Analysis Of Jean-Luc Godard Weekend

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Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend, released in 1967, embodies the entirety of the French New Wave cinema in its prime, as well as being a masterpiece and a hit worldwide. Strewn with different types of cuts and camera angles, as well as lots of bright colors, Godard creates a humorous, crash-filled piece with a dark underlying plot. The combination of these seemingly opposing factors only adds to the genius of Godard, who throughout the piece alludes to something deeper thematically- the human self-destruction of civilization.
From the very beginning of the movie, in the opening car crash scene, the movie starts with a literal bang. Godard seems to enjoy cars and chasing them and crashing them, just like the car chase from his movie two years prior, Alphaville. From that point forward, the psychopathic couple have tons of different odd encounters, and go through many crash-filled roads on their journey. Godard somehow manages to mesh humor and violence in the movie extremely well, somehow making all the violent acts seem much more nonchalant; for example, when waiting for a ride Corinne casually gets raped, and then the story moves on. The inclusion of all these random, weird, and somewhat terrifying acts only aid in Godard’s view of the “terrible” world and the people that inhabit it. Although these acts are appalling and a little demented, the nonchalant-ness that the tone of the movie gives leaves the audience entranced, and wondering what will happen next.
Aside from the rapturous plot and many side stories of Weekend, the shots and angles that Godard uses definitely help to draw the audience in as well. The entire course of the movie is found with long shot after long shot, each seemingly endless as the screen keeps moving slowly ...

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...though a little wry, was that Roland and Corinne speed by the accident as if nothing happened, not taking a second to reflect at the situation around them and just ready to get back on the road. However, a ton of the greatness of the shot comes from that exactly, the shot. Godard uses the tracking shot a lot throughout the course of the movie, however here, it’s spectacular. It’s longer than ever before, and is extremely smooth and consistent, making it easily the greatest long shot of its time, and definitely earns a spot amongst the tops today. New things keep popping into the screen for the viewer, and keeps them extremely interested and excited for what’s next. This famous and revolutionary shot, as well as others like these, exemplify the greatness of Godard, and are what create the characteristics and add to the supremacy of the French New Wave cinematic era.

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