Charlotte et son Jules (1960)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Film Review

Charlotte et son jules is an enjoyably daft short film that manages to be both shamelessly misogynistic and infectiously amusing, an early offering from a young film critic named Jean-Luc Godard who had decided to follow the example of his friend François Truffaut and become a filmmaker.  Along with Truffaut and fellow critics on the Cahiers du cinéma Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol and Jacques Rivette, Godard would form an essential pillar of the French New Wave (la Nouvelle Vague) and unleash something of a cinematic revolution in the early 1960s.

This early film - a playful and breezy affair - illustrates Godard's lust for innovation almost from the very first scene.  Charlotte et son jules presents what is essentially a non-stop monologue, with one character - a debutant Jean-Paul Belmondo over-voiced by Godard - doing all the talking whilst another character (a winsome Anne Collette) takes all the focus.  It's a weirdly likeable film that presages Godard's early comedy features - most notably Une femme est une femme (1961).

At the time of making this film, Belmondo was a complete unknown, but his leading appearance in Godard's first feature, A bout de souffle (1960) would change that for good, making him an instant star.  The reason why Belmondo was unable to dub the film is interesting.  Shortly after the film was shot (on a very modest budget in a small hotel room), the actor was rounded up by the French army and forced to serve out his term as a paid up soldier.  (A few years earlier, Belmondo had joined the army, but had been invalided out on a pension after sustaining an injury.)  With his star posted in Algeria, Godard dubbed Belmondo's dialogue with his own voice.  Unfortunately, this would later rebound on Belmondo.  Having seen Charlotte et son jules, director Jacques Becker decided against casting the actor in his film Le Trou because of his awful voice, little realising that that awful voice actually belonged to Jean-Luc Godard.

Film Synopsis

A young woman named Charlotte returns to visit her ex-boyfriend Jean, who lives in a small room in Paris.  Before she can say a word, Jean launches into a rambling tirade, alternately lambasting her for walking out on him and then saying he cannot live with her.  All that Charlotte can do is wait, pull faces and giggle, until she can deliver the final put down Jean deserves.