"Everytime I hear the word culture I reach for my check-book" - Jack Palance in "Contempt"

I saw "Contempt" last night, a 1964 film from Jean-Luc Godard. It centers around a French writer (Michel Piccoli) and his beautiful wife (Brigitte Bardot) who come to Italy to work on a script for an adpatation of Homer's "The Odyssey". While the film's director (the great German director Fritz Lang, playing himself) wants to make a faithful adaptation, the boorish American producer (Jack Palance) just wants more nudity to make it commercial. As the writer is caught between the two forces of art and commerce, his marriage is also collapsing. For Godard, working with his biggest cast and budget to date, it's a surprisingly accessible and entertaining piece of work. Photographed in Cinemascope ("Only good for photographing snakes and funerals" accrding to Fritz Lang in the film), with lush colour and spectacular Italian locations, the films is very visually attractive. The script is witty and intelligent although some people may be irritated by the constant film references. There are plenty of typical Godardian touches, such as fractured editing, and odd inserts and lighting filters. Actaully the film's producers, similar to the character in the film, demanded more nude shots of Bardot (who was then at the height of her sex-symbol status) and Godard had to oblige, but according to rumour, hired some thugs to follow the producer and kick him in the shins when he wasn't looking. One critic refered to it as the "greatest work of art to come out of post-war Europe", it isn't, but is one of Godard's best and well worth a look.

I've not done much today except go out and get some groceries. There's a two part documentary on Hitchcock this afternoon, which should be good. I don't anticipate going out anywhere this evening, which is pretty much par for the course.