La Chinoise (1967) La chinoise (original title)

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard

Release Date:

4 March 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and...

Plot Keywords:

Terrorism | Leninism | Marxist | French New Wave | Brechtian

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Anne Wiazemsky	...	Veronique
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Guillaume
Juliet Berto	...	Yvonne
Michel Semeniako	...	Henri
Lex De Bruijn	...	Kirilov
Omar Diop	...	Omar
Francis Jeanson	...	Francis
Blandine Jeanson	...	Blandine
Eliane Giovagnoli	...	Son ami

Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean-Luc Godard

Cinematography by
Raoul Coutard

Film Editing by
Delphine Desfons
Agnès Guillemot

Production Management
Philippe Dussart	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles L. Bitsch	....	assistant director

Art Department
René Ferracci	....	poster designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
René Levert	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Georges Liron	....	camera operator

Production Companies

• Anouchka Films
• Les Productions de la Guéville
• Athos Films
• Parc Film
• Simar Films

Distributors

• CMV Laservision (2003) (Germany) (DVD)
• Athos Films (France)
• Dolmen Home Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD) (subtitled)
• Guéville Video, La (1982) (France) (VHS)
• Koch Lorber Films (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Pennebaker Films (1968) (USA) (subtitled)
• Silver Screen Collection (2008) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Chevereau  camera

Also Known As:

"La chinoise" - France (original title)

Runtime:

96 min | Argentina:99 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2005) | West Germany:16 | Spain:13 | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company:

Anouchka Films

Trivia:

Andrei Sinyavsky was one of the most important figures in the Soviet literary dissident movement. He was a literary scholar working at the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow, and a prominent specialist in the literature of the revolutionary and post-revolutionary period. His first writings, under a pseudonym, reached the West in the late 1950s.

Quotes:

[repeated lines]
Veronique:Guillaume, answer the phone!

Movie Connections:

References A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Soundtrack:

Mao Mao

Brilliant

Godard's misunderstood film about a cell of Maoist students in 1967 France is not so much an endorsement of revolutionary politics as it is an exploration of it. Although the film clearly contributed to the revolt at Columbia uprising, and later the student May uprising of 1968, this is in fact a highly nuanced account of the variegated tendencies of radicalization among the French youth. We encounter an outdated renunciation of Marxism-Leninism, which sadly converted large swaths of radicalizing youths to Mao in the 1960's, and still has some resonance on the left today. This is a delightful mixture of politics and pop culture as only Godard can provide, that is, with passion and form.