Le mépris (1963)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Alberto Moravia (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

18 December 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Bardot at her bold, bare and brazen best! Reveling in Rome, cavorting in Capri...jolting even the jaded international jet-set in her pursuit of love! [UK Theatrical]

Plot:

Paul Javal is a writer who is hired to make a script for a new movie about Ulysses more commercial,...

Plot Keywords:

Fritz Lang | Apartment | Marriage | American | Italy

Cast

Brigitte Bardot	...	Camille Javal
Michel Piccoli	...	Paul Javal
Jack Palance	...	Jeremy Prokosch
Giorgia Moll	...	Francesca Vanini
Fritz Lang	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Raoul Coutard	...	Cameraman (uncredited)
Jean-Luc Godard	...	Lang's Assistant Director (uncredited)
Linda Veras	...	Siren (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean-Luc Godard		uncredited
Alberto Moravia		novel "Il Disprezzo"

Produced by
Georges de Beauregard	....	producer
Carlo Ponti	....	producer
Joseph E. Levine	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Georges Delerue
Piero Piccioni		(Italian and Spanish version)

Cinematography by
Raoul Coutard

Film Editing by
Agnès Guillemot
Lila Lakshmanan		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Tanine Autré		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Odette Berroyer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Philippe Dussart	....	production manager
Carlo Lastricati	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles L. Bitsch	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
William Robert Sivel	....	sound (as William Sivel)

Camera and Electrical Department
Joe D'Amato	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Other crew
Annie Chauvet	....	publicist (uncredited)
Suzanne Schiffman	....	script girl (uncredited)
Bertrand Tavernier	....	publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
• Les Films Concordia
• Rome Paris Films

Distributors

• Embassy Pictures Corporation (1964) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Neue Visionen Filmverleih (2002) (Germany) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2002) (Germany) (DVD)
• Rialto Pictures (2008) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Strand Releasing (????) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Interfilm
• Marceau-Cocinor
• Surf Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD) (French and Italian versions)

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

Also Known As:

Contempt (USA)
Il disprezzo (Italy)

Runtime:

103 min | Finland:97 min | USA:102 min | Italy:82 min (re-edited version) (cut)

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French | English | German | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:6 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | West Germany:16 | UK:AA (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Isle of Capri, Naples, Campania, Italy

Company:

Compagnia Cinematografica Champion

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: While the camera follows Paul and Camille around their apartment, its shadow can be seen on a nearby wall for a few seconds.

Quotes:

[after viewing film shot by Fritz Lang]
Jerry Prokosch: You've cheated me, Fritz. That's not what is in that script.
Fritz Lang: It is!
[he pulls the script away from Jerry, who is attempting to grab it out of his hand]
Fritz Lang: Oh, no!
Jerry Prokosch: Get the script, Francesca.
[he reads the script and then changes his tone]
Jerry Prokosch: Yes, it's in the script. But it's not what you have on that screen.
Fritz Lang: Naturally, because in the script it is written, and on the screen it's pictures. Motion picture, it's called.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's My Line?: (1964-07-19)" (1964)

The Point is...

This is it, the finest example of the "moody" genre of film there is! In every way, this film is intense, and the underlying tension never stops, despite a sometimes very misleading surface calm, that allows for a constant shifting of tempo that twist and turns yet is cohesive in a melancholy way. Yet the glimmers of passion and hope tease and lull us into a sense of well being that then is shattered by an eruption of emotion.

From the bland appearance to the heights and depths of the fury of humanity, this film truly explores all that is human, and in a way that is a truth, a unique truth, that is only Godard, and can be performed only by Bardot.

BTW, this is Bardot's BEST. 10 stars all around!