Contempt (1963) - The Criterion Collection

Synopsis

Jean-Luc Godard’s subversive foray into commercial filmmaking is a star-studded Cinemascope epic. Contempt (Le Mépris) stars Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter torn between the demands of a proud European director (played by legendary director Fritz Lang), a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot), as he attempts to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this brilliant study of marital breakdown, artistic compromise, and the cinematic process in a new special edition.

Cast

Camille Javal	Brigitte Bardot
Paul Javal	Michel Piccoli
Jeremiah Prokosch	Jack Palance
Francesca Vanini	Georgia Moll
Himself	Fritz Lang

Credits

Director	Jean-Luc Godard
Screenplay	Jean-Luc Godard and Alberto Moravia
Cinematography	Raoul Coutard
Producer	Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti and Joseph E. Levine
Music	Georges Delerue
Sound	William Sivel
Editing	Agnès Guillemot
Unit managers	Philippe Dussart and Carlo Lastricati
From a novel by	Alberto Moravia

Disc Features

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:

New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Raoul Coutard and enhanced for widescreen televisions
Audio commentary by film scholar Robert Stam
The Dinosaur and the Baby (1967): a conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Fritz Lang (61 minutes)
Two documentaries featuring Godard on the set of Contempt: Bardot et Godard (8 minutes) and Paparazzi (22 minutes)
Jean-Luc Godard interview excerpt (1964)
A new video interview with legendary cinematographer Raoul Coutard
Original theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

From the Current

Press Notes: Celebrating Rialto Pictures

Nov 20, 2008

Criterion’s release of 10 Years of Rialto Pictures has critics giving thanks to the esteemed distribution company this holiday-time. Introducing his interview with Rialto cofounder Bruce Goldstein, http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2008/10/10-years-of-rialto . . .

Contempt: The Story of a Marriage

by Phillip Lopate Dec 9, 2002

Contempt, one of Jean-Luc Godard’s greatest masterpieces, has a stately air that breaks with the filmmaker’s earlier, throwaway, hit-and-run manner, as though he were this time allowing himself to aim for cinematic sublimity. It is both his richest study of human relations, and a film . . .