Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard (133 page)

13
. Roussel, interview by author, February 26, 2003.

14
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, December 30, 1983.

15
.
Libération
, January 23, 1985.

16
. Ibid.

17
. Roussel, interview by author, February 26, 2003.

18
.
Art Press, Spécial Godard
, December 1984 and January–February 1985; Conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Philippe Sollers (from the film by J. P. Fargier, November 21, 1984).

19
. Ibid.

20
.
Art Press, Spécial Godard
, December 1984 and January–February 1985.

21
. Roussel, interview by author, February 26, 2003.

22
.
Libération
, January 23, 1985.

23
. Godard spoke of Artaud’s
Letters from Rodez
as an influence (
Art Press, Spécial Godard
).

24
.
Libération
, January 23, 1985.

25
.
New York Times
, October 14, 1983.

26
.
Cinématographe
, no. 100, May 1984.

27
.
Tristesse et beauté
, by Joy Fleury, alongside Charlotte Rampling.

28
. “Before John Paul II no Pope had devoted as much space and emphasis to Mary both in catechesis and liturgy.”
Inside the Vatican
, May 1996. Cited in www.wayoflife.org/fbns/mostmarian.htm.

29
.
Le Monde
, May 4, 1985;
New York Times
, May 4, 1985.

30
.
New York Times
, May 11, 1985.

31
. Sterrit,
Jean-Luc Godard: Interviews
, p. 168; Katherine Dieckmann, “Godard in His ‘Fifth Period’: An Interview,”
Film Quarterly
39, no. 2 (Winter 1985–1986), p. 2.

32
.
Variety
, October 9, 1985.

33
.
Le Figaro
magazine, January 26, 1985 (“II faut longtemps pour aller chercher loin”).

Chapter Twenty-two:
Detective
and
Soigne ta droite

1
.
Journal du dimanche
, January 20, 1985.

2
. A droll reversal of the philological point that “martyr,” in Greek, indeed means “witness.”

3
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, June 1985.

4
. Nathalie Baye, interview by author, June 21, 2002.

5
.
France-Soir
, May 18, 1985.

6
. Ibid.

7
.
Le Temps
(Geneva), January 12, 2000.

8
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, January 8, 1998.

9
.
Le Monde
, October 21–22, 1984.

10
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, June 1985.

11
. As Nuytten recalled, Godard resisted any attempt to add lighting to the available light on location. Then, Nuytten said, came the blowout: “It was a scene where Johnny was filmed from behind, in
front of a window. Across from him there was a building façade that was in full sunlight, bright white, which must have been f/64, while the interior was f/1.4. I asked Jean-Luc, ‘What do you want to see?’ Silence. Then Godard said, ‘There you go, he hasn’t read the script, it’s always the same thing, nobody gives a shit…’ and that’s how it started.” (http://www.objectif-cinema.com/webmag/horschamp/film/questionsa/f14f.htm)

Godard raised the argument to a harsh, ad hominem level, challenging Nuytten’s competence, knowledge, and politics. Yet despite Godard’s disagreeable and exaggerated way of saying so, he was right about the question at hand and its relation to the substance of the scene. In the scene Hallyday is overlit, unnaturally bright in front of the daylight-bright exterior, without any play of contrasts or shadows. The line that Hallyday speaks in the shot indeed relates directly to the problem at hand.

12
.
Observer Magazine—Life
, February 7, 1995; (www.jaybabcock.com/observer.html).

13
.
New York Post
, October 8, 1985.

14
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, May 17, 1985.

15
. MacCabe knew Godard, having interviewed him on several occasions and published a book-length study of Godard’s work of the late 1960s and 1970s,
Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics
.

16
. Colin MacCabe, interview by author, January 31, 2001.

17
. Alain Bergala, interview by author, May 20, 2001.

18
. Ibid.

19
.
Quotidien de Paris
, January 26, 1985.

20
. Caroline Champetier, interview by author, June 27, 2001.

21
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, Godard special issue, 1990.

22
. Champetier, interview by author, June 27, 2001.

23
. Hervé Duhamel, interview by author, December 3, 2002.

24
. Ibid.

25
. Even, interview by author, January 10, 2003.

26
. He had a cameo role in
First Name: Carmen
.

27
. The turn of events is Godard’s unambiguous reference to the mysterious murder—to this day unsolved—of Gérard Lebovici, the founder of the French talent agency Artmédia and the associate of Guy Debord. On March 7, 1984, Lebovici was found dead, shot in the back of the head, behind the steering wheel of his car in the underground parking lot of his office building.

28
.
G par G
, vol. 1, pp. 574–82;
Le Monde de la Musique
, April 1983.

29
. Beauregard,
Beauregard
, pp. 249–50.

30
.
G par G
, vol. 1, pp. 610–11;
Le Film Français
, September 21, 1984.

31
.
Libération
, December 30, 1987.

32
.
Le Monde
, August 8, 1998.

33
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, March 13, 1997.

34
.
Best
, January 1988.

35
.
Cahiers du cinema, Musiques au cinéma
, special issue, 1995.

36
. www.ritamitsouko.com;
Le Figaro
, December 1985.

37
.
7 à Paris
, December 30, 1987.

38
. Malraux’s autobiographical
Le Miroir des limbes
is the source of the recited text (p. 859).

39
.
New York Times
, November 25, 1978.

40
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, December 1987.

41
.
Télérama
, December 30, 1987.

42
.
Cahiers du cinéma
, Godard special issue, 1990.

43
. Duhamel, interview by author, December 3, 2002.

44
.
Variety
, April 16, 1986.

45
. Duhamel, interview by author, September 8, 2001.

46
.
Best
, January 1988.

47
. Robert Goldberg, “Eleven Things He Knows About Godard,”
Wall Street Journal
, January 21, 1987.

48
.
Le Journal du dimanche
, January 3, 1988.

49
.
Le Monde
, December 30, 1987.

50
. Ibid.

51
.
L’Evènement du jeudi
, December 24–30, 1987.

52
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, January 1–7, 1988.

Chapter Twenty-three:
King Lear

1
. Karmitz, interview by author, April 27, 2001. Godard was afraid to call Duras himself because he thought that she was angry at him. When Karmitz called Duras on Godard’s behalf, she asked what reason she might have to be angry with him. “Because,” the producer replied, “he sent you a letter and enclosed a daisy [
une marguerite
],” but received no response. “There was no daisy,” Duras said, “there was a button, the kind you find on underwear.” It turned out that Godard had sent Duras a little round clip that was used for recording on large-format video cassettes; with its four leaves, it looked like both a daisy and an underwear button.

2
. Menahem Golan, interview by author, July 12, 2000.

3
. Luddy, interview by author, February 1, 2001.

4
. Norman Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000.

5
. Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times
, May 16, 1985.

6
. Tom Luddy, e-mail to author, January 30, 2001.

7
. Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000.

8
. Ibid.

9
. Ibid.

10
. Duhamel, interview by author, December 3, 2002.

11
. Viviane Forrester,
La violence du calme
(Paris: Seuil, 1980), p. 68.

12
. http://ouvrir.le.cinema.free.fr/pages/mon-coin/JLG-KingL.html (Club de l’Etoile, November 24, 1987); transcribed by Alain Bergala.

13
.
Le Monde
, July 24, 1986.

14
. Le
Nouvel Observateur
, March 28, 2002.

15
.
Actuel
, September 1986.

16
. Luddy, interview by author, February 1, 2001.

17
.
Sunday Times
(London), May 18, 1986.

18
. Ibid., September 28, 1986.

19
. Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000.

20
. Godard, interview by author, June 9, 2000.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Duhamel, interview by author, September 8, 2001.

23
. Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000.

24
. Godard, interview by author, June 9, 2000.

25
. Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000. Mailer’s contract for writing
King Lear
was with Cannon, not with Godard. It called for a payment of $100,000, the last $40,000 of which was payable by the producer “upon completion of all writing services to the satisfaction of Godard.” Perhaps Godard was unsatisfied with the results and may have wanted to divert the $40,000 toward other aspects of the film. However, it is not clear whether Godard and Mailer had a separate contract covering the writer’s services as an actor.

26
. Golan, interview by author, July 12, 2000.

27
.
Le Monde
, April 2, 1987.

28
. Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000.

29
.
Le Monde
, April 2, 1987.

30
.
Le Nouvel Observateur
, November 21, 1986.

31
. http://ouvrir.le.cinema.free.fr/pages/mon-coin/JLG-KingL.html (Club de l’Etoile, November 24, 1987).

32
. Luddy, interview by author, February 1, 2001.

33
. http://ouvrir.le.cinema.free.fr/pages/mon-coin/JLG-KingL.html (Club de l’Etoile, November 24 1987); transcribed by Alain Bergala.

34
. Godard, interview by author, June 9, 2000.

35
. Woody Allen, interview by author, June 23, 2000.

36
. Jean-Luc Godard,
L’Humanité du Cinéma
(unpublished book); interview with Noël Simsolo (France-Culture, “A Voix nue,” 1989–1998), tenth interview.

37
. Allen, interview by author, June 23, 2000.

38
.
Le Monde
, February 4, 2002.

39
. Molly Ringwald, interview by author, June 28, 2000.

40
. Godard, interview by author, June 9, 2000.

41
. Michèle Halberstadt, “J’ai tourné avec Godard,” May 1987, unidentified clipping, Bibliothèque André-Malraux, Paris.

42
. Ringwald, interview by author, June 28, 2000.

43
.
Le Monde
, April 2, 1987; Duhamel, interview by author, September 8, 2001.

44
.
Le Monde
, April, 1987.

45
.
Variety
, May 20, 1987.

46
. Ibid.

47
.
Le Figaro
, May 16–17, 1987.

48
.
Variety
, May 20, 1987.

49
.
Le Monde
, May 7, 1987.

50
. Mailer, interview by author, July 10, 2000.

51
.
Libération
, July 23, 1987.

52
.
New York Times
, January 22, 1988.

53
.
Time
, February 1, 1988.

54
. Agence France Presse, January 21, 2004.

55
. She had received advance financing for it from Gaumont and the CNC in 1985 but had to wait two years for production funds from Switzerland, where the film was made. This funding ultimately came from a small company, Xanadu, and its producer, Ruth Waldburger, who had worked with Godard as a production manager on
Passion
.

56
.
24 Images
(Canada), Spring 1995.

57
. René Bonnell, interview by author, June 25, 2002.
Libération
reported in 1988 that Canal Plus had, at its inception, financed
Histoire(s)
directly with an investment of 4 million francs; but according to Bonnell, who was in charge of film production at the station, Canal Plus did not invest directly in the series until 1987.

Chapter Twenty-four:
Histoire(s) du cinéma
, Part 1

1
. Champetier, interview by author, June 27, 2001.

2
. It is now, there, commonly called the Shoah.