Seul le cinéma

Years after the first two bizarre chapters of Godard's experimental video art semi-documentary project 'Histoire(s) du cinema' were released, he returned to the project w/this third chapter. For the series, it is certainly something of a change of pace and style, although it still remains highly experimental, playful, surreal, and strange, and many of the same techniques are used. This time around, however, Godard has some new things going on. Much of the earlier part of the episode is made up of Godard speaking w/film critic Serge Daney about the very project where are witnessing, discussing the histor(ies) of cinema and where Godard fits in and how to approach the overall topic. Their discussion is my least favourite part of this installment, as it feels a tad bit self indulgent and pretentious to me, however, it still delves into some very interesting topics and both men do have some rather unique and compelling observations to make.

The episode gets better when Julie Delpy shows up and goes off on some poetic pseudo-monologue(s) as Godard inserts plenty of stills and clips from films like 'The Night of the Hunter' and even, here and there, 'Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom', among many others. There's a point in which the conversation between Godard and Serge Daney returns as the Julie Deply segment continues, leading to some strange and compelling overlapping of the two main pieces of this episode. In the end, Godard has clearly crafted another fascinating and occasionally fun episode of this unique beyond belief mini series about cinema itself, of which he is most certainly one of the kings.