We know that Jean-Luc Godard was working on two new movies before his death last week.
Godard was a God of the medium, having advanced it more than any other person safe for the Lumieres brothers or George Melies. He’s always strayed far away from conventional cinema and instead opted to make films in bold, original, and vital fashion.
Last year, during an 85-minute conversation with the virtual International Film Festival of Kerala, Godard said he planned to “retire” from directing after the completion of these two films:
“I’m finishing my movie life—yes, my moviemaker life—by doing two scripts,” the 90-year-old Godard added about his plan to retire in the near future. “After, I will say, ‘Goodbye, cinema.’”
In an interview with Les Inrockuptibles, he elaborated on the story and themes of one of the films:
It will tell the story of a Yellow Vest member who breaks up with her boyfriend. The argument is inspired by Bérénice de Racine. The character is reminiscent of Bérénice when Titus returns to the State. This film will not simply be made up of what you call archival footage. There will also be a shoot. I don't know if I'll find what we call “actors” for the film.
I would like to film the people we see on news, but by plunging them into a situation where documentary and fiction come together. I don't know if they will agree to be filmed in relation to themselves, both in their professional situation and in invented situations. Anyway, I have a list. There is for example (French journalist) Natacha Polony. She's fine. But I'm only interested in filming her if she agrees.
We also know, according to Godard’s closest collaborator, cinematographer Fabrice Aragno, the films in question are titled “Funny Wars” and “Scenario,”
“Funny Wars” was shot on 35mm, 16mm, and Super 8—35mm shot black-and-white, the other two color—while “Scenario” appears “more in a classic video style with some Super-8 images, not with 35mm.”
Aragno additionally stated that Godard specifically wanted to go back to his origins. “He said you know this Chris Marker film “La Jetée”? Maybe we can do something like that”.
It’s been a long time since traditional or even vaguely conventional “movies” had interested the legendary filmmaker. If anything, his films over the last 20 or so years have been experimental audio/visual collages more interested in pictures, sounds, cuts, and de-saturation, a maddening barrage of dadaist statements. That’s why, if Godard didn’t complete “Funny Wars,” and “Scenario,” nobody will likely be able to finish them.
Whatever Godard meant in going back to his “origins,” maybe we’ll never know or maybe he has a posthumous surprise in store for us at next year’s Cannes. It could be his final trick in a historic oeuvre of tricksterism.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.