cheese and godard

"With each meter I advance, I am one step closer to getting my cheese."

I found myself uttering the above sentence to Benita while we were heading home. Despite the banality of the statement, I do have a bizarre craving for cheese and baguette (although I can interpret the craving as a response to the baguettes in Paris Nous Appartient, the cheese in Va Savoir, and the mussels in Out 1: Spectre). The embarrassing and slightly unfortunate fact is that this evening at Save on Foods, I failed to select the correct cheese, again. It simply turned out to be too creamy. How I chose not to understand the label "triple-cream brie" before the purchase, I do not know. Nevertheless, the cheese tasted good enough, and I had my small French dinner to my heart's content.

Over the past year, I have heard enough praise on Godard's "Je Vous Salue, Marie" (Hail Mary) to anticipate a formidable masterpiece. I was disappointed. To read a favorable opinion, please read Christopher Long's review presented in the link I provided. Overall, I agree with many of his points regarding the film's strong message. Granted, bearing God's child is quite a heavy burden and likely to cause incomprehension. Poor Joseph cannot even touch (let alone having sex with) the one he loves and needs to reconcile himself with the divine principles in this relationship. Joseph needs to make as much sacrifice as Marie - if not more. Despite my uncertainty regarding the story's relevance in a modern context, I find Godard's idea quite moving (and admittedly, Myriem Roussel is gorgeous).

The problem, however, resides unfortunately in Godard's approach. His nonchalant and often mischievous methods of narration hardly accommodate a project with a message to deliver. First of all, why does Archangel Gabriel need to be a violent, foul-mouthed man who communicates with fists? Secondly, what does the affair between the science professor and his student (very beautiful by the way) have to do with the central narrative? It's hardly imaginable that Godard needs to resort to shots of sunset and ocean to evoke a mood of spirituality. Furthermore, the interruption on the music score becomes distracting in this case, when the central focus no longer relates to the contemplation of art and cinema, therefore rendering formal experiments irrelevant. Just let Bach play! I wonder what a great movie Hail Mary would have been, if Godard did it without so much experimental flair.

One should note that the cinematic depiction of a confused and tormented Joseph is not a new idea, as Pasolini communicated the idea already in 1964, with his Gospel According to Matthew (please note the omission of "St."). As this thought came to me, I dug out the DVD and started to watch it. It blew me away. I became so engrossed that I had to force myself out of this sheer spiritual experience, in order to start doing my homework. How could I have thought about selling the DVD, without having even watched the entire film? It is almost unanimously considered the best movie ever made about the life of Jesus. Now I can understand why (although I could understand before, since there was so little competition out there).