Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2018: #29. Jean-Luc Godard’s Le livre d’image

Le livre d’image

The latest film from Jean-Luc Godard is still shrouded in mystery, and apparently has been re-titled Le livre d’image or the English The Image Book (previously, the film had been referred to as Image Et Parole). While it was suggested Godard’s latest would have something to do with ‘reflections of the Arab world,’ this is also unsubstantiated. The eighty-six-year-old auteur has had an extensive production period, and apparently Godard has not put the finishing touches on the project yet, which has left Wild Bunch to keep interjecting about delays (last year, it was confirmed Godard would miss the Cannes and Venice deadlines). The synopsis reads as: nothing but silence nothing but a revolutionary song a story in five chapters like the five fingers of a hand.

Release Date/Prediction: Godard’s imprint on cinema goes without saying—but where his projects premiere is another question. While he continues to experiment with notions of cinema, Godard didn’t actually enter the Cannes comp arena until 1980’s Every Man for Himself, which many saw as a return to mainstream filmmaking for the auteur. He has only competed six times for the Palme, winning the Jury Prize in 2014 for Goodbye to Language (which he never picked up). Berlin (where he won the Golden Bear for Alphaville in 1965) and Venice (where he won the Golden Lion for First Name: Carmen in 1983 and Special Jury Prizes for both 1962’s Vivre sa vie and 1967’s La Chinoise) have been much more lucrative for Godard over the years. However, based on his last success with Cannes, we’re sure his producers want to return to the Croisette (he could also end up in Un Certain Regard, where 2010’s Film Socialism premiered). Godard, on the other hand, could probably care less.