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Just what I expected

A Disappointing Continuation

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Political upheavals at a sausage factory in France ensnare a visiting female reporter and her commercial-director husband; after they return to the normalcy of their lives, the couple find their marriage has irrevocably changed. Examination of the European class struggle of the early 1970s from filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin is cheekily framed (though for no apparent reason) by voice-over work from a man and a woman discussing the cinematic possibilities of the material we're seeing. Stars Yves Montand and Jane Fonda are flexible within this flaky milieu, though Godard and Gorin have made the characters colorless, stand-ins for real people. Some of the frank sexual dialogue is bold and surprising, and the cynical finale is thoughtful, but much of the picture is withered by unamusing, unenlightening grandstanding. *1/2 from ****

Tout va bien (1972) ** (out of 4) Jean-Luc Godard and Jea-Pierre Gorin directed this film about two directors (Godard, Gorin) who are trying to piece a film together, which is being played out by Jane Fonda and Yves Montand. Godard has been very hit and miss with me so this film here is somewhat in the middle. I really didn't hate this movie but at the same time I can't say that I was entertained by it either. I think there's some good ideas floating around here but I never felt like they were pulled together to make anything too interesting. I'm sure fans of the film will say there's a political message here and I'm sure there is somewhere but with all the madness going on I wasn't about to look for it. I think Montand is very good in his role but Fonda was a tad bit lacking and this is probably the biggest disappointment I've had with any of her films. I really enjoyed the sequence in the store and there's some very good moments scattered around but in the end this is just Godard being Godard and I wasn't going for it.

This film deliberately ignores conventional structure and this is because director Godard liked to buck convention AND this film is all about the need to overhaul the system (and I guess this can extend to conventional film making as well). I actually liked the way it started--with two people talking about how to deign a scenario for a film. However, after that the film got a bit slow. The film turned out to be about the general strike that crippled France in 1968 that changed the face of French society--ushering in an age of increased workers' rights (such as French law making it practically impossible to fire workers, guaranteeing six weeks paid vacation, etc.) and the supposed paradise for the people. Well, thirty-five years later, France is once again fighting this SAME battle again, as since instituting these progressive changes, unemployment has skyrocketed and industries have left France like rats leaving a sinking ship. France, as well as our class system, like this movie, have no easy answers.So far, I have written a huge number of reviews on IMDb and they usually flow from my mind to the computer screen rather easily. Thank you, Jean-Luc Godard for making this a much tougher task than usual!! While I did not hate this film nearly as much as PIERRE LE FOU, ALPHAVILLE or PRENOM CARMEN (films of Godard that I have hated), I didn't particularly enjoy this movie nor did I really care about it--I just felt very little about the film one way or the other. As usual for Godard, the subject matter is the ills of conventional capitalism and his desire to overhaul "the system". However, unlike the three films I just listed, at least TOUT VA BIEN makes you think and it's not a film to easily dismiss or adore--it's more an enigma. Plus, I don't really think Godard thought he had all the answers to improving society, despite his far-left leanings and the leanings of his two stars. And I guess, for bucking convention, for allowing itself to be vague as well as offering something different, it might have been worth while. I certainly did not enjoy it, nor would the average viewer. Only those who adore terms like "class struggle", "prolotariot" and the like as well as die-hard Godard freaks will probably find this a great or memorable film.

Godard work sometimes is not entirely understood. having seen most of his films i must say the this film is one of the more comprehensible of the lot. To my understanding it deals with an important issue of the postmodern graded. the issue of how to react to the capitalist society in which we live in. Being disappointed from the communist party, as well as the worker's unions which turned their backs to the working class, the people are left with no alternative but to commence a revolution, one that uses force, one that shakes the basis of society. He also shows how the burglar reporters and film creator as a representing free mind are also been exploited by the capitalist regime and their creative spirits is dying. for the the solution is to continue creating at all cost. to bring the cry of the people, to help the coming revolution. The last scene at the supermarket is quite fantastic, and it shows the decay of the great ideas (a communist part member sells his book at a discount price but doesn't know what's written there, and the youth that stand up to the society rules and help people to leave the supermarket and not pay). I strongly recommend this movie, although you need some patience with Godard's worth the time.