''Contempt'' () is a 1963

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

, based on

Alberto Moravia Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia i ...

’s 1954 novel '' Il disprezzo''. It follows a playwright, Paul Javal, whose marriage begins to fall apart during the troubled production of a film adaptation of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

’s ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''. The film stars

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress, singer, and model as well as an animal rights activist. Famous for portraying characters with Hedonism, hedonistic life ...

Michel Piccoli Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 – 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...

, Jack Palance,

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

, and Giorgia Moll.

Plot

Paul Javal, a young French playwright who has achieved commercial success in Rome, accepts an offer from Jerry Prokosch, a vulgar American producer, to rework the script for Austrian director

's screen adaptation of the ''Odyssey''. Paul's wife, Camille Javal, joins him on the first day of the project at Cinecittà. After initial discussions, Prokosch invites the crew to his villa and offers Camille a ride in his two-seat sports car. Camille looks to Paul to decline the offer, but he passively withdraws, opting to follow by taxi instead, leaving Camille alone with Prokosch. Paul does not catch up with them until 30 minutes later, explaining that he was delayed by a traffic accident. Camille grows uneasy, secretly doubting his honesty and suspecting that he is using her to strengthen his ties with Prokosch. Her misgivings deepen when she witnesses Paul groping Prokosch's secretary, Francesca. Back at their apartment, Paul and Camille discuss the subtle tension that has arisen between them in the first few hours of the project. Camille suddenly announces to her bewildered husband that she no longer loves him. Hoping to rekindle Camille's affection, Paul convinces her to accept Prokosch's invitation to join them for filming in

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

. Prokosch and Lang are locked in a conflict over the correct interpretation of Homer's work, a stalemate exacerbated by the difficulty of communication between the German director, the French screenwriter, and the American producer. Francesca acts as an interpreter, mediating all conversations. When Paul sides with Prokosch against Lang by suggesting that Odysseus left home because of his wife's infidelity, Camille's suspicions of her husband's servility are confirmed. She deliberately allows Paul to find her in Prokosch's embrace, and in the ensuing confrontation, she implies that her respect for him has turned to contempt because she believes he has bartered her to Prokosch. Paul denies this accusation, offering to sever his ties with the film and leave Capri, but Camille refuses to recant and departs for Rome with the producer. After a car crash in which Camille and Prokosch are killed, Paul prepares to leave Capri and return to the theater. Lang, meanwhile, continues working on the film.

Cast

as Camille Javal *

as Paul Javal * Jack Palance as Jeremiah Prokosch * Giorgia Moll as Francesca Vanini *

as himself * Raoul Coutard as the cameraman *

as Lang's assistant director * Linda Veras as a Siren

Production

Italian film producer Carlo Ponti approached Godard to discuss a possible collaboration; Godard suggested an adaptation of Moravia's novel '' Il disprezzo'' (originally translated into English with the title ''A Ghost at Noon'') in which he saw

Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and a s ...

and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

as the leads; they refused. Ponti suggested

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

and

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

, whom Godard refused. Anna Karina (by then Godard's former wife) later revealed that the director had traveled to Rome to ask

Monica Vitti Maria Luisa Ceciarelli (3 November 1931 – 2 February 2022), known professionally as Monica Vitti, was an Italian actress who starred in several award-winning films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni during the 1960s. She appeared with Marcel ...

if she would portray the female lead. However the Italian actress reportedly turned up an hour late, "staring out the window like she wasn't interested at all". Finally, Bardot was chosen because of the producer's insistence that the profits might be increased by displaying her famously sensual body. This provided the film's opening scene, filmed by Godard as a typical mockery of the cinema business with tame nudity. The scene was shot after Godard considered the film finished, at the insistence of the American co-producers. In the film, Godard cast himself as Lang's assistant director, and characteristically has Lang expound many of Godard's New Wave theories and opinions. Godard also employed the two "forgotten" New Wave filmmakers, Luc Moullet and Jacques Rozier, on the film. Bardot visibly reads a book about Fritz Lang that was written by Moullet, and Rozier made the documentary short about the making of the film '' Le Parti des Choses''. Godard admitted to changing the original novel, "but with full permission" of Moravia, the original writer. Among his changes were focusing the action to only a few days and changing the writer character from being "silly and soft. I've made him more American—something like a

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

type." Half the film's budget went on Bardot's fee.

Filming

''Contempt'' was filmed in Italy where it is set, with location shooting at the Cinecittà studios in Rome and the Casa Malaparte on

island. In a sequence, the characters played by Piccoli and Bardot wander through their apartment alternately arguing and reconciling. Godard filmed the scene as an extended series of

tracking shot In cinematography, a tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. Mostly the camera’s position is parallel to the character, creating a sideway motion, tracking the chara ...

s, in natural light and in near real-time. The cinematographer Raoul Coutard also shot some of the other ''nouvelle vague'' films, including Godard's '' Breathless'' (1960). According to

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...

, Godard was also directly influenced by Jean-Daniel Pollet and

Volker Schlöndorff Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He ha ...

's '' Méditerranée'', released earlier the same year. Godard admitted his tendency to get actors to improvise dialogue "during the peak moment of creation" often baffled them. "They often feel useless," he said. "Yet they bring me a lot... I need them, just as I need the pulse and colours of real settings for atmosphere and creation."

Critical reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called the film "luxuriant" but wrote that Godard "could put his talents to more intelligent and illuminating use"; according to Crowther, who is unclear about the motivations of the main characters, "Mr. Godard has attempted to make this film communicate a sense of the alienation of individuals in this complex modern world. And he has clearly directed to get a tempo that suggests irritation and ennui." Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

wrote that ''Contempt'' "is not one of the great Godard films, for reasons it makes clear. In a way, it’s about its own shortcomings. ..It is interesting to see, and has moments of brilliance (the marital argument, the use of the villa steps), but its real importance is as a failed experiment. ''Contempt'' taught Godard he could not make films like this, and so he included himself out, and went on to make the films he could make." '' Sight & Sound'' critic Colin MacCabe referred to ''Contempt'' as "the greatest work of art produced in postwar Europe." On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 65 reviews, with an average score of 8.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "This powerful work of essential cinema joins ' meta' with ' physique,' casting Brigitte Bardot and director Godard's inspiration Fritz Lang."

Legacy

French journalist Antoine de Gaudemar made a one-hour documentary in 2009 about ''Contempt'', ''Il était une fois... Le Mépris'' (''A Film and Its Era: Contempt'') using footage from Jacques Rozier's earlier documentaries ''

Paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

'' (1963), ''Le Parti des Choses'' (1964), and André S. Labarthe's ''Le dinosaure et le bébé'' (1967). In 2012, Godard's film ranked 21st on critic's poll and 44th on director's poll in '' Sight & Sound'' magazine's 100 greatest films of all time list. The extended apartment sequence that occurs in the film, where Paul and Camille's marriage unravels, has been praised by critics and scholars. In February 2012, ''Interiors'', an online journal that is concerned with the relationship between architecture and film, released an issue that discussed how space is used in this scene. The issue highlights how Jean-Luc Godard uses this constricted space to explore Paul and Camille's declining relationship. The song "Theme de Camille", which was originally composed for ''Contempt'', is used as a main theme in the 1995 film ''

Casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

''. A still from the film was used as the official poster for the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian filmmaker George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and ...

. In 2018, the film ranked 60th on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's list of the 100 greatest foreign-language films, as voted on by 209 film critics from 43 countries.

References

External links

* * * *
"''Contempt'': The Story of a Marriage"
essay by Phillip Lopate at

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

Raoul Coutard talks about the filming of ''Contempt''
from webofstories.com

from ''The New York Times'' (login required) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Contempt 1963 films 1963 drama films 1960s satirical films CinemaScope films English-language French films English-language Italian films Films about film directors and producers Films about screenwriters Films based on Italian novels Films based on works by Alberto Moravia Films directed by Jean-Luc Godard Films scored by Georges Delerue Films scored by Piero Piccioni Films set in Italy Films shot in Italy French drama films 1960s French-language films French satirical films 1960s German-language films Italian drama films 1960s Italian-language films Italian satirical films 1960s multilingual films French multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films German-language French films Fritz Lang