| Gérard Depardieu, Laurence Masliah,
Bernard Verley, Jean-Pierre Miquel, Anny Romand , Roland Blanche
Hélas pour moi is the story of journalist
Abraham Klimt (Bernard Verley)'s investigation of a case of divine
possession. In 1989 God enters the body of filmmaker Simon Donnadieu
(Gérard Depardieu). When Simon returns home, his wife Rachel (Laurence
Masliah) realizes something is amiss but sticks by her newly divine
husband. As in much of his later work Jean-Luc Godard uses a team
of cinematographers to create breathtaking images. The theology-filled
dialogue makes frequent references to light and illumination, which
are in turn reflected in the sun-suffused images. Light comes bouncing
off Lake Geneva or streams in from widows behind the characters
who stand in shadowy interiors. Multiple narrators provide differing
views of the same events, and an intricate web of flashbacks creates
an almost impenetrably knotty chronology. Meanwhile, title screens
periodically interrupt the action, and the characters introduce
lengthy digressions on philosophical, literary and spiritual questions.
The result is a beautiful but extremely difficult film, even for
those familiar with Godard. This film drew strong protests from
the Catholic Church. |