The last time Godard worked with a big crew and budget, he made this late
vintage masterpiece. As it explores cinema's relationship to the
western art tradition, some familiarity with art history helps, but
isn't essential. There are many characters and narratives; the main
strand concerns a director who's trying to make cinematic equivalents
of paintings by Rembrandt and Delacroix, but gets derailed because his
financiers want a story. The studio-set recreations are stunning,
thanks to Raoul Coutard's cinematography; but the images of the world
outside - changing skies, with aeroplane vapour trails like humanity
on the face of God - show a mature depth that was new in Godard's work.
