Made in U.S.A. (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966): France

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.

An incomprehensible story; absurd, cryptic, rambling dialogue; leftist rants; and a rather pointless cameo by Marianne Faithful add up to Jean-Luc Godard’s first truly bad film, Made in U.S.A. and something of a beginning of the end as it was Godard’s last film with actress Anna Karina and his work would become increasingly abstract, inaccessible, and sometimes downright boring as he sank into politics with the Dziga Vertov Group. That is not to say there are not redeeming qualities in this film, but certainly not enough to make it worthwhile to any but the most ardent Godard fans.

Paula (Anna Karina) investigates the death of her lover Richard Politzer (voiced by Godard). She encounters several odd characters along the way, who either help her or have some other interest in her investigation.

Most of the interaction between the characters is vague at best. Rather than make sense of his story, Godard seems more interested in packing his film with references, some more easily identifiable like a character named David Goodis or a street name Preminger, but some more obscure and political like Politzer and Ben Barka that the viewer would need a reference book to understand what Godard is saying, not that it has anything to do with the film.

Godard’s ultimate disregard for the film’s story in favor of obscure references and short monologues, often spouting leftist politics, is what ultimately loses the audience. Signature Godard techniques like random sounds intruding on the soundtrack, or characters speaking directly to the audience feel tiresome in this film. Even the usually charismatic Anna Karina seems uninteresting here while Jean-Pierre Leaud is wasted in a small role as a somewhat goofy gangster always playing a hand held puzzle game.

One area the film does excel is in Godard’s use of colors, particularly the common colors of the French and U.S. flags, red, white, and blue, but also a lot of yellow and a little green. Godard’s colors are vibrant, almost jumping off the screen and he manages to figure three, sometimes four of these colors prominently in almost every scene. The contrasts are dazzling to the eye.

Any real Godard fan will want to watch this film and there will be no stopping them, but I caution that this is most certainly lesser Godard compared to his other 1960’s works. Those who are casual Godard fans and under will want to skip this one altogether.

DVD extras: Interviews with Anna Karina and Laszlo Szabo; Video piece by Godard biographers Richard Brody and Colin MacCabe on Made in U.S.A and 2 or 3 Thing I Know About Her; Visual essay cataloguing the film’s references; New essay by film critic J. Hoberman; Original and re-release trailers.