Grandeur et Decadence d'un Petit Commerce de Cinema (The Rise and Fall of a Small Film Company) 1986 Ages 15+
When
10.30am, Fri 12 Oct 2018 (95 mins)Where
Gallery of Modern Art & Cinema A
About
For the 1980s French television series Série Noire, filmmakers were tasked with producing a feature-length screen adaptation of a crime novel — but with Jean-Luc Godard (The Image Book), nothing can ever be so straightforward.
Ostensibly an adaptation of the 1964 detective story The Soft Centre by James Hadley Chase, The Rise and Fall… instead more strongly recalls the film industry meta-commentary of Godard’s Le Mepris 1963. It follows a belligerent director struggling to adapt a crime novel as the vagaries of both his personal and professional lives interfere with his work. Semi-experimental in form, the film is nevertheless enthralling and darkly humorous — with the new restoration bringing this forgotten work back to its deserved place near the top of Godard’s monumental oeuvre.
Ages 15+
Production Credits
- Director: Jean-Luc Godard
- Scriptwriter: James Hadley Chase
- Producer: Pierre Grimblat
- Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud
- Rights: Capricci
- Screening Format: DCP
- Year: 1986
- Runtime: 92 minutes
- Country: France
- Languages: French, Italian