Hélas pour moi
- 8 September 1993 (1993-09-08)
Hélas pour moi (English: Alas for Me or Oh Woe Is Me) is a 1993 French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and starring Gérard Depardieu. This film is inspired by the legend of Alcmene and Amphitryon[1] and attempts to show the desire of a god to experience the truth of human desire, suffering and pleasure.
Plot
Abraham Klimt arrives in a small Swiss village to investigate an incident that occurred on July 23, 1989 involving Rachel and Simon Donnadieu, a local couple. He interviews several of the townsfolk and enlists the aid of a poet, Aude Amiel. In flashback, the story of Rachel and Simon unfolds. Per the Greek myth on which the film is based, God, or a god, comes to earth with his assistant, Max Mercury. He decides he wants to possess Rachel Donnadieu, so he takes the form of Simon Donnadieu when Simon leaves home on a business trip. God-as-Simon returns to Rachel while Simon is away, and the two have an encounter.
Or not. Rachel is not talking about the incident, and Simon, in a brief encounter with Klimt at the end of the film, denies that it happened. The evidence provided by the flashbacks is contradictory. Ultimately, Klimt concludes, "There is nothing left to say concerning Simon and Rachel. The rest occurs beyond images and beyond stories."
Cast
- Gérard Depardieu as Simon Donnadieu
- Laurence Masliah as Rachel Donnadieu
- Bernard Verley as Abraham Klimt
- Aude Amiot as Aude Amiel
- Roland Blanche as The drawing teacher
- Jean-Louis Loca as Max Mercury
- Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as Ludovic
- Fabienne Chaudat
Background
Cinematographer Caroline Champetier said that the original scenario began with God riding a train through France and Switzerland, observing all the battles of humanity through the window. This sequence required expensive special effects and Godard finally gave up on the idea after visiting a company that demonstrated for him the effects they achieved for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen.
References
- ^ Fieschi-Vivet, Laeticia (2000). The Cinema Alone: Essays on the Work of Jean-Luc Godard, 1985-2000. Amsterdam University Press. p. 189. ISBN 9789053564561.
External links
- Hélas pour moi at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
|
segment
- Operation Concrete (1955)
- Une femme coquette (1955)
- All the Boys Are Called Patrick (1957)
- A Story of Water (1958)
- Charlotte and Her Boyfriend (1958)
- "Sloth" in The Seven Deadly Sins (1962)
- "The New World" in Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1962)
- "Le Grand escroc" in Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (1963)
- "Montparnasse-Levallois" in Paris vu par (1964)
- "Anticipation, ou: l'amour en l'an 2000" in The Oldest Profession (1965)
- "Caméra-oeil" in Far from Vietnam (1967)
- "L'Amore" in Amore e rabbia (1969)
- Letter to Jane (1972)
- Here and Elsewhere (1976)
- How's it going
- A Letter to Freddy Buache (1982)
- Soft and Hard (1985)
- Meetin' WA (1986)
- "Armide" in Aria (1987)
- "Le Dernier mot" in The French as Seen by... (1988)
- Histoire(s) du cinéma (1998)
- "Dans le noir du temps" in Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002)
- Tribute to Eric Rohmer (2010)
- "Les Trois Désastres" in 3X3D (2013)
- "The Bridge of Sighs" in Bridges of Sarajevo (2014)
- Letter in Motion to Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux (2014)
- Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: "Phony Wars" (2023)
- Paparazzi (1963 documentary)
- Le Parti des choses (1964 documentary)
- Two in the Wave (2010 documentary)
- One P.M. (1972 documentary)
- Redoubtable (2017 biopic)
- Groupe Dziga Vertov
- Bibliography
This article related to a French film of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e