Weekend Details

The End of the World

Probably not one to watch before a bank holiday spent on the motorway, this is probably the last uncontroversially ground-breaking film that Godard made. After this, in keeping with the film's final title of 'End of Film', Godard disappeared down a succession of complex routes and occasional blind alleys. Some people think his subsequent films are masterpieces, some think he succumbed to navel-gazing. But that debate is irrelevant to 'Weekend', which is like a molotov cocktail thrown in your lap.

It falls to pieces once the action leads the road, and the final sequences of degredation have a lip-smacking quality that make you wonder whether Godard isn't just giving up on conventional narrative cinema, but on humanity and common decency altogether. And your stomach ought to turn at the for-real animal deaths. But for all these warnings, the first hour is staggering, one of the few occasions when cinema approaches the devastating satire of Jonathan Swift. Particularly in the famous apocalyptic take along the traffic jam (but also in the political argument that results in a later fatal road accident), Godard shows a brilliant satirical talent, turning a beady eye on the horrors of the materialistic French bourgeois. This isn't for everyone, and some of it is slightly boring. But unlike the cerebral games of Resnais and the pretty period dramas of Truffaut, this grimly funny film shows that the New Wave genuinely represented cinematic rebellion. If you don't have a strong reaction, you should question whether you have a pulse...

[Highly rated reviewer]

Tedious

Over rated , tedious , ridiculous , the scene with the traffic Jam is the most annoying scene I have ever witnessed in a film . Really don't bother with this . I myself enjoy the art house cinema rather than the multi plex but this is just not my scene at all .