Passion

After his radically political period during the 70's, Godard seems to have mellowed out in the 80's in order to attempt some seemingly more thematically ambitious films. Unfortunately, his 80's period mostly lacks the wit, charm, and enjoyability of 60's Godard, and it lacks the immediacy of 70's Godard, yet they still manage to be artistic successes in their own way, and clearly come from the hand of a master. Here he takes a self-conscious look at art, filmmaking, politics, and factory workers. Much of it involves a filmmaker who stages his films to look like painting from artists such as Rembrandt and Goya. It also features a performance from a young Isabelle Huppert as a worker in a factory that somehow relates to the film being made. Fortunately it manages to retain that distinctly Godardian sense of humor, though I seem to detect a trace of sadness behind humor.