Weekend on DVD (1967)

The End of the World

Tim Turner from Manchester , 22/05/2005

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...

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Just like a trip on the M25

GeorgeLazenby from Greater Manchester , 13/03/2005

If you're planning a road trip over the forthcoming Bank Holidays, Jean-Luc Godard's infamous vision of bourgeois French society sliding into apocalypse probably shouldn't be on your rental list. Using carnage on the roads as a metaphor for the decline of society, Godard's Marxist preoccupations are front and centre.

For 40 minutes, this is raw, provocative and hilarious, proof that Godard could be a cinematic genius. Take your pick of superb moments, from the tracking shot of the traffic jam, the debate on class that erupts after a sports car hits a tractor, or the anti-heroine's first and only show of real emotion (when she loses her Hermes handbag in a fire).

But once the action leaves the road, some of it is mind-numbingly boring. I defy anyone to sit through the speeches without picking up the paper. Admittedly, the action picks up for a nasty finale where the protagonists are waylaid by Marxist cannibal revolutionaries. Viewers of a nervous disposition won't get that far, but it's hard to ignore Godard's unpleasant glee at showing real animals being butchered for no particular reason. Indeed, the main reason to sit through the last twenty minutes is the appreciate the breathtaking cynicism of the final punchline.

This isn't easy to watch, and you might be tempted to switch off at several points, but even if it didn't signify the end of cinema predicted by the closing credits, "Weekend" is a landmark that it's well worth having an opinion about.

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Pretentious, mindnumbing rubbish.

harryangel from Norfolk , 28/03/2005

Godard must be the most inconsistent film director of all. For every A Bout De Souffle, there’s a Alphaville. For every Band of Outsiders there’s this piece of rubbish called Weekend. This is on a level of self-indulgence that even Fellini couldn’t manage. There is no plot. While this may not be a bad thing, Godard doesn’t do his viewers any favours. Whatever is going is on just so incredibly boring, this 90 minute film feels a lifetime. I honestly wouldn’t wish this experience on another human being. Mike Figgis’ interview on the DVD is hilarious. He basically attacks every other movie ever made, beside of course that radical genius Godard. Forgive us Mike for wanting something watch able instead of this self-wallowing mind rot.

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"A film found on a dump..."

Calvin from Nottingham [Highly rated reviewer] , 12/05/2005

This is the warning that begins the film - it is not going to comfort you, but will shock, confuse, surprise, and hopefully inspire.

From the reviews posted here, its certainly a film that has drastically split opinion, and if you're looking for 100mins of comfortable entertainment you may as well skip over this.

It is, however, a film predominantly about challenge (as is remarked, "the horrors of the bougeois must be confronted with further horrors"), a portrait of all that Godard loathes of a certain time and place. And yet it is such a passionate loathing.

Undoubtedly, there are gruesome moments, but framed in awesome cinematic style that, to me, is Jean-Luc Godard at an absolute peak. What people seem to forget is that there's great wit here too, take Leaud's appearance for example.

All in all, a monumental film of genius, rich with a variety of philosophical ideas that are never laboured over but, as it were, hurled at the screen before moving onto something else.

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Just like a trip on the M25

GeorgeLazenby from Greater Manchester , 13/03/2005

If you're planning a road trip over the forthcoming Bank Holidays, Jean-Luc Godard's infamous vision of bourgeois French society sliding into apocalypse probably shouldn't be on your rental list. Using carnage on the roads as a metaphor for the decline of society, Godard's Marxist preoccupations are front and centre.

For 40 minutes, this is raw, provocative and hilarious, proof that Godard could be a cinematic genius. Take your pick of superb moments, from the tracking shot of the traffic jam, the debate on class that erupts after a sports car hits a tractor, or the anti-heroine's first and only show of real emotion (when she loses her Hermes handbag in a fire).

But once the action leaves the road, some of it is mind-numbingly boring. I defy anyone to sit through the speeches without picking up the paper. Admittedly, the action picks up for a nasty finale where the protagonists are waylaid by Marxist cannibal revolutionaries. Viewers of a nervous disposition won't get that far, but it's hard to ignore Godard's unpleasant glee at showing real animals being butchered for no particular reason. Indeed, the main reason to sit through the last twenty minutes is the appreciate the breathtaking cynicism of the final punchline.

This isn't easy to watch, and you might be tempted to switch off at several points, but even if it didn't signify the end of cinema predicted by the closing credits, "Weekend" is a landmark that it's well worth having an opinion about.

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The End of the World

Tim Turner from Manchester , 22/05/2005

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...

Read all highest rated reviews