Contempt aka Le Mepris by Alberto Moravia adapted for the big screen by Jean-Luc Godard

 Contempt aka Le Mepris by Alberto Moravia adapted for the big screen by Jean-Luc Godard


Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:

-              https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E  and   http://realini.blogspot.ro/


I have read Contempt in November, last year.
And it was a marvelous chef d’oeuvre.

A few hours ago I finished watching Le Mepris, which is the adaptation for the big screen of this masterpiece.
The cast and director are excellent:

-          Jean-Luc Godard is the master that enjoys the contribution of:
-          Brigitte Bardot who plays Camille Javal –the correspondent of Emilia Molteni in the book
-          Fritz Lang plays…Fritz Lang who is a real German director, just like in the printed material
-          Michel Piccoli is Paul Javal who used to be Ricardo Molteni in the original
-          Finally Jack Palance is Jeremy Prokosh on screen and this was Battista in the first format

The main themes are the same and it is only natural since the script writer and then author of Contempt are one and the same.
I am mostly fascinated, as aforementioned in my previous note on the original version, by the modern take on The Odyssey.

Odysseus is not just a Superman fighting in the Trojan War and then experiencing so many adventures on the way back.
That ten year long journey and the very participation to the conflict have a different interpretation in the film and the book.

That notwithstanding, if I am not confused the characters that promote a new version of The Odyssey are different.
The film cannot be after all a reading of the book, with a number of voices and eventually a changing background.
But the idea of Ulysses as dissatisfied with his marital life and therefore joining the war party is promoted and then disputed.
I am intrigued and attracted by this proposition, wherein he encouraged Penelope to receive gifts and  went to Troy as an unhappy husband, not in love with his spouse anymore and taking as long as ten years to return to her.

This long delay appears as a strong proof in the “case against Ulysses the faithful Ubermensch” and I am inclined to believe it.
Paul or Ricardo Molteni act in a similar manner to Ulysses, playing in fact the role of the contemporary Odysseus or at least a version of the hero.

Both on film and in the printed material, the husband encourages Camille or Emilia to take a fated ride in the car with the producer.
This is the beginning of The Contempt that Camille feels for her husband that is so strong that it gives the name of the film and the narrative.

Le Mepris is also one of The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse as identified by the ultimate Expert on Marriage:

-          John Gottman on his classic on relationships- The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work
-          The other three Horsemen are: criticism, defensiveness and stonewalling

There are some differences between the film and book versions, one of the most evident being the American producer.
Battista might have been replaced by some from across the ocean to emphasize the influence- often bad- that Hollywood exercises over this “industry”.

There are tensions, apart from those resulting from a jealousy and a completion of two men in front of the gorgeous Brigitte Bardot.
In fact I have read in another classic, this time on matters Hollywood that the conflicts between producer and director and screenwriter are at times destructive, in spite of all those speeches that we hear at Awards ceremonies.
William Goldman writes in his masterpiece Adventures in The Screen Trade about issues with directors and producers.

Sometimes gods of the film goers such as Robert Redford can play the role of the evil, moody and mischievous terminator.
Dustin Hoffman and others are revealed to act in frivolous, lamentable ways in different circumstances on the set.

Le Mepris is a very good film, regardless of what shows of pride and vanity might have been on display during the making of it.




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