I quite liked Redoubtable, despite some critics reacting strongly to the Michel Hazanavicius film. Perhaps this is because I appreciate a layer of irony on a film and entertainment like this is soaked in irony. In fact, the more I ponder the experience, the more I enjoy it, and perhaps even more than Hazanavicius’ crowd-pleaser The Artist.
The film is ostensibly about Jean-Luc Godard (played by Louis Garrel) and his young bride Anne Wiazemsky (a brilliant Stacy Martin). The film plays a little fast and loose with the truth, but this is precisely the point, as it has much to say about cinema and representation and revolution both then (1968) and now. Perhaps the biggest complaint is that the story often has Godard treating Wiazemsky in a mean way, and Martin pouting through much of the first half of the film.
Obviously a complex portrait, the best way to approach the story is through a level of ironic detachment, but the anchors that aren’t detached can feel heavy at times. When a sense of lightness permeates, all is well in Redoubtable.
