Time: 96 Minutes
Cast:
Anne Wiazemsky as Véronique
Jean-Pierre Léaud as Guillaume
Michel Séméniako as Henri
Juliet Berto as Yvonne
Director: Jean-Luc Godard

I had heard a lot about director Jean-Luc Godard, but hadn’t gotten around to watching any of his movies yet. That finally changed when the Wellington Film Society provided me with an opportunity to watch one of his films: La Chinoise. I knew nothing about it going in, but was open minded. Unfortunately, it was a mixed bag for me.

La Chinoise essentially focuses on French students who are reenacting radical political activism for aesthetic reasons. Following our wannabe cosplayer revolutionaries, it is a satire which talks a lot about political engagement and especially the political aesthetics. It sounds interesting, but it didn’t really work for me. I found the frequent conversations to be excessive, repetitive and dull, I wasn’t engrossed with the characters and couldn’t form any emotional connection with them. It even felt long despite the 90 minute runtime; it felt more like a lecture talking points at me, and even then what actually was being said generally wasn’t that interesting. That being said, it did pick up a little in the last act. Also, there is a conversation/debate scene on a train with Francis Jeanson which I thought was actually good and was one of the few dialogue scenes I actually found engaging and interesting.

While I am mixed on the movie as a whole, I liked Jean-Luc Godard’s directing work. It is visually very nice with beautiful and colourful shots. I liked the sets and the editing was great too.

La Chinoise is visually appealing, well directed, and has some potentially interesting ideas, but I was largely unengaged with most of it. As an intro into Jean-Luc Godard’s filmography, I was rather let down. However, I don’t dislike it, and I’m intrigued enough to check out some of his other movies and hopefully I enjoy them more.