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Le M�pris (Contempt) (1963)

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Average Rating: 8.5/10
Reviews Counted: 40
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 3

This powerful work of essential cinema joins "meta" with "physique," casting Brigite Bardot and director Godard's inspiration Fritz Lang.

Average Rating: 8.3/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1

This powerful work of essential cinema joins "meta" with "physique," casting Brigite Bardot and director Godard's inspiration Fritz Lang.

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Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 9,511

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Movie Info

Contempt is the story of the end of a marriage. Camille (Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with her husband Paul (Michel Piccoli) while he is rewriting the screenplay Odyssey by American producer Jeremiah Prokosch (Jack Palance). Just as the director of Prokosch's film, Fritz Lang, says that The Odyssey is the story of individuals confronting their situations in a real world, Le M�pris itself is an examination of the position of the filmmaker in the commercial cinema. Godard himself was facing

PG, 1 hr. 42 min.

Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard

Written By: Jean-Luc Godard

In Theaters: Mar 14, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Nov 26, 2002

Rialto Pictures

Cast

Brigitte Bardot
Camille Javal
Michel Piccoli
Paul Javal
Jack Palance
Jeremy Prokosch
Fritz Lang
Himself
Giorgia Moll
Francesca Vanini
Linda Veras
Siren
Raoul Coutard
Cameraman

Critic Reviews for Le M�pris (Contempt)

All Critics (45) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (3) | DVD (14)

What's the price of selling out? Contempt asks the question of its characters, its audience, and its own director.

April 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

| Comment

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Top Critic

Godard sets interesting scenes, with provocative color combinations and a suggestive pictorial flow. But out of it all comes nothing -- or very little that tells you why this wife is so contemptuous of her husband. Maybe he should be contemptuous of her!

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comments (4)

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Top Critic

I would argue that Godard's eclecticism must be acknowledged and understood before one can genuinely appreciate the film.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

This one has too much forced intellectualism to it, even though it is an engrossing time capsule.

January 1, 2000 Comment

Jeff Millar

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

Contempt was Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 attempt at a big-budget, big- star production, and more or less satisfied his curiosity.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Who is the Godard guy and how could he make something as humdrum yet full-of-itself as Contempt?

July 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily-Reviews

| Comment (1)

Dan Jardine

Daily-Reviews

Godard's self-reflexive meditation about love, marriage, and filmmaking is a masterpiece, which among other things, proves that sex symbol Brigitte Bardot could act.

April 9, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

... stately and controlled where Godard's earlier films were immediate and felt off-the-cuff, a gorgeous film in the key of alienation.

February 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Seanax.com

| Comment

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

Godard has finally dared to get serious, achieving not mock pathos but a perfect tragedy.

March 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out New York

| Comment

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

It's talky and filled with broken rhythms and a running stream of thoughts, and is boldly told in exaggerated stylized terms.

November 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

An expensive international production, but still one of Godard's most personal and most perverse films.

August 9, 2004 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

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Audience Reviews for Le M�pris (Contempt)

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Le Mepris is one of my more favourite Jean-Luc Godard films, a director who is very up and down in my book. There was a real trend of film within a film films around this time, all the greats have tried it but very few seem to pull it off successfully - Godard is in that few. Ok, so the film dips between two peaks, but

January 11, 2012

Anthony Lawrie

Super Reviewer

Godard's first major international picture is a visual feast. The use of Cinescope is startling and the colors are so brilliant that they seem to leap off the screen. Godard also utilizes some of the subtly hypnotic camera work that we saw in his previous films. For instance, in one conversation between Camille and

June 22, 2011

Reid Volk

Super Reviewer

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