- Format: PAL
- Language French
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Optimum Home Releasing
- DVD Release Date: 16 May 2005
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0007SMD82
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 58,020 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The movie consist of a collage of a series of 'sketches'. Each offering an insightful, and somewhat 'second degrée', perspective of a group of näive bourgeois college students immersing themselves in the teachings of Chairman Mao, playing at plotting a communist coup, discussing politics in a college republic style, all the ideals that made the avant-garde at the time. Just before the romantic may 68 student riots.
Godard's style is crude in a radical (typical of the time) and contaminated by contemporary pop-art, visually and also in the soundtrack.
The most political of his works, it still doesn't say much about his own political beliefs.
Godard's style is crude in a radical (typical of the time) and contaminated by contemporary pop-art, visually and also in the soundtrack.
The most political of his works, it still doesn't say much about his own political beliefs.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Among Godard's films, la Chinoise currently stands as my favourite. Very Brechtian in its form, it does not let the audience enter a state of complacency and let the plot flow: it demands attention.
The bare plot is simple enough, and I won't outline it here, but what is great about this film is its spirit. I daresay it captures the atmosphere of the times - of a contemporaneous flat of young political activists - perfectly. I stress the word 'atmosphere', as that is the first thing that draws you in. The little things, the note-writing on the walls, posters, paintings, books, the way the people in the flat sit, stand, study, listen to the radio, and relate to each other, all of these paint in successive strokes the atmosphere of the flat.
But then the camera moves and decides to show the crew and the equipments and so we are not even allowed to forget that this is a show. The characters come forward in an interview like monologue (we can't hear the interlocutor) and tell you about themselves, how they came to be in that flat, their political beliefs, etc. They may just be playing their parts and reciting dialogue but one gets the feeling that they are also speaking for themselves (a character (Guillaume) explicitly says that he is!)
Now for the most demanding part of the film, the actual 'text', shall I say? Apart from incessant quotes from the Red Book, the actual dialogues and talks in the film are quite intellectually demanding, and in fact quite enlightening at times. I do recommend a second view to get more out of the film. I was especially impressed by the talk between Véronique and the Professor-activist in the train. I shall not go into details (and raptures) about the intellectually stimulating bits of the film, but if you're not looking forward to an intellectual engagement with what is said (and shown) in the film, I definitely do not recommend this.
This film is not a slag-off of the maoist-student movement in France, as the bare plot may suggest, it is rather a constructive engagement with what was happening in the times. I think the end note is that of hope rather than pessimism, though with clauses: it is but a first step, as Véronique says. A naïve hope perhaps, and dangerous too in this naïvety, but a hope nevertheless. We see at the end each of the characters going out and trying to work towards their hopes. There is no closure. We are left to make up our own minds.
The bare plot is simple enough, and I won't outline it here, but what is great about this film is its spirit. I daresay it captures the atmosphere of the times - of a contemporaneous flat of young political activists - perfectly. I stress the word 'atmosphere', as that is the first thing that draws you in. The little things, the note-writing on the walls, posters, paintings, books, the way the people in the flat sit, stand, study, listen to the radio, and relate to each other, all of these paint in successive strokes the atmosphere of the flat.
But then the camera moves and decides to show the crew and the equipments and so we are not even allowed to forget that this is a show. The characters come forward in an interview like monologue (we can't hear the interlocutor) and tell you about themselves, how they came to be in that flat, their political beliefs, etc. They may just be playing their parts and reciting dialogue but one gets the feeling that they are also speaking for themselves (a character (Guillaume) explicitly says that he is!)
Now for the most demanding part of the film, the actual 'text', shall I say? Apart from incessant quotes from the Red Book, the actual dialogues and talks in the film are quite intellectually demanding, and in fact quite enlightening at times. I do recommend a second view to get more out of the film. I was especially impressed by the talk between Véronique and the Professor-activist in the train. I shall not go into details (and raptures) about the intellectually stimulating bits of the film, but if you're not looking forward to an intellectual engagement with what is said (and shown) in the film, I definitely do not recommend this.
This film is not a slag-off of the maoist-student movement in France, as the bare plot may suggest, it is rather a constructive engagement with what was happening in the times. I think the end note is that of hope rather than pessimism, though with clauses: it is but a first step, as Véronique says. A naïve hope perhaps, and dangerous too in this naïvety, but a hope nevertheless. We see at the end each of the characters going out and trying to work towards their hopes. There is no closure. We are left to make up our own minds.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
La Chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
La Chinoise is now regarded as an uncannily prescient and insightful examination of the New Left activism during those years (ie the 1960s), says an excellent Wikipedia review, which I recommend to read first as I will not repeat all facts. I will concentrate on one question: Is the film still relevant today? The answer is yes, because Godard's is an excellent film, stylistically, topically, cinematographically and acting-wise. A political key scene is Véronique (Anne Wiazemsky), the female lead of the student group (the male is Jean-Paul Léaud), in a long train discussion with the political philosopher Francis Jeanson, a former communist and in real life her professor at Nanterre. Jeanson advises study of the China model and the violence experiences, but strongly advises against closing the universities and using violence. He also states that the French left, at this stage, would not be willing to go onto the streets to overthrow the political system. May 1968 in a way proves both right: Véronique about a joint student/worker upheaval and closed universities, Jeanson about the French Left, in the long run, not being willing to uproot the political system.
18 Sep 2011
La Chinoise is now regarded as an uncannily prescient and insightful examination of the New Left activism during those years (ie the 1960s), says an excellent Wikipedia review, which I recommend to read first as I will not repeat all facts. I will concentrate on one question: Is the film still relevant today? The answer is yes, because Godard's is an excellent film, stylistically, topically, cinematographically and acting-wise. A political key scene is Véronique (Anne Wiazemsky), the female lead of the student group (the male is Jean-Paul Léaud), in a long train discussion with the political philosopher Francis Jeanson, a former communist and in real life her professor at Nanterre. Jeanson advises study of the China model and the violence experiences, but strongly advises against closing the universities and using violence. He also states that the French left, at this stage, would not be willing to go onto the streets to overthrow the political system. May 1968 in a way proves both right: Véronique about a joint student/worker upheaval and closed universities, Jeanson about the French Left, in the long run, not being willing to uproot the political system.
18 Sep 2011
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