In Praise of Love (2001)
"Éloge de l'amour" (original title)

In part one there is talk of a project on the subject of love, with the example of three couples, one young, one mature and the other elderly. At this point the author comes into contact ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard

Stars:

Bruno Putzulu, Cécile Camp, Jean Davy

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruno Putzulu	...	Edgar
Cécile Camp	...	Elle
Jean Davy	...	Grandfather
Françoise Verny	...	Grandmother
Audrey Klebaner	...	Eglantine
Jérémie Lippmann	...	Perceval
Claude Baignières	...	Mr. Rosenthal
Rémo Forlani	...	Mayor Forlani
Mark Hunter	...	U.S. Journalist
Jean Lacouture	...	Historian
Philippe Lyrette	...	Philippe, Edgar's Assistant
Bruno Mesrine	...	Magician
Djéloul Beghoura	...	Algerian (as Djelloul Beghoura)
Violeta Ferrer	...	Woman 1
Valérie Ortlieb	...	Woman 2

Storyline

In part one there is talk of a project on the subject of love, with the example of three couples, one young, one mature and the other elderly. At this point the author comes into contact with a young woman he had already met three years earlier. Just as the project is about to become reality, all problems of an artistic or financial nature having been resolved, the author learns that the young woman has died. Part two concerns the events of three years earlier. While interviewing an historian, the future author meets for the first time the young woman, who is training as a lawyer. She has been asked by her own grandparents, formerly of the French resistance, to examine a contract offered to them by Americans who want to make a film about their activities during the Nazi occupation of France.

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Plot Keywords:

france | cinema | philosophy | graffiti | intellectual | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements and brief language

Details

Country:

France Switzerland

Language:

French

Release Date:

16 May 2001 (France)

Also Known As:

In Praise of Love

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$38,844 (USA) (6 September 2002)

Gross:

$251,717 (USA) (9 May 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avventura Films, Peripheria, Canal+

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

American Beauty can be heard playing in the background of one of the scenes.

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Connections

References The Matrix (1999)

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Soundtracks

"L'Atalante"
Written by Maurice Jaubert

User Reviews

Philosophy or socioeconomic critique? Godard's eloge de l'amour

Critic Douglas Morrey says Godard's cinema is not simply about philosophy or cinema with philosophy, rather it is cinema as philosophy. The question is whether the film is concerned with philosophical issues, or a more simple polemic of how love is failed by the capitalist machine? Philosophy or socio-economics?

Filmmaker Edgar (Bruno Putzulu) pitches an idea for a project about love. When casting for the female antagonist, he meets a girl who he thinks he has met before. He later finds out that she has died. He soon realises where he had met her before in a flashback from two years before to when he was working on a production of suffering during WWII. The film is a critique on Hollywood and how capitalism is destroying cinema and love.

As for Socio-economics, (Late) Capitalism strives to be the End of History and would consequently maintain freedom of capital over the freedom of mankind (Demonstrable in the film where Edgar wants his film to be history not Hollywood)

The film succeeds in offering a philosophical problem, but demonstrates philosophy's inability to enter into any realm other than the abstract.

Godard here follows Marx' dictum: 'Philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it'.