This three-disc collection features a quartet of later (and, sadly, lesser) features from the Jean-Luc Godard canon. The best known of the set is First Name: Carmen (1983), a modernized spin on the Prosper Merimee tale (which jettisons Bizet's music for Beethoven's). Carmen is now part of a terrorist group trying to rob a bank, but she becomes romantically involved with the policeman guarding her target, and Godard himself turns up as her filmmaker uncle. It's an amusing, off-kilter work, if also clearly a minor gem in comparison to Godard's earlier classics. The rest of the films, however, are just plain forgettable. Passion (1982), a dreary tale of a Polish filmmaker stranded in Paris during the Solidarity uprising, is barely redeemed by its charismatic stars Michel Piccoli, Isabelle Huppert, and Hanna Schygulla. Detective (1985) serves up an incomprehensible riff on vintage B-movie mayhem with its opaque plot revolving around murder, boxing, debt collection, and a fraying marriage (again, the cast—including Nathalie Baye, Johnny Hallyday, and Jean-Pierre Leaud—save this from being absolutely monotonous). But not even Gerard Depardieu can salvage the one-joke Oh, Woe is Me (1993), in which he plays a filmmaker who becomes possessed by God. Godard fans are likely to look beyond the obvious failings here (self-indulgence trumps style and experimentation almost always backfires into tiresome shtick), but this is strictly optional for all others. (P. Hall)
Jean-Luc Godard: 3-Disc Collector's Edition
Lionsgate, 3 discs, 354 min., not rated/R, DVD: $34.98 March 31, 2008
Jean-Luc Godard: 3-Disc Collector's Edition
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: