Contempt
This summer, enthusiastic fans (and fans-to-be) of the French New Wave are in for a delight: a 60th Anniversary restoration in 4K of Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris! Given a big budget, lavish locations and a movie star for the first time, Godard continued to do exactly as he wanted, famously putting the obligatory nude scene with Brigitte Bardot in the opening minutes, to get it out of the way. Contempt opens as the star (Bardot) and her screenwriter husband (Piccoli) begin an update of Homer’s Odyssey on the stunning island of Capri. Standing in the way are a brash Hollywood producer (Jack Palance) and an egotistical director (the great Fritz Lang). Bardot suspects her husband of setting her up with the American producer, and the crumbling of their marriage is as expressive as anything in Godard’s many films.
