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Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang, Giorgia Moll ... see more see more... , Linda Veras , Raoul Coutard

Contempt is the story of the end of a marriage. Camille (Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with her husband Paul (Michel Piccoli) while he is rewriting the screenplay Odyssey by American producer Jer... read more read more...emiah Prokosch (Jack Palance). Just as the director of Prokosch's film, Fritz Lang, says that The Odyssey is the story of individuals confronting their situations in a real world, Le Mépris itself is an examination of the position of the filmmaker in the commercial cinema. Godard himself was facing this situation in the production of Le Mépris. Italian producer Carlo Ponti had given him the biggest budget of his career, and he found himself working with a star of Bardot's magnitude for the first time. ~ Louis Schwartz, Rovi

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85% liked it

9,618 ratings

Critics

93% liked it

40 critics

PG, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard

Release Date: March 14, 2008

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DVD Release Date: November 26, 2002

Stats: 738 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (738)

  • SirPant
    January 11, 2012
    SirPant
    Le Mepris is one of my more favourite Jean-Luc Godard films, a director who is very up and down in my book. There was a real trend of film within a film films around this time, all the greats have tried it but very few seem to pull it off successfully - Godard is in that few. Ok,... read more so the film dips between two peaks, but getting Fritz Lang to play himself was quite a coup and Jack Palance's performance is brilliant as it is amusing, although I doubt that was intentional. Tongue, I'm guessing, was firmly in cheek throughout though I'd imagine. I think it was a great experiment and it didn't come at the expense of the entertainment value - in fact, it makes you wonder if Godard might just have been a better, or should I say, could have made much better films if he'd had better budgets!? Anyway, I liked this a lot - It's got Brigitte Badot's bare behind in it for Christ sake, what's not to like about that?
  • axadntpron
    June 27, 2011
    axadntpron
    Godard's first major international picture is a visual feast. The use of Cinescope is startling and the colors are so brilliant that they seem to leap off the screen. Godard also utilizes some of the subtly hypnotic camera work that we saw in his previous films. For instance, in ... read moreone conversation between Camille and Paul, Godard lifts a scene verbatim from 1962's Vivre Sa Vie.
    Aside from the camera work, the film is a heartbreaking look at the disintegration of a marriage, the price of selling out, and the constant tug of war between the classical and the modern. It moves at a snail's pace but once you get a feel for it, it can at times be rather touching.
    With that said, I feel like Godard missed a lot of opportunities to achieve a genuine catharsis. The ambiguity of Bardot's contempt for her husband places a wall between the characters and the viewer. While I can appreciate ambiguity, in a film which centers on a single relationship I think the audience needs more to run with.
    On top of this, Palance's performance seemed to rub me the wrong way. I know that he is the greedy American producer, but his performance seemed way too over the top to be believable.
    While not Godard's best, it is definitely worth a watch.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    December 19, 2010
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "There's nothing like the movies. Usually, when you see women, they're dressed. But put them in a movie, and you see their backsides."

    Paul Javal is a writer who is hired to make a script for a new movie about Ulysses more commercial, which is to be directed by Fritz Lang... read more and produced by Jeremy Prokosch. But because he let his wife Camille drive with Prokosch and he is late, she believes, he uses her as a sort of present for Prokosch to get get a better payment.

    REVIEW

    While he became far too self-indulgent later on in his career, from "Breathless" through "Week End", I am fascinated by Jean-Luc Goddard. No other filmmaker of the time managed to toy with the medium as well as he did. When it comes to meta-fiction, self reference, or breaking the forth wall, nobody can quite match Godard. In many ways, "Contempt" is one of his more restrained films, possibly since it was produced by a major studio with renowned film stars and a bigger budget. It isn't nearly as insane or shocking as "Band of Outsiders" or "Week End". However, this forced Godard to be a bit more subtle, as this contains some of his most vicious and biting attacks on the commercialization of art. Godard recognized that the major studio would attempt to bowdlerize his work, so he created a film for them about an artist being forced to compromise for profit.

    Past the always interesting self reference, another reason this film works so well is that its possibly the most human of Godard's works. More than ever, his characters don't appear as revolutionary mouthpieces but actual people. Maybe its because he saw a lot of himself in the main character played by Michael Piccoli, but both him and the gorgeous Bridgette Bardot play well-rounded and sympathetic characters. This is just another layer to a complex film, one which poses questions and forces you to devise answers by watching it repeatedly. This isn't my personal favorite by Godard (that is, again, "Band of Outsiders"), but its another constantly fascinating film from the cinema's most restless experimenter.
  • mjgildea
    December 2, 2010
    mjgildea
    Admittedly, I've had a copy of this movie for years but have never gotten through the whole thing until last night. Jesus Christ, was a pretentious piece of shit. I don't think I've hated a movie this much since Jules and Jim. And I've seen Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. ... read moreSome nice cinematography, Jack Palance's amusing for his first 15 minutes turn as the ugly American producer and Bardot's ass are the only reasons I don't entirely regret watching this movie. (But even her ass got old after a few minutes. There. I said it.) Okay, maybe Fritz Lang too but his appearance aside, there was not a single character in this movie that I cared about. Just a lot of fickle arguments in scenes that go on way too long. The dramatic score had an effect until it got played every six seconds and while I don't agree, this movie fully explains to me why people can hate foreign films. For me, trying to stay interested in this movie was like babysitting a bipolar beauty pageant winner on ecstasy -- I started off kind of interested, was quickly filled with hate, but ultimately finished the job because I told myself I would.
  • blacksheepboy
    November 2, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    A powerful, devastating story that hurts deep inside, portraying with painful honesty the gradual dismantling of a marriage triggered by an ambiguous lack of trust. A big-budget Godard film that blends intellectual musings and sentiment in a very unique way.
  • bookmunki
    May 24, 2010
    bookmunki
    Cinematically rich! The dissolution of a marriage is poetically juxtaposed to the mythic tale of 'The Odyssey.' This film is also a commentary on artistic compromise and the process of filmmaking. To me, the difference between Odysseus' character analysis within the film and b... read moreook is of paramount interest. In the film, only two alternatives are provided, by the producer and director, and Paul chooses a vision. However, in the book, the script writer has his own perspective. Even more telling is the view espoused by the producer in the film (actually the director in the book), reveals a demythologized, anti-heroric, debased world, which Paul fully supports. The compromise is complete!!!
  • sanjurosamurai
    January 22, 2010
    sanjurosamurai
    when marital bliss turns into marital discord, it can be swift, painful, and incredibly confusing. some of the shots in this film are phenomenal and the landscapes in the later part of the film are picture perfect. it was excellent to see fritz lang play himself in a fairly lar... read morege role in this film but i have just one question i must seek an answer to - at the end when we see lang directing a scene of the odyssey, was that scene his vision or was it godard directing lang on how to direct that scene?
  • ebs90
    May 7, 2008
    ebs90
    Although, visually, it is highly poetic, and although Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, and Fritz Lang shine in certain scenes, Le Mepris drags its confusing message for an hour and a half of creative editing and stunning cinematography.

    Apparently, Godard's film is a critic to... read morewards the Hollywood perspective of cinema. It is also an honest "scene from a marriage" because the conflicts between Paul and his wife Camille are absolutely believable.

    Unfortunately, I found Godard's criticism to wear off after the first half of the film and the love/hate story also lost my interest towards that moment. I think perhaps he got lost in getting his opinion across, to the point he didn't bother to maintain the allure Le Mepris has during its first quarter. For example, the very opening scene in which Camille asks Paul whether he loves *all* of her is unique in cinema. But for the most part, the rest ranges from good to dull.

    All in all, Le Mepris has some good scenes and dialog and it must definitely be seen for its value as one of Godard's most well-known and mainstream films, but I didn't find it to have the same innovative, rebellious, in-your-face attitude and energy as Masculin/Feminin, for example. Knowing how far Godard could go and how much he could challenge his audience, this film just seems a little tame.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    March 1, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    First movie i tried to watch from Godard, and yes, i used "tried" in the best way possible. I'll stick with what Herzog thinks about that french snob.

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  • fb1266827685
    December 25, 2010
    fb1266827685
    Wow! This was wonderful!
    It was shot in a format that felt very still and calm (compared to Godard's other on-the-spot style), yet it retained a lot of the new-wave French elements of film (audio and such).
    The music was beautiful and haunting, but it is not in the technical are... read moreas that this film is amazing, but in the dialogue to which the technical elements serve in harmony.
    The dialogue was incredible, and it felt so true between Paul and Camille as their marriage collapses. Yes, I found myself constantly shouting in my mind "just stop!", but don't we all in tough relationships and conflicts? At every moment that a resolution seemed to have been found, one would say to the other something that could keep the fire of their argument alive. It all started with suspicion that sprouted into jealousy that developed into action (all of which was shrouded in misunderstanding).
    As I said, this film is beautiful. A very impressive display of Godard's talent.
    I hope to read the book that inspired this soon.

View All Le Mépris (Contempt) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Ty Burr
April 11, 2008
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

What's the price of selling out? Contempt asks the question of its characters, its audience, and its own director. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 20, 2003
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Godard sets interesting scenes, with provocative color combinations and a suggestive pictorial flow. But out of it all comes nothing -- or very little that tells you why this wife is so contemptuous o... Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
January 1, 2000
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

I would argue that Godard's eclecticism must be acknowledged and understood before one can genuinely appreciate the film. Full Review

Jeff Millar
January 1, 2000
Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle

This one has too much forced intellectualism to it, even though it is an engrossing time capsule.

Edward Guthmann
January 1, 2000
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle

It takes its artistic agenda seriously, but also luxuriates in the sensuality and plasticity of film images. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Contempt was Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 attempt at a big-budget, big- star production, and more or less satisfied his curiosity. Full Review

Charles Taylor
January 1, 2000
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

It emerges as one of Godard's most emotional films. Full Review

Dan Jardine
July 12, 2011
Dan Jardine, Daily-Reviews

Who is the Godard guy and how could he make something as humdrum yet full-of-itself as Contempt? Full Review

Emanuel Levy
April 9, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Godard's self-reflexive meditation about love, marriage, and filmmaking is a masterpiece, which among other things, proves that sex symbol Brigitte Bardot could act. Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf
March 14, 2008
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

Godard has finally dared to get serious, achieving not mock pathos but a perfect tragedy. Full Review

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