Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967, Jean-Luc Godard)

Perhaps the wankiest of Godard's 60s classics, but it's fascinating stuff. It's pretty much a feature-length defying of expectations, a game that Godard has played for decades. Godard has his protstitute heroine (foxy Marina Vlady) disrobe repeatedly but always frames her from the neck up. She's married with kids, but it's unclear whether he knows about her other job- at any rate, he never finds out during the course of the film. And being conditioned by Godard to expect a death at the end of the film, it's surprising that it never comes. Visually, it's Godard playing around with the 'Scope frame, isolating his characters at the corners or at the bottom center of the frame as they're dwarfed by Paris behind them. Otherwise, the style feels almost comic book-ish, with colorful intertitles, shots dominated by brightly-colored consumer products, and dialogue that feels mostly like thought balloons. And just when it runs the risk of getting a little old, Juliet Berto shows up. Good times. Rating: ***1/2.