THE RISE AND FALL OF A SMALL FILM COMPANY

Jean-Pierre Léaud stars in this made-for-TV rarity that was Jean-Luc Godard’s contribution to the French television series Série Noire, comprised of adaptations of crime novels. Godard’s movie, which is nominally based on James Hadley Chase’s The Soft Centre, emerges as something of a companion piece to his Contempt—a meditation on filmmaking, media, and adapting fiction for the screen, with Léaud playing a frustrated and frantic film director embroiled in the casting and financing of a lame thriller. “Critic’s pick…Diverting and substantial…Mr. Léaud’s performance is a marvel.” –NY Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 90 min.