Perhaps
Jean Luc Godard's latest experiment in cinema, image, ideas and technology is
impossible to critique. It is a piece of art after all; open to wildly
differing interpretations and not designed in any way to be an easy or
identifiable experience for the audience. Bursting with ideas but difficult to
enjoy, I found it insufferable even at 70 minutes.
There is no
real narrative to speak of; a dog wanders and a man and woman meet and spout
frequently nonsensical philosophical mumblings. Divided into two sections (that
seem to constantly overlap), Goodbye to Language explores nature, the image as metaphor,
and it’s all in some of the most headache inducing 3D you will ever see.
Narrative
and character are not important however and though the dog, a mostly naked
woman and a mostly shitting man recur throughout the film, we learn little of
them. The man talks to the woman while on the toilet with the sound of him
shitting being about as inviting as the nonsense he spouts from his mouth. The
woman is naked which we are helpfully reminded is not an issue in nature as to
dogs there is no such thing as the concept of nakedness. Similarly when the dog
decides to roll around in what is possibly more shit, you can't help but feel that
by watching the film, the audience is doing the same.
Godard
experiments wildly with discontinuous editing, abrupt sounds and changes in
volume which should be in some way exciting but here comes across as simply
annoying. While I'm certain Godard isn't after approval, especially from those
who like their cinema with a good story and interesting characters, it is still
difficult to see the artistic merit in much of the film.
However,
there are some moments that are briefly interesting. The 3D in particular is
used in new and at times bravura ways. Godard would make James Cameron squirm
in his seat with ugly compositions with objects placed frustratingly in the
foreground and assaulting the eyes. Even more daring is the placing of two separate
images placed over one another so that each image can only seen by closing one
eye behind the 3D glasses.
No matter
how odd this all seems, there is occasionally a point emerging. One shot has
the subject caged by the image and there is a reference to kamera meaning
prison in Russian. The voices in the story hold a disdain for the image and
while it flits between philosophical essay, the world's worst home video and
incomprehensible poem, Goodbye to Language warns that people will soon need an
interpreter to understand what is coming out of their own mouths. Warning: if
this film is anything to go by, then I already need an interpreter.
As the film
loops, repeats and uses some of the same techniques over and over, many will
likely be desperate to say Goodbye to Language, to Godard, to cinema and even
to life itself. Its musings on God, animals, sex, death and ... um... whatever
are rarely mind blowing and the technical experimentation on display is more ugly than exciting.
Call me a
heathen, a philistine, or anything you like but as one 'character' declares near
the end: 'I hate characters'. I could not agree less. Goodbye to Language is so
frustrating, so difficult to just enjoy or engage with, that it very nearly makes me want to
say goodbye to art, hello Michael Bay... almost.
Goodbye to Language is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2014 on Oct 13th at 6.30pm at the BFI IMAX. Tickets on sale from 18th September.
Reviews of other films being screened at the festival:
