T W O B I C Y C L E S Film and Media Studies Series Film studies is the critical exploration of cinematic texts as art and entertain- ment, as well as the industries that produce them and the audiences that con- sume them. Although a medium barely one hundred years old, film is already transformed through the emergence of new media forms. Media studies is an interdisciplinary field that considers the nature and effects of mass media upon individuals and society and analyzes media content and representations. Despite changing modes of consumption—especially the proliferation of indi- viduated viewing technologies—film has retained its cultural dominance into the 21st century, and it is this transformative moment that the WLU Press Film and Media Studies series addresses. Our Film and Media Studies series includes topics such as identity, gender, sexuality, class, race, visuality, space, music, new media, aesthetics, genre, youth culture, popular culture, consumer culture, regional / national cinemas, film policy, film theory, and film history. Wilfrid Laurier University Press invites submissions. For further informa- tion, please contact the Series editors, all of whom are in the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University: Dr. Philippa Gates, email: [email protected] Dr. Russell Kilbourn, email: [email protected] Dr. Ute Lischke, email: [email protected] Department of English and Film Studies Wilfrid Laurier University 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 Canada Phone: 519-884-0710 Fax: 519-884-8307 T W O B I C Y C L E S The Work of Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville JERRY WHITE Wilfrid Laurier University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program We acknolwedge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication White, Jerry, 1971–, author Two bicycles : the work of Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville / Jerry White. (Film and media studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55458-935-7 (pbk.).—ISBN 978-1-55458-936-4 (pdf).—ISBN 978-1-55458-937-1 (epub) 1. Godard, Jean Luc, 1930– —Criticism and interpretation. 2. Miéville, Anne-Marie—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. II. Series: Film and media studies series PN1998.3.G63W45 2013 791.4302'330922 C2013-903427-7 C2013-903428-5 Cover design by Heng Wee Tan. Front-cover image from New Yorker Films/Photofest, © New Yorker Films. Image from Jean-Luc Godard’s Sauve qui-peut (la vie) (1980). Text design by Janette Thompson. © 2013 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100% post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy. Printed in Canada Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit http://www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777. For Jim Bedford and Kate Sibley: Toujours mon chef, toujours ma doyenne This page intentionally left blank C O N T E N T S Acknowledgements ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Abandonments 37 Chapter 3 Communication 59 Chapter 4 Realization 95 Chapter 5 Reconsideration 137 Chapter 6 Conclusion 159 Appendix 1 Cinéma Pratique’s Interview with Jean-Luc Godard 165 Appendix 2 Interviews with Anne-Marie Miéville 173 Notes 183 Bibliography 189 Index 197 vii This page intentionally left blank A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S Writing this book has been a very long road. I began it as a childless Albertan; I finish it as a Nova Scotian father of two school-age boys. It began with the support of James Naremore and Joan Catapano, and I have remained grateful for that throughout this process. It was brought to fruition by Lisa Quinn, WLU’s indomitable editor, and I am also grateful for the faith and confidence she has always shown. That process unfolded in the context of very supportive colleagues at sev- eral institutions. At the University of Alberta, I am especially grateful to my compadres in Film Studies: Bill Beard, Liz Czach, and Elena del Río. In Halifax, I am in the perpetual debt of Sol Nagler and Darrell Varga (both of NSCAD University) and Jen VanderBurgh (Saint Mary’s University), and I am proud of the little cine-critical fleet that we are assembling together. At Dalhousie, I have been supported by the Canada Research Chairs program, and I am very happy to acknowledge their role in this. A number of undergraduates have helped here, and I thank them. When I was at the University of Alberta, I drew on the support of David Burke, Olivier Creurer, Conor Morris, Celia Nicholls (now studying at the University of Warwick), and Kate Rennebohm (now studying at Harvard University). At Dalhousie University, I am grateful to Emily Macrae (a student at the University of King’s College). All of them, it is worth noting, are also alumni of the Telluride Film Festival’s Student Symposium. Marcy Goldberg (Universität Zürich) was very supportive of this project early on, and I always think of her as my most trusted “Swiss connection.” I am certainly grateful to her for giving me permission to reprint her translation of an interview with Anne-Marie Miéville. On that front, thanks also to Danièle Hibon (Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume) and Janine Euvrard (24 Images’s Paris correspondent) for permissions to reprint. D. B. Jones (Drexel University) and Marsh Murphy (Metro Cinema Society) were the first colleagues to read bits of this, and they gave me good support and, just as important, skeptical criticism. I am also grateful for feed- back and advice from Jonathan Rosenbaum. ix