What is unexpressed is just as important as what is expressed in the exquisitely sad Le Mépris, in which unspoken words, lost moments, and failed connections lead to the collapse of a marriage. Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli), a screenwriter hired to adapt Homer’s Odyssey, uses his beautiful wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot), as a bargaining chip to further his career ambitions, or so she believes. In one of the film’s greatest sequences, Godard blends together conversation, memory, thought, and image, exploring the complexities of love and trust, which, for this couple, prove too fragile to survive.
—Ryan Holt
Arts & Faith Lists:
2013 Top 25 Marriage Films — #23