My Life as a Godard Movie

Editor Walsh (Vertigo) muses on the work of French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard in this thought-provoking collection. “If, approaching the end of the world, we’re forced to choose a single surviving monument to human art, it won’t be how any particular work looks, but the act of looking,” she writes, and accordingly explores the act of looking in the films. She examines Le Petit Soldat for how “Godard plots are driven by desire,” while a close reading of Masculin Féminin wonders why he clung to “revolutionary potential in beautiful girls.” Indeed, central to Walsh’s take on Godard’s oeuvre is her curiosity about and understanding of the women who appear in them: “they are something the camera finds alien, filmed finding something alien.” Throughout, she uses simple, almost superficial inquiries—“Can there be any cinema at all without beautiful girls?”—alongside deeper contemplations of beauty and womanhood: “Can appearance itself be defemininised? Not how would that look? but how would that feel?” It’s a fascinating mix, and while there’s a melancholy feel throughout, Walsh punctuates the work with occasional touches of humor: “My dilemma, like Godard’s, is: How to critique femininity and still look cute?”. Fans of Godard will find these erudite musings worth a look. Agent: Harriet Moore, David Higham Assoc. (Sept.)