Directed by Jean-Luc Godard • 2010 • France
Starring Catherine Tanvier, Christian Sinniger, Jean-Marc Stehlé

Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard’s FILM SOCIALISME is a remarkable and provocative essay on the state of Mediterranean life, culture, and history. It is split into three parts, the first set on a garish cruise ship traveling the Mediterranean Sea. Godard contrasts the rich and conflicted history of the ship’s ancient itinerary with the ostentatious gluttony of its well-to-do passengers. The second part descends on a struggling rural French rest stop, whose owners, seeking to change their fate, are running for office. It is their discontented children, though, who point toward an alternate future. Finally, the film closes in a gorgeous, aggrieved montage that acts as an idiosyncratic history of the past and future of the region. Anticipating the Greek debt crisis and the Arab spring, FILM SOCIALISME hurtles headlong into the sociopolitical crises of our times.