LE MÉPRIS (CONTEMPT) (CERT. 15)
FRANCE-ITALY 1963 DIRECTED BY JEAN-LUC GODARD
COLOUR 103 MINS
WITH: BRIGITTE BARDOT, JACK PALANCE, MICHEL
PICCOLI, FRITZ LANG
A French screen-writer is hired to script a film of The Odyssey at
Cinecittá in Rome, but encounters a conflict between the demands of
his American producer and his wife’s respect.
Introduced by Dr Isabelle Vandershelden
Film starts at 7.30pm
54th in Sight and Sound’s 2022 Greatest Films of All Time poll
Cahiers du Cinéma – Best Film
‘The greatest work of art produced in post-war Europe.’ – Colin McCabe
‘Brilliant, romantic and genuinely tragic – one of the greatest films ever made about the
actual process of film-making.’ – Martin Scorsese
‘A clever and engrossing account of a marital crisis and of film-making.’ – Leslie Halliwell
‘A departure from Godard’s previous playfulness into the depths of a romantic lament.’ –
Peter Strickland
‘Godard is the first film-maker to bristle with the effort of digesting all previous cinema and
to make cinema itself his subject.’ – David Thomson
‘Godard’s films are no more explainable than a late Beethoven quartet. Before anything
else, they must be experienced. – Kent Jones
