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Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2010: Jean-Luc Godard’s Socialisme

While Agatha Christie took to the locomotive, deep thinker, essay film specialist and grandfather of the French New Wave finds solace in the high seas. An ocean-liner is the lieu for what appears to more politically-driven, existentialist questions in a film that merges docu footage with actors in deliberate cue-card reading mode.

Eric Lavallée

Published on January 14, 2010

#58. Socialisme

Director/Writer: Jean-Luc Godard
Producers: Ruth Waldburger
Distributor: Rights Available.

The Gist: A symphony in three movements. Things such as: The Mediterranean, a cruise ship. Numerous conversations, in numerous languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on holiday… An old man, a war criminal (German, French, American we don’t know) accompanied by his granddaughter. A famous French philosopher (Alain Badiou). A representative of the Moscow police, detective branch. An American singer (Patti Smith).….(more)

Cast: A bunch of people – some actors, some not.

Why is it on the list?: While Agatha Christie took to the locomotive, deep thinker, essay film specialist and grandfather of the French New Wave finds solace in the high seas. An ocean-liner is the lieu for what appears to more politically-driven, existentialist questions in a film that merges docu footage with actors in deliberate cue-card reading mode. This is his first time working in HD. You either dig him or you don’t.

Release Date/Status?: A January release in France is expected, not sure which North American festival would present this one.

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).