A BOUT DE SOUFFLE has always struck me as a perfectly fine entry point
for Godard. J-L G is actually an ideal director to experience in
chronological order, as his artistic process and development were very
much a month-by-month, year-by-year thing. I would strongly suggest,
then, for new viewers to go from his first feature to LE PETIT SOLDAT,
and on, so as not to jump over VIVRE SA VIE or UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME
to get to the more ''accessible'' widescreen lusciousness of LE
MEPRIS. Similarly, I don't think it's possible to comprehend what
Godard is doing in a masterpiece like PASSION without knowing what he
did and went through post-WEEKEND, through the Dziga Vertov Group
period, the first video period, etc, leading up to the new phase that
PASSION marked. I think this same kind of chronological viewing
experience applies to others extremely different from Godard, like
Chaplin, Griffith, Kubrick, Antonioni, Bergman and--perhaps J-L G's
Italian brother--Pasolini. I know that I was always grateful that the
first Godard I viewed was A BOUT DE SOUFFLE.
Robert Koehler
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