Voices of Eddie Constantine (1917-1993) and Anna Karina (1940-2019) 
Excerpts from two scenes in Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Alphaville’ (1965) in which Natacha von Braun recites from ‘Capitale de la douleur’ (1926) by surrealist poet Paul Éluard (1895-1952)

---

Have you ever heard of this book?

“Capitale de la doleur”

No

Some words are underlined

“We live in the void of our metamorphoses
But the echo that runs through the day…
The echo beyond time, despair, and caress…
Are we close to, or far away from our conscience” 

These are words I don’t understand

“Conscience”

And this?

“Death in conversation”

And this?

“Your eyes have returned from a despotic land
Where no one has known the meaning of a glance”

You really have no idea what this means?

It reminds me of something
But I don’t know what

“Your voice, your eyes, your hands, your lips 
Our silences, our words
 
Light that goes, light that returns
A single smile between us
 
In quest of knowledge, I watched the night create day 
While we seemed unchanged 

O beloved of all, beloved of one alone 
your mouth silently promised to be happy 

Away, away, says hate 
closer, closer, says love 

A caress leads us from our infancy
Increasingly I see the human form as a lovers’ dialogue
The heart has but one mouth

Everything by chance
All words without thought

Sentiments adrift
Men roam the city

A glance, a word 
Because I love you

Everything moves
We must advance to live 

Aim straight ahead 
Toward those you love

I went toward you 
Endlessly toward the light

If you smile 
It enfolds me all the better

The rays of your arms 
Pierce the mist.”

…

Poems by Paul Éluard (1895-1952)
‘Capitale de la douleur’ (Paris: Librairie Gallimard, 1926)
Published in English as ‘Capital of Pain’, trans. Richard M. Weisman (New York: Grossman, 1973)

capitale de la douleur

Paul  Etheredge's Album

Shoestring Budget [original song]

Steely Dan Studio Tan [original song]

Renowned Australian-born film critic Adrian Martin joins Amy to discuss the brilliance of Jean-Luc Godard’s cinematic masterpiece, LE MÉPRIS (Contempt, 1963), starring Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Giorgia Moll, and Fritz Lang. Filmed in Capri, Italy, LE MÉPRIS depicts the breakdown of a marriage, but it is also about much more than that as you'll hear. It has been newly restored in 4k and is having its Australian premiere at Europa Europa Film Festival in Melbourne on the 6th and 11th March 2024 (Hawthorn and Elsternwick). The screenings are co-presented by Melbourne Cinémathèque.

This is the extended full version of the interview. In the original interview that aired, we heard some of the iconic music by Georges Delerue who composed the epic and sweeping soundtrack to LE MÉPRIS, including Générique: https://youtu.be/N_QiBDGJ__4?si=7wNYLiERT0AbaGDp and Camille: https://youtu.be/ZPtQWm2QmXI?si=k5J639911cysfrVY

To view Godard's films from home, they can be found at your local library, university library, Picture Search Video & Vinyl in Richmond, on Kanopy (often via your library's subscription: https://www.kanopy.com/video/contempt), and Apple Movies and Google Movies. His films are distributed in Australia by Madman Entertainment and Umbrella Entertainment.

Read Adrian Martin's film essays and criticism on his website: https://adrianmartinfilmcritic.com
Broadcast on 5 March 2024.

Interview with Adrian Martin, Jean-Luc Godard's Cinematic Masterpiece LE MÉPRIS (Contempt, 1963)

¡Vuelven los cosmopoditas! Y para inaugurar la séptima temporada, Axel y Javier comentan “Orlando, mi biografía política”, la película de Paul B. Preciado, inspirado libremente en la novela de Virginia Woolf.

En un poco más de una hora, los cosmopoditas comparten sus sorpresas ante la opera prima de Preciado, se interrogan sobre la relación de la potencia de la obra con su coyuntura y especulan sobre posibles nuevos capítulos de esta naciente filmografía. Al final, charlan sobre lo que vieron y estuvieron leyendo en el último tiempo y sobre lo que tienen sobre la mesa de trabajo para planificar la nueva temporada.

Suscribite y apoyanos en Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts y en tu aplicación favorita. Escribinos a [cosmopodis@gmail.com](mailto:cosmopodis@gmail.com) y seguinos en Instagram y en Twitter en @cosmopodis.

Cosmópodis T07

T07E01 - Valiente mundo nuevo (Orlando, mi biografía política)

For Chris Marker, writing came before filmmaking. A decade after Marker’s death, critics continue to rediscover his remarkable oeuvre, which comprised writing, photography, film, video, radio, and digital media. Associated with the Left Bank subset of the French New Wave, Marker is perhaps best recognized for directing La Jetée (1962). To celebrate the publication of the first English translation of Marker’s early writings (published between 1948 and 1955), Steven Ungar, the editor of Chris Marker: Early Film Writings, with translator Sally Shafto, have joined Jean-Michel Frodo and Sam di Iorio in conversation.


“The French Cinema has its dramatists and its poets, its technicians, and its autobiographers, but only has one true essayist: Chris Marker.”
—film theorist Roy Armes



Chris Marker (born Christian Hippolyte François Georges Bouche-Villeneuve, 1921–2012) was a French writer, artist, and director. His time-travel film La Jetée (1962) is one of the most celebrated shorts ever made. A true polymath, his later creations ranged from videos and the interactive CD-ROM Immemory to the multimedia digital platform Second Life.


Steven Ungar is professor emeritus of cinematic arts, French, and comparative literature at the University of Iowa. He is author of several books including Critical Mass: Social Documentary in France from the Silent Era to the New Wave.


Sally Shafto is a French film scholar and translator and assistant professor of English at Framingham State University. She is author of The Zanzibar Films and the Dandies of May 1968, and her translations include Jean-Marie Staub and Danièle Huillet’s Writings. She teaches at Framingham State University.


Jean-Michel Frodon is a journalist and one of the most influential film critics and film historians in the world. He is author or contributor of several books including The World of Jia Zhangke and Le Cinéma Français de la Nouvelle Vague a Nos Jours, and wrote the foreword to “Night and Fog”: A Film in History by Sylvie Lindeperg. Frodon blogs at Projection Publique.


Sam Di Iorio is Associate Professor of French at Hunter College and Deputy Executive Officer of the Ph.D. Program in French at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has written about postwar films and filmmakers, political theory, and cultural history for Screen, Trafic, Film Comment and the Criterion Collection. His essay “Comolli’s Detours: Free Jazz, Film Theory, Cinéma Direct” is forthcoming with Amsterdam University Press. 



EPISODE REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:
-André Bazin
-Robert Cannon’s Gerald McBoing-Boing
-Alain Resnais
-Agnès Varda
-Jean Rouch
-René Leibowitz
-Joseph Rovan (born Joseph Adolph Rosenthal)
-Nicole Védrès
-Eternal Current Events (translated by Jackson B. Smith)
-Le Dépays / Chris Marker
-Camera Obscura piece by Ivan Cerecina translating Nicole Védrès’s “Les feuilles bougent” (“The Leaves Are Stirring”) and an accompanying essay
-Republic of Images / Alan Williams
-Le Cinéma Français de la Nouvelle Vague a Nos Jours / Jean-Michel Frodon
-The Fragile Present: Statues Also Die with Night and Fog by Sam Di Iorio; article in South Central Review.
-Trafic N°105 (Printemps 2018), with article by Sam Di Iorio


MORE CHRIS MARKER:
chrismarker.ch
Gorgomancy.net
The Criterion Channel



Chris Marker: Early Film Writings is available from University of Minnesota Press.

"One of the pleasures of Chris Marker’s films is the singular literary voice of his inimitable commentaries, in all its wit and quicksilver intelligence. That voice is present here, being honed through contact with others’ images and before Marker moved from the page to the screen himself. This groundbreaking collection introduces aficionados old and new to work likely unknown to them and allows us all to discover another dimension of this prodigious artist: Marker the film critic."
—Chris Darke, author of La Jetée (BFI Film Classics)

The early film writings of Chris Marker

C'est une musique que j' ai commencé en 2014, puis finalisé ce matin en 2024. 10 ans de gestation. Il fallait bien ça. 

Mots et sons Godard Phil

2ème compte.
Artiste, illustrateur, Philippe B. dessine à plein temps et écrit en parallèle des poésies et des chansons depuis 2001.

Tout autant inspiré par Prévert, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, que Svinkels, IAM et Eminem.
il se bâtit jour après jour un univers décalé fait de mots, d'images et de sons dans lequel il s'évade pour se ressourcer.

Ses premières chansons sont bricolées à son bureau dans sa chambre d’enfant.

L'écriture et le chant sont un exutoire, le moteur de son énergie qu'il impulse à son style musical et à sa vie.

Il traduit en imaginaire poétique les faits marquants de son quotidien rempli à la fois de moments d'exaltation,
de lassitude et de rêverie, dopé par une volonté de lutte.

Les mots dansent et grondent dans ses chansons pleines d'ironie, de révolte et d'espoir entremêlés.

Pour gagner sa vie, ses talents d'artiste illustrateur sont tout autant dédiés à ses chansons que mis au service d'autrui.

Long-form conversations about politics and current events, international affairs, history, art, books, and the natural world – presented by Amy Mullins, Tuesdays 9am-noon on Triple R 102.7FM.

Podcast de cultura. Una vez por semana, desde París, Axel y Javier comentan lo que leen, ven y escuchan, cruzando disciplinas, jerarquías y fronteras.
De Foucault al pochoclo, todo se discute. ¡Cosmopoditas del mundo, uníos!

https://precariouspropositions.wordpress.com/

Solo artist.  Song and dance man.  Folk.  Blues.  Contact:  desertersongs@yahoo.com Film critic at https://paulydeathwish.com/

New tracks tagged #Jean-Luc Godard