Inera Lid Regltored in England and Wales Regtered Number: 1072054 Repisteradoffce: Mortimer House, {7-41 Mormer Stoo, London WIT SUH, UK Quarterly Review of Fim and Video ‘Sime nate ng ats er eat an rope oto: totwmenctsconsmgpe-tns Se WorktLove/Fim: Exploring the Ambigulles of Defiton in Godands Passion Ea Depa Unveny Pb, ‘ee nnn anor: ng tit Dan Gs Peet ty Ran [URL mpc aan Ceosezostoens PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLESee R Routes, Work/Love/Film: Exploring the Ambiguities of Definition in Godard’s Passion AMANDA KLEIN “The only lm relly wal to mke wil never ake, because impossible Misa lm in ove or bout love, o wit love. To speak th mouth, touch the bres, or women to nage and ste Ue man's body ise, caress 2 shoulder, things a dificl to show and Hea 3 hoo, and war. nd les” (Godard gi Belle 231, In dacesion of Sodas Passion (1982), il Forbes explains that wit his tn, the dietor abandoned "hit ong eld position of magia sn order fay allow tn expression, as Parson suggest of fesing aa of he emetion tht in Pra Te fox Faller bad said was the erence of cinema” (123). Forbes ie efeing othe monet in| Piero le fou when Sarl Fulks, n Amerean fnmaker (playing Rms ln), ‘etns cinema a Like a batleground. Love Hate. Acton. Voence. Death. 1a word “motions.” While the concept of Love, Hat, Acton, Violence and Death have all made tn appearance in Goda ext Sms ofthe 196, such as A Bou! de sou (1859), Le -Mépri (1963), Pierrot Fou (1965) and Weok-end (1967, "tmins” and "paston were Iagey absent fom the “batlepround”" In aher wort, in these ns Godard discwraped snd ete subverted the adience's bility to detect ether emesion ox passion with bxtuse Characters who act anpdicbly or rerehenibly (suchas Anas Karina's chanctr in| ‘Piero le fo) s0d"plos (and | we th em lot) which lack tae case affect Felonships uch at th ebin "mishaps" and encounters Weekend). Furthermore, singe these ms tend to focus on exta-persnal opie sch at consumerism and position tw choles qu esi ele (1967), he dficly of making cinema with the Pressures St commercial backers (Le Mépr, the sate of youth and their poliicalcoictons, of tack tereot (Mascalneminin (1966), and maker's stgale wih temas of ‘Shematic language (Une Peme Mare (1964) the “slings ofthe characters 44 thet {nerpersnal eatnsh ps within he fis fer appear sbeary in comparison, ‘Passion onthe otha. as Lara Mulvey explain, "a watershed en,” recting ‘cemochange decom. Iris asthogh he were seszibng the eit of emphasis nhs work, {Sy om naterilit modernism, fo an exploration of st andthe problems of cst) ‘manda icin iss FD. cone in steep Deparment athe Ueto ar Herds ons on are of erseston and yt Foon wh sect Foence pang ett ane sgn ese Here “Renang Though Nese Matis tnge A icuton of ane Sead" ic mgs Arran Fi lished In nat Ouray Dette ome. Her aii Make Wa fo be Bud Guy" Uneaning ‘Ghingng Soil anes Trough be Ganster ile" pbed names ifr and Case ‘Banke Moi, ie, Clare ond he Set 5: Nasonatzs (CRC Huns SB 203). 4“I i i i i e ‘Amanda Kien therslve Mulvey 77) In he li, his emphasis on a sn crest tases io | ‘mefaton on love and work and how he wo, tas foe Godard are inextcely ines Since Goda’ works lnmaking, then Pston might alo be considered bis “ove ter ‘ois work, sinema, and how cinema, fr his Sake, has siays been a form of lowe, ‘rt method fr arcalating love. For instance, the fo opens With a handel sha of plane's exhast ail slowly ching a ine across a ple We sky nthe background, we hear Ravel's "Concet forthe Left Hand Ar the line moves, the camera conled by Godard hel fllow. With this shot Godard tempest chase and cape = Fetng ‘moment of eaty on fil. lamsy sho he camera shakes), and yet, ince iopens {he im and s accompanied by classical music, the viewer understands atthe sky nd the {el of sole most hold some importance forthe person Died the emer. Ths image is hen bef intercut with thee fern shot ofthe Als main charcters—Labelle {sabe Hamper) working nthe factory, label riding ber bike alongside Jery'sezy| Radaivilowes) ear anda marie couple, Hannah (Haneah Schyglla) abd Michel Miche! Plea resing afer sex. In thi opening sequence the act of sella sad proccing «| ‘moment of ety on im i juxapesea fst wit cory work, ten wi te YOUN, inocen ve of Jeray and Iabelle(Iabelle igi), anally, with love ta as ‘become sale, psslonles, and a ines, oppressive (Tanah igh with her husband and ie having an ffir wth Jers, a well. With these jotapsitons Godard immesiacly ‘tablses te eainahip between wha ces have dubbed “The Holy Trinity” (Leura 25) of work, lve and cine, nd how the boundaries separating these he concep ‘mn become tenwined andr inistinguishabe. As Jerzy, Godart’s mouthpiece on the eos of cinema, remarks To love to werk, fo work wo love, wha’ te dfecnce? "Tha, defnson becomes the fndamental problem inthe fl, "The ih light” ea key concep both in Goda’ ad in Jerzy’ within the fl, Ya, the vewer ls never sure what thi erm, “igh” sgnifs for these to Stmakerr—it meaning sit and changes wih every cone For instance, since Jer2y's fim consi of seriew of erations of famous paltings, hi min concer when long {etht the lighting on he ct mache he ighing the paling. Koja Siverman exis “the subi of ey lm couldbe Ala recercé dea lumiére pede othe mote, bt rater ight, sis imposible ls objec He sdk o recover inthe tao the umaation Stich war wallabie o Rembrandt and El Greco, and ill acept no substitutes’ (To {Love 179) OF cours, thi esi ne Suverman emphasize, imposible o sats. and therefore, te fi in Jerzy’ ands, i doomed to remain incompee ery cmpls to e“ony ile fend” Lazio," inbetween. Pm searching’ ke everybody.” As the movie pouresies, sie diffe to Gncom exactly wha ery i searching” fr with be fle proders beg im fora coherent “to.” whe his peduction sista, Sophie, complains “I'm sik ofa production that produces noting.” Ths covsion, ‘well ar ray'sobtesson with ighing, i best exempliied daring the fst beau ‘roniarenedaction, ora Kaje Silverman desribsitareconceiing,” of Remband's "Nighowact (1642) in these "econcetvings= "(be aed variage pol ofthe pant ‘ves way tote mobil camera, which can adopt malpe postions, pan sro he urface ‘tte lat, and even invade the spectacle suet” ("To Love" 178) As the camera (is this Jers camer, or Godard?) pan long the faces of bored extras dressed up in the tlaborate corte ofthe Civic Guar, the viewer offered tee different scouns fF {he movie's sublet o purpose, fom tee diferent voice-overs td viewpoint. The fst ‘voice-over, opi’ explnnt I's ote bu something made up whichis neverexactty the tah nor the opps, bu which in any ese i sepraed om the rel word by ‘ofoandysslelated approximations of vermlitde” The viewer ino sue wht has