brave crew of a French nuclear submarine of the same name. Anne Wiazemsky wrote two books about her life with Jean-Luc Godard between 1966 and 1969 and is from here that Hazanavicius bases his screenplay on her autobiography “Un an après”.
The Redoutable review
Hazanavicius’ film is enjoyable and it certainly plays more like an all-out comedy than that of a straight drama ‘biopic’, the film constantly breaking the fourth wall, which is sometimes, though not always welcomed. It is very much a pastiche, one seen jumping out with the two actors appearing on screen commenting against gratuitous nudity in film which both chatting completely naked. This is certainly an accessible film, but it will be interesting to see if it translates past its domestic territories. Hazanavicius has stated that the contains a main character that is named Jean-Luc Godard, but this isn’t necessarily a film about his life. That said, lead Garrel is absolutely fantastic in bringing a younger version of the film-making god to life. The resemblance is astonishing.
The structure is formed through chapters which also works, but it almost makes the film feel longer and more drawn out than it really is, and the viewer – us certainly – found ourselves looking down at our watches as the narrative begins to fizzle before drawing proceedings to a close.
The strong lead performances make this a film worth seeking out, along with Hazanavicius’ distinct style which struck a chord with audiences back in 2011, but pure die-hard Godard fans may not necessarily agree with the approach.
The Redoutable review by Paul Heath, May 2017.
The Redoutable review is currently awaiting a release.
