danholepond:

auteurasaurus:

Anticipation (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) from The World’s Oldest Profession

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JEAN-LUC GODARD, who may be the world’s least saucy moviemaker, contributes the only decently funny episode to “The Oldest Profession,” an otherwise non-comedy in six parts about whoredom through the ages that opened yesterday at the Rialto II and Regency Theaters.

Except for the Godard piece, which runs approximately 15 minutes (and comes at the very end so that it’s possible to time your entrance to miss the other episodes), the movie is a painfully inept botch made by some usually interesting directors, including Mauro Bolognini, Phillipe De Broca and Claude Autant-Lara.

Starring in the individual episodes are Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Raquel Welch and Nadia Gray. The photography is sometimes surprisingly poor and the English dubbing so atrocious that the dialogue sounds like off-screen narration. Even the clump of a gentleman’s shoe, being dropped from bed to floor, is out of sync.

Godard’s “Anticipation,” however, is very pleasant—a sort of cheerful footnote to his “Alphaville” photographed in brilliant, flat monochromes of gold, red, blue and black.

A visitor from outer space (Jacques Charrier) arrives at the Orly International Hotel where the Welcome Wagon provides him with a beautiful companion (Marilu Tolo) who is programed for sex, but not conversation. When he objects, he is presented with Anna Karina, who is programed for sentimental love and never stops talking. This also is not satisfactory. Finally the two of them invent the kiss and they wind up, as the narrator says, making “love, conversation and progress at the same time.”

This is Godard in something less than an apocalyptic mood, writing a space-age “Just So” story. Following the five earlier pieces of junk, it almost has the impact of revelation.” - Vincent Canby

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