Throughout cinema history, there have been some iconic nude scenes that have transcended the bounds of the films in which they appeared. Our weekly columnAnatomy of a Scene's Manatomywill take an in-depth look at these scenes, their history, their deeper meanings, and their legacy. This week, The Dreamers star Louis Garrel channels French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard in the biopic Godard Mon Amour!
French director Michel Hazanavicius began his feature filmmaking careerwith the Austin Powers-esque OSSspoof movies before graduating to international acclaim with his 2011 silent film The Artist. Since then, he hasonly made two films, both of them in France, one of which was the dour post-Holocaust drama The Search. The other is a film titled Redoubtable, though that was later changed for the international market to Godard Mon Amour, aquasi-biopic of French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard during and directly after the making of his 1967 film La Chinoise. Based on the memoir"Un an après" by Godard's second wife, the late Anne Wiazemsky, the film charts the rocky relationship that began just before the making of the film and ended a decade later.
When Godard himself first heard of the project,he dismissed it outright with a quote the filmmakers later used to promote the film...
Godard himself often had a difficult time separating his art from his life. His first wife, Anna Karina, was his first muse and the star of many of his early films, including the masterful 1964 film Bande á part. Right around the time that film was released, however, the two had essentially split and Godard soon found himself pursuing Wiazemsky, firstcatching his eye in her screen debut in Robert Bresson's Au Hazard Balthazar. The two soon began a torrid love affair which raised many eyebrows because, at 36years old, he was nearly twice Wiazemsky's age of 19. With 12 feature films under his belt in only 6 years, however, Godard didn't sweat any sort of bad perception he might have gained as a result.
1967 was a busy year, even for a filmmaker as prolific as Godard, as he churned out bothTwo or Three Things I Know About Her and Week-end in addition to La Chinoise. That last one is the film that serves as the backdrop for Hazanavicius' film which finds The Dreamers' Louis Garrel and Nymphomaniac's Stacy Martin assuming the respective roles of Godard and Wiazemsky. The film's first act is mostly focused on the salad days of their relationship, as Godard finds himself truly enamored with Wiazemsky and writing a role in his new film La Chinoise for her, as a French university student who becomes a radical Maoist and hatches a plan with four of her fellow students toassassinate theMinister of Culture of the Soviet Unionduringa visit to France.
Godard soon discovers that his young wife doesn't have the sameidealistic passion for justice that burns inside of him, causing them to spend more and more time apart. As a consequence of this time apart, however, Godard grows more and more jealous of what—or whom—his much younger wife might be getting up to when they're not together. This comes to a head an hour and 24 minutes in when the two are laid bare, literally and metaphorically, during an argument held while both of them are completely nude...
As to whether or not Garrel measures up to the real Godard is a question onlythe filmmaker'slovers could answer, but he does deliver an electric performance as the notoriously prickly director. It was savvy on Hazanavicius' part to make the characters' physical vulnerability match their emotional vulnerability in the scene. On one level, it's just nice to see a flaccid penis get as much screen time as a pair of breasts, but on another level, it gives the performers nothing to hide behind. It's likely why Garrel chose a nail file and Martin a toothbrush for the scene, just to give themselves some sort of tangible connection to something outside of themselves.
It is because of Garrel and Martin's vulnerability that the scene works as well as it does, so kudos to them for going to a place that's gotta be difficult for any actor, regardless of gender. It is just a tad heartwarming to know that the women don't have to go it alone as much these days.
Catch up with our other editions of Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy...
—Two of History's Manliest Men Wrestle Naked inWomen in Love
—Ewan McGregor Has Got It, Flaunts It inVelvet Goldmine
—A Pair of Stars are Born inY Tu Mamá También
—Harvey Keitel Goes Hog Wild in Abel Ferrara'sBad Lieutenant
—Viggo Mortensen is Naked From Every Imaginable Angle inEastern Promises
—There's NoShameis Michael Fassbender's Dick Game
—Kevin Bacon Steals the Show Going Full Frontal inWild Things
—How We Met Jason Segel's Dick inForgetting Sarah Marshall
—Jack Reynor is Uniquely Vulnerable for a Man inMidsommar
—Jaye Davidson Knows All There is to Know AboutThe Crying Game
—David Bowie Battles Rip Torn for Dick Supremacy inThe Man Who Fell to Earth
—Al Pacino Doesn't Get In All That Deep for William Friedkin'sCruising
—John Cameron Mitchell's Ass GivesHedwig and the Angry Inchthe Perfect Ending
—Ross Lynch Makes One Sexy Future Serial Killer inMy Friend Dahmer
—RocketmanNot-So-Boldly Goes WhereBohemian RhapsodyRefused
—Color of NightBrings Us the Return of Bruno's Dick
—Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu Get Serviced in Bertolucci's1900
—Future Oscar Winner Mark Rylance Gets Real and Really Nude in Intimacy
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Poster courtesy of IMDb
