I tried to rewatch "Film Socialisme" again before I wrote this, I really tried, but I figured, life is probably too short. Yet there might come a time where I would like to revisit the film, probably the most frustrating incoherent film I've ever seen.
What does it mean? I don't know, perhaps nothing, maybe it is the ramblings of a mad genius, but maybe, just maybe (And this is my hopeful side talking) it's the next revolution of film making.
When I did watch "Film Socialisme", I decided right away that it was not successful at whatever it was doing, but I was still stunned by it, I couldn't quite shake it off. I saw some things in this film that I hadn't seen before and I think in a different context perhaps they would work.
You might call this a total film, with even the subtitles not being used conventionally, but rather as another image. The sound and picture is sometimes distorted, I'm not quite sure why, but then perhaps it is meant to show us why not.
The film was directed by Jean-Luc Godard, who has proven himself a master filmmaker, he made some of the most radical and inventive films of the 1960s, then he decided to confuse his audience and alienate them more and more. I actually haven't seen any of Godard's post 1960s films other than "Film Socialisme", but he's proven to be ever the provocateur.
I suppose the best description I could post about my feelings towards "Film Socialisme" is rather a love hate relationship. At its worst, it's a trial to sit through, at its best, it's wild and unpredictable. It shows the potential of film, that it's a raw and true artform. To me Godard has been a filmmaker who constantly asks himself what can film do that no other medium can? He experimented perhaps more than any other filmmaker. Take "Vivre Sa Vie" which has been called a film about close-ups, how many close-ups can you give your subject, and what can they all be about. It's also about how many ways you can film a conversation. "Film Socialisme" seems to be a continuation of Godard's experimentation, he's pushing boundaries here. His intention was never to make a linear film with an easy to follow storyline.
A lot of his compositions are beautiful, perhaps if this were silent, you could be conjure up some kind of story, yet Godard fills his films with words and phrases, he's alwasy done that, it's almost like an essay told in a limerick. Whatever it is, I find it fascinating.
Watching "Film Socialisme" to some might be futile, especially to those who couldn't even endure "Tree of Life", which is a walk in the park by comparison. But I do encourage people to at least see even a few frames of "Film Socialisme" and maybe make up their own minds whether it's worth your while or not. I enjoy films which force you to take a stand, "Film Socialisme" makes no apologies for its intricacies, what it does it show you that film is full of possibilities, in the end, I guess that's why I can't quite give it up.
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