La Chinoise

This 1967 effort from the prolific, influential, and frankly erratic Jean-Luc Godard marked an important step toward the director's “middle period” of political and cinematic radicalism. In fact, La Chinoise's portrayal of five young people debating the niceties of communist doctrine and gravitating toward terrorism is often seen as a prophetic work, foreshadowing—if not encouraging—the Paris student riots of 1968. Forty years later, La Chinoise remains a remarkable stylistic exercise, exhibiting a playful, sometimes exhausting editing style (one of Godard's trademarks), even if it seems somewhat dated in narrative terms. Watching—and listening to—these would-be revolutionaries endlessly mouth passages from Mao's Little Red Book and condemn the evils of revisionist Soviet Marxism as compared to the purity of the Chinese Cultural Revolution can be a daunting experience, even when said revolutionaries are played by such attractive thespians as Jean-Pierre Léaud and Anne Wiazemsky (Godard's wife-to-be). And while there are moments that prompt a sardonic smile—i.e., an assassination attempt that appears to have targeted the wrong man—for the most part this quintet of plotters are treated seriously, even though the absurdity of this privileged bunch hatching their schemes while happily ensconced in a plush bourgeois apartment is all too evident. Overall, La Chinoise is an intriguing historical curio, as well as a significant work in the evolution of a master 20th-century filmmaker. DVD extras include a revealing interview with Wiazemsky, vintage footage of Godard, and a brief intro by Godard expert Colin MacCabe. Recommended. (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—Oct. 31, 2017—Kino Lorber, 96 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1967's La Chinoise features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by film historian James Quandt, interviews with costar Michel Semeniako (39 min.), film historian Antoine de Baecque (31 min.), assistant director Charles Bitsch (20 min.), writer Denitza Bantcheva (19 min.), and second assistant director Jean-Claude Sussfeld (18 min.), and a booklet with essays by film critics Richard Hell and Amy Taubin. Bottom line: this Godard classic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]