"In Praise of Love" isn't exactly about love - it is about a simple question. And the question is this: "Do you live, or do you exist?".
To Godard, the concept of memory, story, experience, and history are all one in the same - they are the foundations of humanity and ourselves. But having these experiences and history aren't enough. According to Robert Bresson, "Feelings should create an event, not vice versa." As such, feelings and emotions are the genesis of the best stories and experiences. And is love not an emotion?
To "exist", one only lives for the present, without the knowledge or clue about one's past or history. As such, the car one drives is merely utilitarian - its background and history is not of import, and thus one has no feelings for the item. To Godard, this is exactly what Hollywood does - it usurps other people and culture's history without much knowledge behind them, and as such there are no genuine emotions in the films. Instead of tradition and culture, Hollywood replaces them with hollow and unfeeling technology - CGs, explosions, ad nauseum.
"Living", however, is to be fully aware of one's culture and history, and as such one *knows* the reason why one exists. As the old adage goes, "those who do not know their history are bound to repeat them." So the only way to move forward to create new future and not repeat the past is to know one's background. Lastly, one should not to be afraid of creating new stories and experiences.
"L'Eloge de L'Amour" is easily the best film I have seen in ages, and possibly one of the best works Godard has ever produced. It is intellectual, emotionally complex, and utterly thought-provoking. People who merely dismiss the film as "anti-American" or "a jumble of disconnected and repeated phrases" obviously didn't really think much during their screening. Pity on them.
To Godard, the concept of memory, story, experience, and history are all one in the same - they are the foundations of humanity and ourselves. But having these experiences and history aren't enough. According to Robert Bresson, "Feelings should create an event, not vice versa." As such, feelings and emotions are the genesis of the best stories and experiences. And is love not an emotion?
To "exist", one only lives for the present, without the knowledge or clue about one's past or history. As such, the car one drives is merely utilitarian - its background and history is not of import, and thus one has no feelings for the item. To Godard, this is exactly what Hollywood does - it usurps other people and culture's history without much knowledge behind them, and as such there are no genuine emotions in the films. Instead of tradition and culture, Hollywood replaces them with hollow and unfeeling technology - CGs, explosions, ad nauseum.
"Living", however, is to be fully aware of one's culture and history, and as such one *knows* the reason why one exists. As the old adage goes, "those who do not know their history are bound to repeat them." So the only way to move forward to create new future and not repeat the past is to know one's background. Lastly, one should not to be afraid of creating new stories and experiences.
"L'Eloge de L'Amour" is easily the best film I have seen in ages, and possibly one of the best works Godard has ever produced. It is intellectual, emotionally complex, and utterly thought-provoking. People who merely dismiss the film as "anti-American" or "a jumble of disconnected and repeated phrases" obviously didn't really think much during their screening. Pity on them.