tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32685968.post2924241494367843654..comments2024-03-25T10:47:42.656-07:00Comments on Can't Explain: Contempt (1963)Jeff Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17148737647138431543noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32685968.post-10359222272690717282016-10-10T10:34:22.298-07:002016-10-10T10:34:22.298-07:00Richard, thanks for reminding me of that scene wit...Richard, thanks for reminding me of that scene with Jack Palance using a woman's backside to write a check -- that's pure Trump, and seems even more appropriate in the context of the recent (totally unsurprising) revelation that he is at best an empty braggart and likely something even more sinister in terms of predatory sex. Brrr. I used to be disgusted, then I tried to be amused, now I just want it to stop. Godard for president!Jeff Pikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17148737647138431543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32685968.post-25391959201935982792016-10-09T13:41:34.877-07:002016-10-09T13:41:34.877-07:00Just saw "Contempt" for the first time, ...Just saw "Contempt" for the first time, via a DVD from the library, and your review really captures my experience of it. After viewing some of Godard's more hyperactive films earlier, I was a bit surprised how he maintains the linear quality of this one, never really leaving the breakdown of Paul and Camille's relationship for subplots. And, as you say, the whole thing has a kind of "inert" beauty, as in all the swelling-music shots of the Greek busts with their eyes bright-colored in a nod to the '60s. When I was watching Jerry Prokosch indulge his Ugly Americanism, he reminded me very much of Donald Trump, and the quote you've salvaged from that spew -- "I like gods. I like them very much. I know exactly how they feel." -- sounds even more Trumpian than I'd imagined on first hearing. "Exactly," to echo Prokosch himself. Godard had "us" sussed out 50 years in advance.<br /><br />In an aesthetic aside, I was really taken with Prokosch's modernistic house, which looks like something from the 1933 World's Fair, even if it's obviously on the isle of Capri rather than in Chicago-by-the-lake. Per wikipedia, it was the "Casa Malaparte," built around 1937, though out of use for some time when "Contempt" was filmed, which would explain it being furnished with all those brightly-colored Swedish Modern chairs (anachronistic-but-who's-counting), that in turn reflect the poster-painted eyes of the Greek statues. Again with this movie's beauty. -- R. Riegel <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com