Review: 'Film Socialisme', an essay-film by Jean-Luc Godard

And you thought Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life was a complex, unapproachable film. Last night I went to see Jean-Luc Godard's latest and maybe final film Film Socialisme, which premiered over one year ago at the Cannes Film Festival to general bewilderment.

I admit that it is hard to say anything against an 80-year-old man who is universally acknowledged as the filmmaker who changed the course of film history with his first long feature Breathless (À Bout de souffle) more than half a century ago, but his latest work is too vast and obscure to be understood, let alone enjoyed.

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The classics of Imitation weekly (2): Le départ (1967), by Jerzy Skolimowski

Le départ (The departure) (1967) (93 min)

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski

Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Catherine Duport, Jacqueline Bir, Paul Roland, Leon Dony, Lucien Charbonnier

(See general spoiler policy for this section)

The first film Skolimowski made out of Poland is an offbeat story of a young Belgian hairdresser apprentice (Jean-Pierre Léaud) driven by a compulsive obsession to become a racing driver. Together with his girlfriend (Catherine Duport) he embarks on a frenetic (more often than not illegal) trip all around Brussels to secure the means for his dream.

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