 |
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
 |
|
Fritz Lang (himself) is directing the Odyssey, but while he
wants to make the film true to Homer's original, his producer Prokosch
(Jack Palance) wants a reinterpreted version of the story - even if it
makes little sense - and to that end, he hires screenwriter Paul (Michel
Piccoli), to add a little pizzaz to the screenplay. Paul happily accepts,
mainly because he needs the money for a downpayment on the appartment he
and his lovely wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) have just moved to. And though
he's in no way convinced by Prokosch's reinterpretation of the Odyssey,
he soon acts as a puppet for his new boss and even tries to get his wife
to be a little nice to him.
Eventually, the action shifts to Prokosch's private villa on Capri,
where Paul and Camille and Fritz Lang are the producer's guests - and it
is here where Paul has to realize his relationship to Camille is
crumbling: Because of his attitude towards both Prokosch and herself,
Camille has fallen out of love with Paul and starts feeling growing
contempt, all the more so because he doesn't seem to realize where he has
gone wrong and thinks it is only because she thinks he had an affair with
Prokosch's assistant (Georgia Moll) - which he in fact didn't. Worse yet,
he thinks he does everything she's loathing so much only for her ...
In the end, the couple split up, and Camille is driving back to Rome
with Prokosch, who has always been longing for her ... when a truck hits
their car and they both die instantly ...
Jean-Luc Godard at his best: Despite a certain heavy-handedness of
Alberto Moravia's source novel, Godard has created a great looking
melodrama that's both intelligent and entertaining and that despite the
lack of too much of a story keeps the audience glued to the screen
throughout, thanks to perfect pacing, flashy camerawork, beautiful
locations, Brigitte Bardot's frequent nude scenes (no full frontal or even
nipples, but plenty of shots of her perfect behind), witty dialogue that's
not too brain-heavy, great acting by all of the involved and an almost
infectuous fascination towards filmmaking as such.
Recommended.
|