2 x 50 years of french cinema / deux fois cinquante ans de cinema francais

Excerpts from Variety Review 5.6.95:

“An emotional response to what Godard and Mieville see as a mistimed celebration, at a time when the country that invented cinema has been relegated by an American-led global culture to the position of an industry populated only by ghosts of the past. As much a warning against Gallic complacency as a simple anti-US pot shot. Assumes a detailed knowledge of French cinema by viewers. Brief, interspersed clips and stills are all unidentified. In essence, it is a rerun of old ideas first put forward by Godard and fellow New Wavers in the ‘50s. Though it closes with a moving montage of quotes on the medium by famous names, the roll call is notably of Godard’s own generation and its idols - Cocteau, Bressoon, Bazin, Truffaut, Rohmer, Rivette, Duras etc. In that respect, it is as much an elegy for their own ‘failure’ in the present half-century as for the forgotten ghosts of French cinema’s first 50 years.”

Actor Michel Piccoli, head of France’s national committee for the cinema centenary, is interviewed by Godard. Godard poses tricky questions about what the centenary is actually celebrating, who can really tell the whole story of French cinema, and why the brochure shows a Pathé projector but not a camera?