Product Description

A bickering, scheming bourgeois couple leave Paris for the French countryside to claim an inheritance by nefarious means. Almost immediately, they become entangled in a cataclysmic traffic jam, which is just the beginning of a journey fraught with violent and dangerous encounters: rape, murder, pillage and even cannibalism. Famed for its virtuoso cinematography - including a stunning ten minute tracking shot - Godard s dystopian road movie is a ferocious attack on consumerism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11715 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-28
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis
The master of the French New Wave indicts consumerism and elaborates on his personal vision of Hell with this raucous, biting satire. A nasty, scheming bourgeois Parisian couple embarks on a journey through the countryside to her father's house, where they pray for his death and a subsequent inheritance. Their trip is at first delayed, and later it is distracted by several outrageous events and characters including an apocalyptic traffic jam, a group of fictional philosophers, a couple of violent carjackers, and eventually, a gross display of cannibalism. By the time the film concludes, their seemingly simple journey has deteriorated into a freewheeling philosophical diatribe that leaves no topic unscathed. With WEEKEND, Jean-Luc Godard reaches an impressive plateau of film originality, incorporating inter-titles, extended tracking shots, and music to add an entirely new grammar to film language. The result is a deeply challenging work that will most certainly invigorate some viewers just as much as it will as frustrate others. Standout highlights include a jarring, sexually graphic opening monologue shot with a roaming camera and blaring musical accompaniment, and the infamous traffic jam scene, where an endless parade of cars sit bumper to bumper amidst burning cars, picnics, and honking horns. The work of a true artist and pioneer, Godard's WEEKEND is a landmark film that hasn't aged or lessened in impact over time.

Customer Reviews

Movie of Revolution
I think that the other commentators have failed to fully understand the movie. I believe that it is a metaphor for the collapse of bourgeois (capitalist) society and works by explaining what will come of that society under standard marxist analysis.
They begin their journey, self-absorbed, greedy, murderous, horrid. They go through the rat-race of traffic along the way. They end up getting robbed, losing their car crashing it and wandering lost. All hope of returning is gone. They end up arrested by the revolutionaries (the dictatorship of the proletariat), suffer cultural re-education (to the extent that the female character eats the male one). The role of the Algerian and African characters are important in that they represent the positivity of the third-world leadership which Jean Luc Godard revered so much. The movie is a very hard Maoist metaphor.
The movie itself is well shot, thought-provoking and harsh. It is meant to reflect the harshness of this world and the director's belief in how that system will be overthrown.

Entertaining beginning becomes dwarfed by relentless polemic
'hmmmmm, now this is bizarre'. My thoughts exactly after watching this film. The non-existent conventions, the rambling monologues, the bitter and vitriolic characters, the plethora of techniques are came together to deliver a film without an apparent statement; artisitic, political or otherwise.

Technically this film is exceptional. It mixes the best of Godard's talents and brings a film that is kinetic and energy-laden at first. However, after the first act; as per usual in Godard films the plot basically halts and utter mayhem ensues. I do not really want to comment on the provocative content, because as many other reviews state it is revolting, repulsive and though-provoking - no more need be said.

Godard's polemics initially concentrate on materialism and consurism; it seems straightforward - then the carnage begins; random turmoil follows and the film then launches attacks on Western foreign policy, on human nature, on society and its foundations, on politics. The message never stops, and it never intends to be clear in its purpose. All that I can personally derive is that its not a meditation, rather a juxtaposation of the worst (or in Godard's view, the truth) of the human world, the human nature. It never redeems the flaws and barbarities of this world; its unshameful in its methods and its visuals.

'Weekend' is a fresh and original cinematic experience. It is very sickening and uncomfortable. Although its leftist wafflings are tiresome and the stagnation of the plot can be infuriating it is still a recommended buy despite its strong devices and content. Though for anyone for really knows and appreciates Godard this film serves as another unforgettable coup-de-maitre from one of the greatest directors who ever worked behind a camera.

Weird as Hell
After watching "Weekend" twice I can only conclude that this film is Godard's personal vision of Hell. Nothing makes sense, there is no love or kindness in the film as one surreal and absurd scene follows the other against a background of burning vehicles, grotesque violence, incongruous music and nonsensical pseudo-philosophical rants. One interpretation of "Weekend" could be that it is simply a parody of French bourgois attitudes and values; its materialism, arrogance and indifference to others are subliminally lampooned throughout the film by Godard as a cast of class warriors, wandering philosophers, car-jackers and cannibal guerrillas expose the vapidity of the consumerist ideal. But to view this film merely as a subversive piece of anarcho/marxist agit-prop is a somewhat tenuous proposition ,as the essential absurdity of the film overwhelms any coherent theme or message that could be drawn from it. Which leads me back to my initial conclusion that "Weekend" must be Godard's imagining of Hell; non-sense, random violence , surreal encounters, illogical actions. "Weekend" is a difficult and challenging film,not particularly entertaining, but most certainly thought-provoking and inventive.