2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
"I'm looking for reasons to live happily and if I now push this analysis further I think there is a reason for living simply in memory... and in the facility for stopping to enjoy the present... that is, to catch a fleeting reason to be alive... and to have kept it a few seconds... and after it has been unearthed from the circumstances surrounding it. To bring into the world of man the simplest things... to see the human spirit take possession of them... to create a new world where man and things exist in harmony... that is my aim. As much political as poetic, it explains this passion for expression. Whose passion? Mine: writer and painter. it is 4:45pm."
Maryse tells me that no one has ever cared about politics before. Politics has begun to exist only now. The homeless people of today are the first homeless people ever, and the oppression that exists now is not something that anyone has experienced before. She tells me that everything leading up to now has been a litany of failures and disasters that people were unaware of. A series of horrific events after horrific events, all unnoticed. But now people care, and now people talk, and now people will do something about it. Currently, Maryse is campaigning against a war in a far off country. Maryse believes that the wars of the past were not stopped because people did not care, but now that people care they will be able to stop them. Maryse is wearing a black dress with a white collar, lipstick by Givenchy [tm], and perfume by Chanel [tm]. She does not want to leave just now as there is a light rain and she has just had her hair done. Maryse is meeting Phillipe later. I don't know who Phillipe is. After a few questions Maryse is prepared to admit that she is not completely sure what she means when she says 'now'. Maryse smokes Lucky Strikes [tm].
Martine does not like the films of Jean-Luc Godard. She prefers Truffaut. Martine says that Godard spends too much of his time talking down to his female characters. And that too often their function appears to be solely to listen to/be taught by a male authority figure. She says that women in cinema can be so much more than an attractive mouthpiece for a hidden man. Martine believes that Truffaut creates female characters who are living, breathing human beings, rather than a tired series of heterosexual male fantasy tropes. Martine knows that there are other filmmakers in the nouvelle vague, but Godard and Truffaut are the only ones she can think of at the moment. Martine is cleaning her bathroom. She uses Ajax [tm] with a rough sponge, and keeps a Brillo Pad [tm] by her elbow for those ground in stains. She is wearing a yellow pair of Marigold [tm] gloves and a denim pair of blues. Martine usually cleans the bathroom quickly, and with little attention to detail, but the dirt and grime has started to bother her so she is now taking it seriously. Martine worries that her breath is bad and keeps a packet of Halls [tm] on her at all times. Martine smokes Marlboro [tm].
Ghislaine believes that people are wasting their money by spending it on mind or mood altering substances, as anything that anyone could ever want can be found on TV. If Ghislaine is feeling under-stimulated she simply darkens the room as much as she can and then turns the TV on. She sets the brightness as high as it can go and turns the volume knob all the way to the right. Then she sets mirrors up all over the room so that she can see the TV no matter where she looks, multiple times. The mirrors are of different sizes. Within no time at all Ghislaine has rid herself of that lack of stimulation. Conversely, if Ghislaine has had a stressful day she likes to come home and throw the curtains wide open and turn on every light in the house. She has an analogue broadcast TV and switches it to a channel with no signal. She turns the volume knob down to '3' and lets herself be bathed in the white noise of static and the diffused, white light. She finds this extremely relaxing. Most of the time Ghislaine likes the advertisements best, and she has mastered a system so that when the adverts end on one channel she knows which channel to turn to to ensure that she sees more commercials immediately. She likes the colours, and the music, and the faces. Ghislaine likes to accompany these sessions with either a strong cup of Nescafé [tm] or a relaxing glass of Lipton's Iced Tea [tm] depending on her mood. Ghislaine smokes Gitanes [tm].
Marina sometimes calls herself Juliette, today is one of those days. Juliette believes that the United States of America is responsible for much of the deterioration of global culture. She thinks that each country used to be distinct, and hold its own flavour, but much of this is now being lost as globalisation takes hold. And that this globalisation is geared towards the recreation of a North American model. Juliette shows me a series of images of cities and asks me to name which city I'm seeing. She does not show me any of the landscape features I need to see to correctly identify them, so I get them all wrong. Juliette believes that Coca Cola [tm] has created more evil in the world than any political decisions of the last 100 years, except one. Juliette says that she is definitely not in the 'Pepsi [tm] generation.' Juliette drives a Citroen [tm] which she bought with money she earned proof-reading for a magazine. Juliette says that one of the small joys in her life has been including secret acrostic messages in her proof-reading assignments. She likes to include anti-American messages and obscenities, in a number of different languages. Juliette is not sure if anyone has ever noticed these. Juliette is wearing a yellow wool dress from Cotélac [tm] without a bra. Juliette believes that bras are a North American symbol of domination over women. Juliette smokes Fortuna [tm].
Roseline's favourite word is 'together.' She likes how it can be used to talk about everyone in the city, but also for two people. She tells me that this is a synechdoche: a word which can stand for something very large, or something very small. Recently Roseline has become less and less sure of her surroundings. She knows that she needs to get up and go to work tomorrow morning, but finds no solace in the fact that all of her future days seem to be laden with the same activities as today. She's also becoming worried that she can only ever see things from her own eyes. She's not entirely sure that there is any truth in this. Everyone she knows seems to feel very confident that the way they see things is 'the truth' but Roseline doesn't understand how they've reached this conclusion, when they too are all only seeing things from their own eyes. Roseline wonders what her future holds, but is aware that this concern should never impede her experience of the present. Roseline believes that all answers can be found in the present. Or, at least, she hopes so. Sometimes Roseline feels like crying, even though she does not know why. Today is one of those times. Roseline is wearing a blue dress from C&A [tm] and no shoes. Her hair is tied up in a loose bun and held in place with a Biro [tm]. She tells me that she never wears shoes because she needs to feel everything in the ground that she traverses. Roseline smokes Gauloises Brunes [tm].