Everything returns to normal after Chernobyl. That is, everything but art. Most of the great works are lost, and it is up to people like William Shakespear Junior the Fifth to restore the lost artwork of the human race. He finds strange goings-on at a resort enough to remind him of all the lines of the play, dealing with mob boss Don Learo and his daughter Cordelia, a strange professor named Jean Luc-Godard (sic), who repeatedly xeroxes his hand for no particular reason. He is followed by four humanoid goblins that keep tormenting Cordelia. There is also the gentleman whose girlfriend, Valerie, isn't always visible. Then the film is sent off to New York for Mr. Alien to edit.




viewer's comments:



- Damn Those Infernal SEAGULLS!!!!

I don't know where to begin.

I cannot contain my contempt for this film (if I dare call it a film). In my opinion this is the worst Shakespeare adaptation committed to any art form anywhere in history. And one of the most egotistical pieces of rubbish in the annals of film.

It has NO USE. You couldn't even use this if you were doing a thesis of King Lear at college because this is faeces. Not to mention that it has hardly anything to do with the play King Lear. It has no plot, no interesting characters or character study and hardly anything in the way of decent direction.

And it is not just the fact that it lacks so much, it is the fact that what it does have is so goddamn terrible. Quotes and sayings repeated endlessly, terrible seagull sound effects that 1) happen in scenes where there are no seagulls and even scenes when we are indoors 2) happen in scenes when there is other dialogue going on and 3) are so loud that your ears begin to bleed (well, nearly).

I went to see this film because 1) I had only seen one other Godard movie Bande à Part (1964) and 2) I am a great Woody Allen fan. Now I mentioned earlier that this was egotistical and I will go further and say that this is sheer celluloid masturbation! Godard (in my opinion the most over rated director in cinema history) has almost become drunk with power, power gained from years of critics kissing his ass, and now believes he can do no wrong as long as he entertain and excites himself (i.e. masturbation). Another celluloid masturbator (for want of a better word) is Woody Allen, this shared hobby probably bringing the two together. But the one difference between these two is this, Woody Allen still has the gift to entertain and excited others as well as himself, whereas Godard lost this gift along long time before King Lear.




- English Recursion Meets French Semiotics

Spoilers herein.

Lear is about sight and truth, and incidentally about how devilish charms (derived from the audience's participation and perception) bend sight and truth. So it (and the similarly placed `The Tempest') are naturals for film, especially self-referential films about films and filmmaking.

Self-referential filmmaking is an art that the French believe they invented -- and they have a continental tradition of deconstructive semiosis to draw from. So this would seem a natural. Godard is an experimentalist -- a theorist -- but not a great artist, and it shows here. Because he doesn't know, or can't reach, the deep structure of Lear on that matter. For Shakespeare, confusing forces of naming emerge from a capricious aether, drawn forth by the creative process of life.

Modern semioticians hold that this comes from the hidden inner mind, drawn forth by the messy animal processes of life. Godard rattles about with this thin notion, somewhat of a curse for the French, and never touches the deeper notion, which accidentally fell, it seems, on the English. The French have never forgiven them, and here equate the notion (and films about it) to American gangsterism.



- A pretentionfest well worth the viewing

The first time I saw this, I really disliked it. Even compared to Godard's other ramblings of the 70's, it was still a little too disparate. But the second time gelled this movie for me and now I truly love this film. It's a wonderful brainstorm about the nature of film and the inherent capacity of art to reform itself. In other words, everything that's being said or will be said has already been said; sounds bleak at first, but it's actually comforting, because then art becomes truly universal and languageless.



- interesting and innovative

Cahiers du Cinema rated this as one of the top ten films of 1987. On the other hand, Leonard Maltin said of it, "Bizarre, garish, contemporary punk-apocalyptic updating of Shakespeare classic. Little to be said about this pretentious mess except... avoid it." I don't think it is a great film, but I certainly don't think it can be dismissed in such an offhand manner. There was a lot of thought put into it, and it can be very thought provoking, and also quite funny. I liked this film quite a lot and I thought it was interesting. I think it is very innovative and ahead of it's time; it almost seems like a multimedia project more than a film. I can see how people might find it very boring, but I didn't at all. It deals with many issues that have since become prominent themes in academic discourse.



Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Richard Debuisne uncredited
Jean-Luc Godard uncredited
Norman Mailer uncredited
William Shakespeare play

Cast (in alphabetical order)
Woody Allen .... Mr. Alien (uncredited)
Leos Carax .... Edgar (uncredited)
Julie Delpy .... Virginia (uncredited)
Jean-Luc Godard .... Professor Pluggy (uncredited)
Suzanne Lanza .... (uncredited)
Kate Mailer .... Herself (uncredited)
Norman Mailer .... The Great Writer (uncredited)
Burgess Meredith .... Don Learo (uncredited)
Michèle Pétin .... Journalist (uncredited)
Molly Ringwald .... Cordelia (uncredited)
Peter Sellars .... William Shaksper Junior the Fifth (uncredited)