As tender, painful and intimate as an open caesarean scar, writer-director Mona Achache’s drama-documentary Little Girl Blue examines the fraught relationships between three generations of women within the director’s own family, starting with her literary grandmother Monique Lange, her mother Carole Achache and herself.
Although narrated by Achache, who “plays” herself throughout, the focus is above all on the troubled child of the midcentury Carole, who committed suicide in 2016 and left behind an enormous cache of letters, journals, publications, photographs and documents. Achieving a remarkable casting coup that will make all the difference for the film’s commercial prospects while richly enhancing its emotional texture, Achache persuades French superstar Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose, Inception) to play Carole. The result is a fascinating psychodrama — with extra scoops of meta on top — that showcases the talents of all the story’s women, especially Cotillard and Achache. At the same time,...
Although narrated by Achache, who “plays” herself throughout, the focus is above all on the troubled child of the midcentury Carole, who committed suicide in 2016 and left behind an enormous cache of letters, journals, publications, photographs and documents. Achieving a remarkable casting coup that will make all the difference for the film’s commercial prospects while richly enhancing its emotional texture, Achache persuades French superstar Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose, Inception) to play Carole. The result is a fascinating psychodrama — with extra scoops of meta on top — that showcases the talents of all the story’s women, especially Cotillard and Achache. At the same time,...
- 5/30/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Our Music
CANNES -- Jean-Luc Godard's new film is part melancholy contemplation on the impact of war and part learned disquisition on the essence of cinema and how the two have entwined to become the music of our lives.
The film is beautifully shot and edited and largely accessible. Lovers of cinema will like it for its insights into the melding of text and images, and it will find a broader audience for its contribution to the debate on modern war.
The film is in three parts, each named for a Kingdom: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The first is a shattering montage of clips, still shots and bits of film showing the full catastrophe of war from a wide variety of sources, including such pictures as "Kiss Me Deadly", "Zulu" and "Apocalypse Now".
To the sound of a pounding piano, Godard mixes film textures, colors, close-ups and myriad images of everything from chariots to tanks, arrows to rockets and horses to jet fighters. The 12-minute masterpiece of filmmaking is an explosive display of war's carnage, banality and suffering. A young voice on the soundtrack needlessly observes, "It is terrible here".
In the second kingdom, Godard himself arrives in Sarajevo to join a group of celebrated writers and philosophers at a literary convention. They interact with fictional characters that include a young Russian Jewish woman named Olga, whose story provides the semblance of a plot line for the remainder of the film.
The strife in the Balkans is examined within sight of Sarajevo's Mostar Bridge, which is being reconstructed. "A survivor is not only changed, he's someone else," one man observes.
Each of the wise men has his moments onscreen. One says that communism has only ever existed once, on an English soccer field in 1953 when the Hungarian national team beat the English side 6-3. "The English played as individuals and lost," the philosopher remarks. "The Hungarians played as a team and won."
Godard spends time speaking of filmmaking, particularly the significance of following a shot by a countershot. When a student asks the 70-year-old legend if the digital camera will save cinema, Godard looks blank and makes no reply at all.
Memories of dreadful times and the ongoing threat of terror permeate the film. One character recalls a German Catholic girl who said in 1943 that the dream of the one is to become two, but the dream of the state is to become one. "They cut off her head", he says.
The horror and pointlessness of it all drives Olga to thoughts of suicide, and before the film brings its taste of heaven, the director will learn of her fate.
The melancholy approach to the subject extends to the self-portrait Godard provides. The firebrand of old is here a genial companion who smokes cigars and calls for champagne. In our last sight of him, he's tending his garden.
NOTRE MUSIQUE
A Peripheria production distributed by Les Films du Losange with international sales by Wild Bunch
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Producers: Alain Sarde
Ruth Waldburger
Director of photography: Julien Hirsch
Art director: Anne-Marie Mieville. Cast: Judith Lerner: Sarah Adler
Olga Brodsky: Nade Dieu
Ramos Garcia: Rony Kramer
Indian: George Aguilar
Indian: Leticia Gutierrez
As themselves: Juan Goytisolo, Mahmoud Darwich, Jean-Paul Curnier, Gilles Pequeux, Pierre Bergounioux, Jean-Luc Godard.
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 80 minutes...
The film is beautifully shot and edited and largely accessible. Lovers of cinema will like it for its insights into the melding of text and images, and it will find a broader audience for its contribution to the debate on modern war.
The film is in three parts, each named for a Kingdom: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The first is a shattering montage of clips, still shots and bits of film showing the full catastrophe of war from a wide variety of sources, including such pictures as "Kiss Me Deadly", "Zulu" and "Apocalypse Now".
To the sound of a pounding piano, Godard mixes film textures, colors, close-ups and myriad images of everything from chariots to tanks, arrows to rockets and horses to jet fighters. The 12-minute masterpiece of filmmaking is an explosive display of war's carnage, banality and suffering. A young voice on the soundtrack needlessly observes, "It is terrible here".
In the second kingdom, Godard himself arrives in Sarajevo to join a group of celebrated writers and philosophers at a literary convention. They interact with fictional characters that include a young Russian Jewish woman named Olga, whose story provides the semblance of a plot line for the remainder of the film.
The strife in the Balkans is examined within sight of Sarajevo's Mostar Bridge, which is being reconstructed. "A survivor is not only changed, he's someone else," one man observes.
Each of the wise men has his moments onscreen. One says that communism has only ever existed once, on an English soccer field in 1953 when the Hungarian national team beat the English side 6-3. "The English played as individuals and lost," the philosopher remarks. "The Hungarians played as a team and won."
Godard spends time speaking of filmmaking, particularly the significance of following a shot by a countershot. When a student asks the 70-year-old legend if the digital camera will save cinema, Godard looks blank and makes no reply at all.
Memories of dreadful times and the ongoing threat of terror permeate the film. One character recalls a German Catholic girl who said in 1943 that the dream of the one is to become two, but the dream of the state is to become one. "They cut off her head", he says.
The horror and pointlessness of it all drives Olga to thoughts of suicide, and before the film brings its taste of heaven, the director will learn of her fate.
The melancholy approach to the subject extends to the self-portrait Godard provides. The firebrand of old is here a genial companion who smokes cigars and calls for champagne. In our last sight of him, he's tending his garden.
NOTRE MUSIQUE
A Peripheria production distributed by Les Films du Losange with international sales by Wild Bunch
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Producers: Alain Sarde
Ruth Waldburger
Director of photography: Julien Hirsch
Art director: Anne-Marie Mieville. Cast: Judith Lerner: Sarah Adler
Olga Brodsky: Nade Dieu
Ramos Garcia: Rony Kramer
Indian: George Aguilar
Indian: Leticia Gutierrez
As themselves: Juan Goytisolo, Mahmoud Darwich, Jean-Paul Curnier, Gilles Pequeux, Pierre Bergounioux, Jean-Luc Godard.
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 80 minutes...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Our Music
CANNES -- Jean-Luc Godard's new film is part melancholy contemplation on the impact of war and part learned disquisition on the essence of cinema and how the two have entwined to become the music of our lives.
The film is beautifully shot and edited and largely accessible. Lovers of cinema will like it for its insights into the melding of text and images, and it will find a broader audience for its contribution to the debate on modern war.
The film is in three parts, each named for a Kingdom: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The first is a shattering montage of clips, still shots and bits of film showing the full catastrophe of war from a wide variety of sources, including such pictures as "Kiss Me Deadly", "Zulu" and "Apocalypse Now".
To the sound of a pounding piano, Godard mixes film textures, colors, close-ups and myriad images of everything from chariots to tanks, arrows to rockets and horses to jet fighters. The 12-minute masterpiece of filmmaking is an explosive display of war's carnage, banality and suffering. A young voice on the soundtrack needlessly observes, "It is terrible here".
In the second kingdom, Godard himself arrives in Sarajevo to join a group of celebrated writers and philosophers at a literary convention. They interact with fictional characters that include a young Russian Jewish woman named Olga, whose story provides the semblance of a plot line for the remainder of the film.
The strife in the Balkans is examined within sight of Sarajevo's Mostar Bridge, which is being reconstructed. "A survivor is not only changed, he's someone else," one man observes.
Each of the wise men has his moments onscreen. One says that communism has only ever existed once, on an English soccer field in 1953 when the Hungarian national team beat the English side 6-3. "The English played as individuals and lost," the philosopher remarks. "The Hungarians played as a team and won."
Godard spends time speaking of filmmaking, particularly the significance of following a shot by a countershot. When a student asks the 70-year-old legend if the digital camera will save cinema, Godard looks blank and makes no reply at all.
Memories of dreadful times and the ongoing threat of terror permeate the film. One character recalls a German Catholic girl who said in 1943 that the dream of the one is to become two, but the dream of the state is to become one. "They cut off her head", he says.
The horror and pointlessness of it all drives Olga to thoughts of suicide, and before the film brings its taste of heaven, the director will learn of her fate.
The melancholy approach to the subject extends to the self-portrait Godard provides. The firebrand of old is here a genial companion who smokes cigars and calls for champagne. In our last sight of him, he's tending his garden.
NOTRE MUSIQUE
A Peripheria production distributed by Les Films du Losange with international sales by Wild Bunch
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Producers: Alain Sarde
Ruth Waldburger
Director of photography: Julien Hirsch
Art director: Anne-Marie Mieville. Cast: Judith Lerner: Sarah Adler
Olga Brodsky: Nade Dieu
Ramos Garcia: Rony Kramer
Indian: George Aguilar
Indian: Leticia Gutierrez
As themselves: Juan Goytisolo, Mahmoud Darwich, Jean-Paul Curnier, Gilles Pequeux, Pierre Bergounioux, Jean-Luc Godard.
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 80 minutes...
The film is beautifully shot and edited and largely accessible. Lovers of cinema will like it for its insights into the melding of text and images, and it will find a broader audience for its contribution to the debate on modern war.
The film is in three parts, each named for a Kingdom: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The first is a shattering montage of clips, still shots and bits of film showing the full catastrophe of war from a wide variety of sources, including such pictures as "Kiss Me Deadly", "Zulu" and "Apocalypse Now".
To the sound of a pounding piano, Godard mixes film textures, colors, close-ups and myriad images of everything from chariots to tanks, arrows to rockets and horses to jet fighters. The 12-minute masterpiece of filmmaking is an explosive display of war's carnage, banality and suffering. A young voice on the soundtrack needlessly observes, "It is terrible here".
In the second kingdom, Godard himself arrives in Sarajevo to join a group of celebrated writers and philosophers at a literary convention. They interact with fictional characters that include a young Russian Jewish woman named Olga, whose story provides the semblance of a plot line for the remainder of the film.
The strife in the Balkans is examined within sight of Sarajevo's Mostar Bridge, which is being reconstructed. "A survivor is not only changed, he's someone else," one man observes.
Each of the wise men has his moments onscreen. One says that communism has only ever existed once, on an English soccer field in 1953 when the Hungarian national team beat the English side 6-3. "The English played as individuals and lost," the philosopher remarks. "The Hungarians played as a team and won."
Godard spends time speaking of filmmaking, particularly the significance of following a shot by a countershot. When a student asks the 70-year-old legend if the digital camera will save cinema, Godard looks blank and makes no reply at all.
Memories of dreadful times and the ongoing threat of terror permeate the film. One character recalls a German Catholic girl who said in 1943 that the dream of the one is to become two, but the dream of the state is to become one. "They cut off her head", he says.
The horror and pointlessness of it all drives Olga to thoughts of suicide, and before the film brings its taste of heaven, the director will learn of her fate.
The melancholy approach to the subject extends to the self-portrait Godard provides. The firebrand of old is here a genial companion who smokes cigars and calls for champagne. In our last sight of him, he's tending his garden.
NOTRE MUSIQUE
A Peripheria production distributed by Les Films du Losange with international sales by Wild Bunch
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Producers: Alain Sarde
Ruth Waldburger
Director of photography: Julien Hirsch
Art director: Anne-Marie Mieville. Cast: Judith Lerner: Sarah Adler
Olga Brodsky: Nade Dieu
Ramos Garcia: Rony Kramer
Indian: George Aguilar
Indian: Leticia Gutierrez
As themselves: Juan Goytisolo, Mahmoud Darwich, Jean-Paul Curnier, Gilles Pequeux, Pierre Bergounioux, Jean-Luc Godard.
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 80 minutes...
- 5/17/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.