Iconoclastic French director Jean-Luc Godard became radicalized politically after the events of May 1968 in Paris, openly expressing admiration for the writings of Mao Zedong and other leftist leaders. Godard and his cohort, Jean-Pierre Gorin, even formed a Marxist film society, the... [More]

Iconoclastic French director Jean-Luc Godard became radicalized politically after the events of May 1968 in Paris, openly expressing admiration for the writings of Mao Zedong and other leftist leaders. Godard and his cohort, Jean-Pierre Gorin, even formed a Marxist film society, the Dziga Vertov Group, after the early Soviet documentarian. TOUT VA BIEN marked Godard's return to semi-commercial cinema, attempting to blend a relationship narrative centered around a labor strike with an experimental aesthetic and an overtly leftist political rhetoric. Godard took the opportunity to criticize consumer capitalism (a theme he had been exploring at least since 1966's 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER) but also expressed discontent at how little left political organizations accomplished after the euphoria of May 1968. The film features Yves Montand and Jane Fonda (the film was fuel for the fire when Fonda was dubbed "Hanoi Jane" for expressing sympathy for the North Vietnamese), both of whom were major stars at the time. TOUT VA BIEN is both a fascinating avant-garde narrative film as well as an interesting historical-political document. [Less]