[3.5]
At only an hour, this quick but effective film certainly feels like a truncated feature. Godard introduces a theme, sets the mood, and then the film concludes. The narrative premise (a French spy is recalled from his Berlin hideaway, now that the Cold War has seemingly come to an end after the fall of the wall) seems rife with potential, but Godard is content with hitting the highlights and then dropping the mic. We see a market of goods being hawked on street corners as souvenirs of a time that is now ending, the normalized chaos, the shrug of history. The events come as a surprise, but also inevitable. America (and France) have won, while Russia lurks in the background (as represented by Aeroflot, with a hammer and sickle logo). It’s great seeing Eddie Constantine reprise his Lemmy Caution character, confused and tired, wandering aimlessly through ruins that look straight from the immediate post-WWII years. At the end, he reaches “The West’, a hotel that demands tips as bribery (everything is commerce, a slick transactionalism). A maid cleaning his room tells Lemmy that “work sets you free”, an eerie callback to the sign over the Auschwitz entrance, forcing an uncomfortable confrontation between the ideas of capitalism and fascism. The movie isn’t just about the dawn of a new European order, it’s also a meditation on German cinema, and Godard utilizes plenty of on-screen techniques that he will continue to explore with HISTOIRE(S) DU CINEMA. This is still a Godard film, so it’s both complex and at times tedious. Full of ideas and captivating imagery, it’s definitely worth a rewatch.
burning retina 