The Cinematheque

In Person: Fabrice Aragno

“The best 3D film I’ve ever seen.”

David Bordwell on Goodbye to Language

Goodbye to Language
Adieu au langage
Switzerland/​France 2014
Jean-Luc Godard
70 min. DCP In French with English subtitles

JLG plus 3D adds up, little wonder, to one of the most radical, rule-bending reimaginings of the technique in its sputtering history of deaths and resurrections. Having previewed the yields of his stereoscopic experimentations in the 2013 omnibus 3x3D, Godard unveiled the full scope of his ambitions with Goodbye to Language, a characteristically allusion-dense and elliptically rendered tale of an extramarital affair—twice told with two sets of actors—and a canine named Roxy. Doctorates could be devoted to conquering the film’s surfeit of citations and ideas, but it’s the quantum leap in stereoscopy, achieved with cinematographer Fabrice Aragno, that eclipses any intellectual gold-mining. Shot on lo-fi, blown-out digital, Goodbye repurposes 3D’s routine application toward realism, embracing instead its nonfigurative capabilities and the astonishing what-if potential of dislocating its illusory effects.

“The sheer assaultive power of Goodbye to Language makes it Godard’s most vibrant and exciting film for some time.” Jonathan Romney, Film Comment

preceded by

Les trois désastres
Portugal 2013
Jean-Luc Godard
17 min. DCP In French with English subtitles

Godard’s contribution to the 3x3D portmanteau (segments by Edgar Pêra and Peter Greenaway round out the triptych) was a rapturous test run for what Goodbye to Language would bear out: the untold limits of stereoscopy in the hands of a master nonconformist.

“[A] masterpiece, the first movie of the cinematic future.” Amy Taubin, Film Comment

“Magnificent … [Les trois désastres] diminished all that appeared before and after it in Cannes.” Daniel Kasman, Lumière

Fabrice Aragno will introduce the program and take part in a post-screening discussion.