Contempt (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #31.2 extract: Contempt (1963)

Contempt is, in a way, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf without passion and without reason. Godard then has us suffer through drivelling, pointless and meandering arguments from a stupid couple for the profound sake of projecting inertia and frustration. This gets tiring after 45 mins; the strong aesthetics wear loose and the transparent references to The Odyssey express very little. Contempt then begs one simple question: why contemplate the existential struggles of a couple you see no sense or humanity in and bare no connection to? 

Ultimately, my desire to beat Godard with Bretch's dead bones grows ever stronger. At least there is inadvertent catharsis with the ending; meaningless death incites relief and I felt like I got my time's worth. This is not Godard's worst film and I did find myself immersed for a good 30 minutes, but his style soon takes its toll.