Capri is the final disintegration of Paul and Camille’s relationship happens. It’s no coincidence that it is in Capri when Jeremy “Jerry” Prokosch reappears. Jerry is a catalyst in the death of Paul and Camille’s relationship. Their relationship was already on the skids and would be doomed even if Jerry wasn’t in their lives. The scenes in and around the villa are some of the most beautiful scenes in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 film Contempt, yet also some of the most symbolic. The film documents the beginning of the end for a young French couple who symbolize the decline of the experimental artistry of European filmmaking.
When Paul arrives at the villa in Capri, he looks for Camille and can’t find her. He walks up to the roof to continue looking. As he walks up the roof, the camera stretches out into a wide shot. When he reaches the roof and is standing atop it, the wide shot presents Paul as a man who’s alone. Paul is this small singular figure standing in the middle of a wide roof. This wide shot symbolizes Paul’s aloneness. It’s also a foreshadowing of the ending of Contempt: Camille and Jerry are together while Paul is at a distance somewhere else. Paul is standing on the roof of the villa while Camille and Jerry have sex inside the villa. When Camille and Jerry head to their deaths, Paul is someplace else. When Paul leans over from the top of the roof, he senses that Camille and Jerry are close by. This setup is nothing new because from the moment Paul let Camille ride in Jerry’s car at the beginning of Contempt, Paul has been sensing something between Camille and Jerry. It’s very much a self-fulfilling prophecy because Paul was the one who let the relationship between Camille and Jerry happen. Paul constantly had the choice to prevent Camille from going with Jerry, even when she looked at Paul with a desperate face that said, “Please don’t let me go with him.” Maybe the reason Paul did nothing to save his marriage even when he was given the chance is that he wanted to live his life as if he’s in one of his screenplays. He needs melodrama in his life in order for him to live out a dramatic storyline.
When Camille and Paul are each separately on the villa’s roof, they are both filmed alone, which makes the roof seem to be a place that both of them use for solitude. The roof is a huge contrast to the confining space of their apartment. Camille and Paul take advantage of the spaciousness of the villa’s roof; this is made evident visually by the huge long-shots that look like the camera decided to stretch its arms out.
The scene when Paul is climbing the stairs up to the roof of the villa in Capri brings to mind scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film, Vertigo. In Vertigo, when James Stewart is climbing rooftops as well as he went and he and Kim Novak move upwards to the top of a bell tower. Maybe Vertigo influenced Godard to make Contempt because the similarities are clear; it’s ironic since Vertigo is such a very American film that influenced the entire thriller/mystery film genre. Both Contempt and Vertigo feature women who are objectified by men. It’s probably no coincidence that it was rumored that Godard originally wanted Novak to play the role of Camille. Novak would have been interesting, but Bridgette Bardot’s French Camille adds a crucial layer of complexity to Contempt. The film is a commentary on European filmmaking versus American filmmaking, so the French nationality of Camille and Paul is essential to the film’s meaning and impact. The French nationality of the couple is supposed to contrast against the American nationality of Jerry and the American film industry that Jerry represents.
Before arriving at the villa in Capri, Paul, Camille and company were on a boat filming the Fritz Lang’s The Odyssey-inspired film. Jerry wanted to take Camille on a ride with him back to the villa, and Paul let Camille ride back. This scene is a repetition of the beginning of the film when Paul allows Camille to ride with Jerry in his sports car back to Jerry’s house. This repetition of scenes is comparative to Guy in Rosemary’s Baby selling out his wife and child for fame and fortune. Paul is willing to let his wife to ride alone with a man he doesn’t even like just so he can further his career. Paul essentially participates in a self-fulfilling prophecy because he certainly must have suspected the relationship between Camille and Jerry. Also, most men would not let their beautiful wives be alone with a sleazy American actor. It’s like Indecent Proposal without all the parties being aware of the terms.
After Camille and Jerry return from having sex to meet Paul in the villa’s living room, Camille just sulks around. She sits down on the sofa with a sour frown on her face. Camille and Jerry look a bit disheveled, which could indicate that they were having sex or at least rolling around somewhere. After Camille sits down, Jerry proceeds to ask Camille over and show her something while Paul is in the room watching. Paul and Camille essentially flaunt their relationship for all to see, especially for Paul to see. Camille and Jerry have different reasons for making Paul suffer and feel foolish. Camille is trying to get attention from Paul. She resented the fact that Paul allowed her to ride alone with Jerry. She felt like a tool, a doll passed around. Camille was angry with Paul and became bored with him. Jerry wanted to humiliate Paul because Paul wanted to stay faithful to the source material of The Odyssey-inspired film, while Jerry wanted to create a loose adaptation of The Odyssey. Jerry’s direction was indicative of his American sleaziness and the American film industry. Paul thought the American industry corrupted anything it touched and made films into capitalist products instead of pieces of art. Jerry spoke to Paul’s want for money. Paul wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted the riches and wealthy way-of-life that commerce brings, but he wanted to remain traditional in his approach to screenwriting. Jerry resented Paul’s opinion as much as Paul resented Jerry’s opinion. When Fritz Lang said that “In today’s world we have to accept what others want,” that statement applies to the film industry as well as Paul’s marriage. In the film industry, there are so many cooks in the kitchen compromises must be made. In Paul and Camille’s marriage, Camille seems to be the one who has to accept what Paul wants. Paul also uses Camille as a pawn in his chess game of becoming successful.
The irony of Contempt is that as much as Paul resents the American film industry and American-associated sleaze and slickness personified by Jerry, Paul emulated American film culture. The fact that Paul wore a hat and with a cigar in his mouth while he took a bath shows how much Paul was influenced by American film culture or Hollywood. When he was wearing the hat and had the cigar, he was trying to be like Dean Martin from the Rat Pack. Even Camille was a tool that Paul used to achieve the Hollywood image, the life of a movie star. Camille was blond and beautiful; she was a blond bombshell. When Paul saw Camille in her black wig, he said that he prefers her better as a blonde. Of course he would prefer Camille better as a blonde because all the hot actresses were blond like Marilyn Monroe. This is another example of Paul embracing Hollywood culture. For most of Contempt Camille looks like a Barbie doll being passed around for people to play with her. Lang is the only man in Contempt who doesn’t treat Camille like an object. This connection between Lang and Camille may exist because of Lang’s respect for women and how he views women as if they were Greek goddesses or like the soft and pure women in Sandro Botticelli paintings.
While in Paul and Camille’s hotel room, Camille constantly fought against the stereotypical female role that Paul was pushing her into. When Paul sits on the couch, he expects Camille to remove his shoes from his feet, but she leaves him to do it himself. The traditional female role requires a woman to take off her husband’s shoes for him since he’s had such a hard day at work. Camille rejects her assigned sex role again when she volunteers to sleep on the couch after she and Paul start fighting.
In Contempt, Paul said that Ulysses used the Trojan War to get away from his wife. By writing the screenplay for Lang’s film based on The Odyssey, Paul was using the Trojan War to escape from his wife. He was immersing himself in his work and pretty much being self-centered. Paul always claimed all the work he did was done for Camille and so that they could both live happily and wealthily, but as Camille said, Paul uses her as an excuse. If he fails at what he does then the blame can be placed on Camille. Camille got tired of being the excuse, or rather bored.
It’s in Capri where Camille becomes an object or rather like a roaming cat looking for a home. She walks around sullenly like a cat. She lies nude on rooftops. She’s just waiting for someone to have to sex with her or notice her in a sexual way. Camille is not even a person anymore.
Contempt is a film about death figuratively and literally: the death of a relationship, the impending death of film as an art form and the death of human beings.
When Paul arrives at the villa in Capri, he looks for Camille and can’t find her. He walks up to the roof to continue looking. As he walks up the roof, the camera stretches out into a wide shot. When he reaches the roof and is standing atop it, the wide shot presents Paul as a man who’s alone. Paul is this small singular figure standing in the middle of a wide roof. This wide shot symbolizes Paul’s aloneness. It’s also a foreshadowing of the ending of Contempt: Camille and Jerry are together while Paul is at a distance somewhere else. Paul is standing on the roof of the villa while Camille and Jerry have sex inside the villa. When Camille and Jerry head to their deaths, Paul is someplace else. When Paul leans over from the top of the roof, he senses that Camille and Jerry are close by. This setup is nothing new because from the moment Paul let Camille ride in Jerry’s car at the beginning of Contempt, Paul has been sensing something between Camille and Jerry. It’s very much a self-fulfilling prophecy because Paul was the one who let the relationship between Camille and Jerry happen. Paul constantly had the choice to prevent Camille from going with Jerry, even when she looked at Paul with a desperate face that said, “Please don’t let me go with him.” Maybe the reason Paul did nothing to save his marriage even when he was given the chance is that he wanted to live his life as if he’s in one of his screenplays. He needs melodrama in his life in order for him to live out a dramatic storyline.
When Camille and Paul are each separately on the villa’s roof, they are both filmed alone, which makes the roof seem to be a place that both of them use for solitude. The roof is a huge contrast to the confining space of their apartment. Camille and Paul take advantage of the spaciousness of the villa’s roof; this is made evident visually by the huge long-shots that look like the camera decided to stretch its arms out.
The scene when Paul is climbing the stairs up to the roof of the villa in Capri brings to mind scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film, Vertigo. In Vertigo, when James Stewart is climbing rooftops as well as he went and he and Kim Novak move upwards to the top of a bell tower. Maybe Vertigo influenced Godard to make Contempt because the similarities are clear; it’s ironic since Vertigo is such a very American film that influenced the entire thriller/mystery film genre. Both Contempt and Vertigo feature women who are objectified by men. It’s probably no coincidence that it was rumored that Godard originally wanted Novak to play the role of Camille. Novak would have been interesting, but Bridgette Bardot’s French Camille adds a crucial layer of complexity to Contempt. The film is a commentary on European filmmaking versus American filmmaking, so the French nationality of Camille and Paul is essential to the film’s meaning and impact. The French nationality of the couple is supposed to contrast against the American nationality of Jerry and the American film industry that Jerry represents.
Before arriving at the villa in Capri, Paul, Camille and company were on a boat filming the Fritz Lang’s The Odyssey-inspired film. Jerry wanted to take Camille on a ride with him back to the villa, and Paul let Camille ride back. This scene is a repetition of the beginning of the film when Paul allows Camille to ride with Jerry in his sports car back to Jerry’s house. This repetition of scenes is comparative to Guy in Rosemary’s Baby selling out his wife and child for fame and fortune. Paul is willing to let his wife to ride alone with a man he doesn’t even like just so he can further his career. Paul essentially participates in a self-fulfilling prophecy because he certainly must have suspected the relationship between Camille and Jerry. Also, most men would not let their beautiful wives be alone with a sleazy American actor. It’s like Indecent Proposal without all the parties being aware of the terms.
After Camille and Jerry return from having sex to meet Paul in the villa’s living room, Camille just sulks around. She sits down on the sofa with a sour frown on her face. Camille and Jerry look a bit disheveled, which could indicate that they were having sex or at least rolling around somewhere. After Camille sits down, Jerry proceeds to ask Camille over and show her something while Paul is in the room watching. Paul and Camille essentially flaunt their relationship for all to see, especially for Paul to see. Camille and Jerry have different reasons for making Paul suffer and feel foolish. Camille is trying to get attention from Paul. She resented the fact that Paul allowed her to ride alone with Jerry. She felt like a tool, a doll passed around. Camille was angry with Paul and became bored with him. Jerry wanted to humiliate Paul because Paul wanted to stay faithful to the source material of The Odyssey-inspired film, while Jerry wanted to create a loose adaptation of The Odyssey. Jerry’s direction was indicative of his American sleaziness and the American film industry. Paul thought the American industry corrupted anything it touched and made films into capitalist products instead of pieces of art. Jerry spoke to Paul’s want for money. Paul wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted the riches and wealthy way-of-life that commerce brings, but he wanted to remain traditional in his approach to screenwriting. Jerry resented Paul’s opinion as much as Paul resented Jerry’s opinion. When Fritz Lang said that “In today’s world we have to accept what others want,” that statement applies to the film industry as well as Paul’s marriage. In the film industry, there are so many cooks in the kitchen compromises must be made. In Paul and Camille’s marriage, Camille seems to be the one who has to accept what Paul wants. Paul also uses Camille as a pawn in his chess game of becoming successful.
The irony of Contempt is that as much as Paul resents the American film industry and American-associated sleaze and slickness personified by Jerry, Paul emulated American film culture. The fact that Paul wore a hat and with a cigar in his mouth while he took a bath shows how much Paul was influenced by American film culture or Hollywood. When he was wearing the hat and had the cigar, he was trying to be like Dean Martin from the Rat Pack. Even Camille was a tool that Paul used to achieve the Hollywood image, the life of a movie star. Camille was blond and beautiful; she was a blond bombshell. When Paul saw Camille in her black wig, he said that he prefers her better as a blonde. Of course he would prefer Camille better as a blonde because all the hot actresses were blond like Marilyn Monroe. This is another example of Paul embracing Hollywood culture. For most of Contempt Camille looks like a Barbie doll being passed around for people to play with her. Lang is the only man in Contempt who doesn’t treat Camille like an object. This connection between Lang and Camille may exist because of Lang’s respect for women and how he views women as if they were Greek goddesses or like the soft and pure women in Sandro Botticelli paintings.
While in Paul and Camille’s hotel room, Camille constantly fought against the stereotypical female role that Paul was pushing her into. When Paul sits on the couch, he expects Camille to remove his shoes from his feet, but she leaves him to do it himself. The traditional female role requires a woman to take off her husband’s shoes for him since he’s had such a hard day at work. Camille rejects her assigned sex role again when she volunteers to sleep on the couch after she and Paul start fighting.
In Contempt, Paul said that Ulysses used the Trojan War to get away from his wife. By writing the screenplay for Lang’s film based on The Odyssey, Paul was using the Trojan War to escape from his wife. He was immersing himself in his work and pretty much being self-centered. Paul always claimed all the work he did was done for Camille and so that they could both live happily and wealthily, but as Camille said, Paul uses her as an excuse. If he fails at what he does then the blame can be placed on Camille. Camille got tired of being the excuse, or rather bored.
It’s in Capri where Camille becomes an object or rather like a roaming cat looking for a home. She walks around sullenly like a cat. She lies nude on rooftops. She’s just waiting for someone to have to sex with her or notice her in a sexual way. Camille is not even a person anymore.
Contempt is a film about death figuratively and literally: the death of a relationship, the impending death of film as an art form and the death of human beings.
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ReplyDeleteThe thesis you pose in your response to "Contempt" is very thought-provoking. I found it interesting that you felt Godard was using the disintegrating relationship between Camille and Paul as a metaphor for the “decline of…experimental…European filmmaking,” especially considering the film’s use of self-reflexive techniques, indicative of the New Wave’s visual and thematic style. While you do a nice job of explicating the incidents that contribute to Paul and Camille’s deteriorating marriage, I feel that your essay becomes too concerned with detailing the growing divide between these two characters, and not enough time connecting this theme with your overall thesis. How is Godard using the death of this couple’s relationship to signal an impending doom for certain “experimental” aesthetics within the cinematic medium?
ReplyDeleteThere are two areas within the essay when you come close to directly answering this question. The first is in your discussion of "Contempt's" connection with Hitchcock’s Vertigo, where you contrast a successful Hollywood film with Godard’s New Wave-inspired piece. The visual correlation between Paul ascending the steps to the villa’s roof, and Scottie climbing the staircase to the mission’s bell tower, is interesting, but you seem to mention it without discussing its meaning in any real depth. You don’t tell the reader what the significance of this connection is; only that Hitchcock’s visual style may have influenced Godard’s, on the basis of this scene. Why does Godard reference Hitchcock’s film? What is the reason for imitating an iconic “Hollywood” scene in a movie such as "Contempt," which seems to constantly rebel against “classic film” conventions? Is Godard using this as another playful jab at Hollywood’s dramatic form, as he does through his emphasis on Paul’s seemingly useless handgun? Noting the correlation between these two scenes is clever, but in order for this comparison to be effective, you need to speculate why Godard chose to make this reference, and how the reasoning behind this act contributes to the support of your thesis.
Another interesting place in which to comment on the conflict between the American and European film industries is when you discuss how Camille is treated by the men in the film. You suggest that Hollywood is notorious for its objectification of women (i.e. Marilyn Monroe and other “blonde bombshells”), however, you state that Lang (a European), is the only male within the film who does not treat Camille as an object because he “views women as if they were Greek goddesses or… soft and pure [models] in Botticelli paintings.” If this is how Lang views women (not as ordinary humans, but as “goddesses” and “pure” art models), isn’t his objectification of women equal to, if not worse than, Hollywood’s treatment and representation of females? Is this a contributing factor to the New Wave’s decline? Has European cinema (represented by Lang as a director), led to its own demise by treating women purely as sexual objects, thus creating caricatures of females, rather realistic portraits of them?
It seems as if your essay raises numerous questions without supplying a fully-satisfying response to the query posed by your thesis. The reader is given numerous examples of how Camille and Paul are constantly at odds, just as the European and Hollywood film industries are, but the relationship between the film’s marital conflict, and experimental film’s looming decline, is never made explicitly clear. Your essay has the potential to make an edgy and compelling argument, but the paper, and your intriguing observations, may benefit from adding some stronger connections between the film’s themes, and your interpretation of Godard’s message.
Death Comes Unexpectedly is a decently written a well thought out. While there is a lack of organization in the writing and no use of scholarly works, you helped me to understand the film Contempt much better. Also, I am in somewhat of agreement with most of the points you make.
ReplyDeleteThe final disintegration of Paul and Camille’s marriage is in Capri. However I believe that Paul inadvertently uses Jerry as a catalyst in sealing the fate of his marriage. I feel that Paul leaves Jerry and Camille alone, so he can test her faithfulness to him. Still, I do agree that their relationship was already failing even if Jerry did not appear in their lives. Also, the scenes in and around the villa, are the most beautiful and symbolic scenes in the film. In addition, I like your thesis that says Camille and Paul’s doomed relationship does symbolize the decline of the experimental artistry of European filmmaking. The wide shot of Paul standing alone on the roof, does symbolize Paul’s isolation. It is a foreshadowing of the ending of the movie where Camille and Jerry are together in the car about to be killed, a significant distance from where Paul is at the villa, getting ready to leave for Rome alone. I believe that Paul can definitely sense that Jerry and Camille are close by from the top of the roof. The association is nothing as from the beginning the film, he is always feel something between his wife and Jerry. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy, because Paul was the one who encouraged a relationship, between Camille and Jerry, so he can test his wife’s faithfulness. But, Paul did have every opportunity to stop his wife going with Jerry, such as when she looked at Paul with a desperate face that said, ‘“Please don’t let me go with him.”’ Still, I possibly do see that Paul did nothing to save his marriage, because it gave him his chance to live his life, as if he was living in one of his screenplays. Also, I do feel that Paul must have melodrama in his life, in order for him to live out a dramatic storyline.
When Camille and Paul are each separately on the villa’s roof, they are both filmed alone, which does make the roof seem to be a place that both of them use for solitude. I can imagine Paul and Camille each separately on the villa’s roof being filmed alone, that does make the roof appear to be a place that both of them utilize for solitude. The huge long shots, does visually appear as if the camera wished to stretch its arms out as it is taking advantage of the airy villa roof. It is indeed a vast contrast to the confined space of their apartment. When Paul is climbing the stairs up to the roof of the villa in Capri, the scene does bring to mind scenes from Vertigo such as when he and Kim Novak are climbing up the stairs to the top of a bell tower. Possibly Vertigo the classic American film did influence Godard in making Contempt as the similarities are obvious. A similarity is Contempt and Vertigo both having women who are objectified by men. However Bridgette Bardot’s French Camille does give a critical layer of complexity to Contempt.
The French nationality of Camille and Paul is critical to the film’s significance and impact as the on European versus American filmmaking. In fact, the couple’s French nationality is thought to be a contrast against the American film industry that Jerry represents and the American nationality of Jerry. After Paul sees his wife and Jerry kissing, he goes to the villa’s living room, where Camille and Jerry do flaunt their relationship for everyone to view especially Paul. What happens is that after Camille sits down in the living room, Jerry asks Camille to come over and points something out to her while Paul is in the room watching. It does appear that Camille is trying to get attention from Paul. She is offended by the fact that Paul allows her to ride alone with Jerry. Camille feels like tool or doll handed around. However Camille is angry with Paul and had become bored with him by it. Jerry wants to debase Paul because Paul wishes to stay faithful to the source material of The Odyssey-inspired film, while Jerry desires to make a loose adaptation of it. However, Jerry’s direction is indicative of his American sleaziness and the American film industry. Paul did the American industry corrupted anything it touched and instead of turning film into pieces of art, movies becomes capitalist products but Jerry spoke to Paul’s desire of money and so he took the job as screenwriter. He hoped for the wealthy way-of-life that money brings, but he wished to remain traditional in his approach to screenwriting. Fritz Lang’s comment that “In today’s world we have to accept what others want,” is very true as it applies to the film industry as well as Paul’s marriage. In the film industry, there are so many bosses that compromises have be made, such as should be made between Paul and Jerry concerning the storyline of The Odyssey. In Paul and Camille’s marriage, Camille is the only one that has to compromise, who Paul uses as a pawn in his chess game of becoming successful.
I do agree that “The irony of Contempt is that as much as Paul resents the American film industry and American-associated sleaze and slickness personified by Jerry, Paul emulated American film culture.” Paul utilizes Camille as a tool to maintain the existence of a movie star. Being blond and gorgeous, Camille is a blond bombshell. When Paul sees Camille in her black wig, he says that he has a preference for her as a blond and it makes senses as many as sexy actresses such as actress Betty Grable were blond. This is indicative of Paul’s enthusiasm for Hollywood culture. Also, for nearly all of Contempt Camille does appear to look like a Barbie doll being handed around for people to play with her. Lang is truly the only man who does not treat as an object. It is probable this connection between Lang and Camille exists because of Lang’s admiration for women and how he observes women as if they were Greek goddesses or like the soft and pure women in Sandro Botticelli paintings.
Contempt is a film about death figuratively and literally: the death of a relationship, the looming death of film as an art form and the death of human beings. All this you prove and helps me to understand the movie better. In fact, I have now have more of a appreciation for the film.