Sympathy For The Devil on DVD (1968)

Savage from London, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 02/07/2006

I'm somewhat troubled by the fact that the BFI have marketed this as 'Sympathy for the devil'. That was the title given to it by its producer (and bit-part player), Ian Quarrie, after numerous difficulties had beset the production and he decided to add on a full version of the Stones song at the end. This caused Godard so much anger he famously assaulted Quarrie at the LFF screening.

The original title, and the only one which really makes sense, is 'One plus one'. Originally, this was going to refer to adding the act of creation (the making of the song) to the act of destruction (the gradual radicalization of a terrorist), but the film never developed along those lines, and Godard instead focused on the random acts that go to cause things instead. It's part of the point of the film that we never hear/see the finished song: the whole flim remains unfinished, as do the various acts of rebellion/revolution/anarchy which are intercut with the Stones at work.

Quite how Mick and Keith (whose surname is misspelt on the credits) felt about their masterwork being lumped in with the other things on display here we may never know, but ironically, given the speculative nature of the filming, this is one of Godard's clearest visions. No matter that students are tearing up Paris, and no matter that they claim inspiration from his earlier film, 'La Chinoise', rebellion has become kitsch, the revolution will be televised, popular culture has even managed to eat up 'Mein Kampf', and there's nothing left to be serious about. One plus one equals, not two, but nothing at all.

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A customer from London , 15/06/2007

See 'Sympathy for the Devil' the film that One + One became after the producer's decided to re-cut it. I particularly like the story that JLG punched the producer on the nose at a London screening on account of the adding of the Stones performance of 'Sympathy' at the end of the movie...

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Savage from London, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 02/07/2006

I'm somewhat troubled by the fact that the BFI have marketed this as 'Sympathy for the devil'. That was the title given to it by its producer (and bit-part player), Ian Quarrie, after numerous difficulties had beset the production and he decided to add on a full version of the Stones song at the end. This caused Godard so much anger he famously assaulted Quarrie at the LFF screening.

The original title, and the only one which really makes sense, is 'One plus one'. Originally, this was going to refer to adding the act of creation (the making of the song) to the act of destruction (the gradual radicalization of a terrorist), but the film never developed along those lines, and Godard instead focused on the random acts that go to cause things instead. It's part of the point of the film that we never hear/see the finished song: the whole flim remains unfinished, as do the various acts of rebellion/revolution/anarchy which are intercut with the Stones at work.

Quite how Mick and Keith (whose surname is misspelt on the credits) felt about their masterwork being lumped in with the other things on display here we may never know, but ironically, given the speculative nature of the filming, this is one of Godard's clearest visions. No matter that students are tearing up Paris, and no matter that they claim inspiration from his earlier film, 'La Chinoise', rebellion has become kitsch, the revolution will be televised, popular culture has even managed to eat up 'Mein Kampf', and there's nothing left to be serious about. One plus one equals, not two, but nothing at all.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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