Week End

Week End is a 1967 French surrealist black comedy film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The film was written by Godard himself and follows the journey of a bourgeois couple, Roland and Corinne, played by Jean Yanne and Mireille Darc respectively, as they go on a bizarre road trip to the countryside. The movie's ensemble cast also includes Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Georges Staquet, and Yves Afonso.

The film opens with a gridlock of cars going nowhere. The camera zooms out to reveal that the cars are stuck in traffic on a highway. Among the cars, we see Roland and Corinne, who are driving to Corinne's parents' house where her father is dying. The journey gets stranger as the couple encounters an array of characters and events that challenge their values and beliefs.

Throughout the film, Godard presents a series of vignettes that comment on various aspects of society, including politics, capitalism, consumerism, war, sexuality, and societal structures. Roland and Corinne's journey becomes a metaphor for the decline of Western society, as they witness horrific acts of violence, madness, and cannibalism.

Godard's direction becomes increasingly subversive as the film progresses, with scenes that are often absurdist and surreal. One particularly memorable scene involves a group of actors who perform a play about the Vietnam War in front of an audience of farm animals. In another scene, the camera pans over a field of abandoned cars that have been wrecked in a highway pileup.

As the film spirals further into darkness, the couple's relationship and sanity begin to crumble. Roland and Corinne's bourgeois values are revealed to be empty and meaningless in the face of the anarchy and violence they encounter on their journey. The film's final sequence is particularly striking and unforgettable, as the camera pulls back from a long shot of an apocalyptic landscape to reveal a film crew shooting the scene.

Week End is a challenging film that requires patience and an open mind. Godard's use of non-linear narrative, unconventional editing, and deliberate provocation that has defined his work can be polarizing. However, those who appreciate experimental cinema and the French New Wave will find much to admire in this ambitious, thought-provoking film.

The movie Week End is a visceral, nihilistic, and darkly humorous masterpiece that holds up superbly to this day. Its countercultural and anarchic spirit remains fresh and radical, making it one of the most important and influential films of the 1960s.