Mépris, Le (1963)

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:

Typewriter | Female Dorsal Nudity | Famous Director As Himself | Passive Aggression | Fritz Lang

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

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

Also Known As:

Contempt (USA)
Disprezzo, Il (Italy)

Runtime:

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

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French | English | German | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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 pans the crash scene with Camille and Prokosch at the end, the boom operator and crew are reflected on the back of Prokosch's car.

Quotes:

Fritz Lang: Now it's no longer the presence of God, but the absence of God, that reassures man. It's very strange, but true.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Godard in America (1970)

Ulysses, Guernica, The Rite Of Spring, LE MEPRIS...

One of the great masterpieces of the 20th century, a supreme synthesis of form, content and performance. Arguably the most beautiful too, with its found locations, sets, colour, lighting, music, decor and costume. The straightforward elegance of Godard's shooting masks a story of great complexity and formal rupture, but underneath the philosophy, semiotics and allusion is a portrait of marriage and its decline. The tension between icy irony and resigned emotion results in Godard's most perversely moving film. It is also very funny, which is too little remembered.