Questions on Godard and Counter-Cinema

1. Godard & Counter Cinema Issues in Film Studies 2 Week 3

2. Tout Va Bien (1972) In what ways does Tout Va Bien employ the codes and conventions of dominant cinema How does it repudiate or subvert these conventions? Aspects to consider: Narrative, characters, themes, ideologies Framing, composition, space, camera movement Mise-en-scène Performance, breaking the fourth-wall Diegetic and non-diegetic sound

3. Your Experience How does Tout Va Bien play with your expectations? What pleasures does it offer or refuse to supply? What aspects of the film do you find frustrating and why? How is the way you relate to the film different from the way you watch narrative cinema?

4. Form = Ideological How politically radical is the foregrounding of the cinematic apparatus? To what extent is subject matter an important part of what makes Tout Va Bien a political film? Can you think of films which are self-reflexive and use ‘counter-cinema’ devices but do not have an overt political agenda?

5. Audiences Does Godard risk losing a mass audience? What does Godard do in order to attract and retain his audience? Who do you think the film’s primary audience are? Do you think retaining the audiences’ interest an important part of political filmmaking?