Jean-Luc Godard

Contempt

Contempt

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.

Share

Film Info

Special 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

Cover design by Michael Boland, based on a theatrical poster

Purchase Options

Special 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

Cover design by Michael Boland, based on a theatrical poster

Contempt
Cast
Brigitte Bardot
Camille Javal
Michel Piccoli
Paul Javal
Jack Palance
Jeremiah Prokosch
Georgia Moll
Francesca Vanini
Fritz Lang
Himself
Credits
Director
Jean-Luc Godard
Screenplay
Jean-Luc Godard
From a novel by
Alberto Moravia
Cinematography
Raoul Coutard
Screenplay
Alberto Moravia
Producer
Georges de Beauregard
Producer
Carlo Ponti
Producer
Joseph E. Levine
Music
Georges Delerue
Sound
William Sivel
Editing
Agnès Guillemot
Unit managers
Philippe Dussart
Unit managers
Carlo Lastricati

Related Films

1/5
2/5
3/5
4/5
5/5

From The Current

Godard in Fragments
Godard in Fragments
In the 1960s, pioneering French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard introduced the world to a new cinematic lexicon, generated from his innovative, auteurist style. Between 1960 and 1967 alone, he made fifteen features (beginning with his groundbreaki…

By Kogonada

Visual Analysis — Feb 10, 2016
Visits with Raoul Coutard
Visits with Raoul Coutard

Last week, we were saddened to learn of the passing of Raoul Coutard. Our technical director, Lee Kline, shared some memories of working with the great cinematographer.


By Lee Kline

Tech Corner — Nov 14, 2016
Christophe Honoré’s Top 10
Christophe Honoré’s Top 10
— Feb 27, 2019
Young Jean Lee’s Top 10
Young Jean Lee’s Top 10
— Sep 23, 2016
Bret Easton Ellis’s Top 10
Bret Easton Ellis’s Top 10
— Apr 27, 2016
Alex Ross Perry’s Top 10
Alex Ross Perry’s Top 10
— Oct 23, 2014
Hossein Amini’s Top 10
Hossein Amini’s Top 10
— Aug 21, 2014
Martin Scorsese’s Top 10
Martin Scorsese’s Top 10
— Jan 29, 2014
Sight & Sound Poll 2012: Contempt
Sight & Sound Poll 2012: Contempt
Every ten years since 1952, the world-renowned film magazine Sight & Sound has polled a wide international selection of film critics and directors on what they consider to be the ten greatest works of cinema ever made, and then compiled the resul…
Short Takes — Oct 23, 2012
Richard Ayoade’s Top 10
Richard Ayoade’s Top 10
— Aug 18, 2011
John Bailey’s Top 10
John Bailey’s Top 10
— May 19, 2011
Chris Hegedus’s Top 10
Chris Hegedus’s Top 10
— Nov 24, 2008
Nicolas Roeg’s Top 10
Nicolas Roeg’s Top 10
— Nov 21, 2008
Christa Lang-Fuller’s Top 10
Christa Lang-Fuller’s Top 10
— Nov 20, 2008
Neil LaBute’s Top 10
Neil LaBute’s Top 10
— Nov 20, 2008
David Hudson’s Top 10
David Hudson’s Top 10
— Nov 20, 2008
Jane Campion’s Top 10
Jane Campion’s Top 10
— Nov 20, 2008
Michael Barker’s Top 10
Michael Barker’s Top 10
— Nov 19, 2008

Explore

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer, Director

Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard

A pioneer of the French new wave, Jean-Luc Godard has had an incalculable effect on modern cinema that refuses to wane. Before directing, Godard was an ethnology student and a critic for Cahiers du cinéma, and his approach to filmmaking reflects his interest in how cinematic form intertwines with social reality. His groundbreaking debut feature, Breathless—his first and last mainstream success—is, of course, essential Godard: its strategy of merging high (Mozart) and low (American crime thrillers) culture has been mimicked by generations of filmmakers. As the sixties progressed, Godard’s output became increasingly radical, both aesthetically (A Woman Is a Woman, Contempt, Band of Outsiders) and politically (Masculin féminin, Pierrot le fou), until by 1968 he had forsworn commercial cinema altogether, forming a leftist filmmaking collective (the Dziga Vertov Group) and making such films as Tout va bien. Today Godard remains our greatest lyricist on historical trauma, religion, and the legacy of cinema.

More Jean-Luc Godard View All