Thinking of Jean-Luc Godard. Works of art. Bank holidays.

New Wave film maker Jean-Luc Godard has died. Assisted suicide apparently. As I listened to various bits and pieces on the news I was taken back to my sixth form studies when in a rare bit of cooperation between the two establishments A-Level French students from the local boys’ grammar school were ‘invited’ to attend a screening of “À Bout de Souffle” in the school hall of my girls’ grammar school. As we were strictly forbidden to meet boys from that establishment (meeting boys at the railway station after school, for example, was a detention-earning crime!) this was quite a revolutionary, forward-thinking idea. Seating was arranged so that girls sat on one side of the hall and boys on the other. Naturally!

This was the 1960s so the film was shown on rather poor cine-projection equipment. And there were, of course, no subtitles. All in all not ideal, not quite like showing a film on DVD or even via streaming, but it was a genuine French film. How modern our teachers must have felt! I doubt many of us understood more than 50% of what was going on. It didn’t stop me feeling like Jean Seberg a few summers later when I had a job selling the local newspaper at the Southport Flower Show, strolling round with my bag of newspapers, trying to look cool and sophisticated! 

Then on the PM programme, 5.00 Radio 4, Evan Davies had a little mispronunciation episode when he talked about the film “À Bout de Soufflé”. He corrected himself immediately and may well have only been noticed by geeks like me. However, it made me smile!  

I came across this article about an art installation by a Colombian-born artist, Doris Salcedo, done in 2005 in Istanbul. Then it could be seen as a sort of protest against wars going on in those early years of the century. The article points out its relevance to fighting going on in Ukraine and the resulting displacement of so many people. For me, though, it goes beyond any specific war and stands as a representation of protest against anyone’s life being subject to such upheaval. 

 

Was each chair carefully placed? I wonder! If they were just dumped by mechanical devices, does this diminish the art? I often find myself asking such questions about modern art. Did Rothko carefully work on brushstrokes on his paintings which are effectively blocks of colour? Or did he just slap the paint on, having devoted his creative energy to the choice of colours and the balance of colours on canvas? In the end, does it matter? Both of these work for me. 

Listening to and reading news about royal funerals and such, I find myself thinking we need a new term for Bank Holiday. Apparently British Cycling has said people should not cycle next Monday, out of respect for events taking place. The organisation was rather ridiculed by people reminding them that they cycle to work and will be working next Monday and quickly reversed their position. But … “British Cycling’s fresh guidance has continued to draw criticism as it also tells amateur cyclists they should not go on club rides next Monday as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth II. With Monday now a bank holiday, it was expected that many cyclists would take advantage of the forecast good weather by long rides with their clubs. However, British Cycling’s official guidance now states this should be avoided.”

I’m pretty sure that when Charles said the day of his mother’s funeral would be a bank holiday, he didn’t envisage queues of cars heading for coast - or masses of cycling clubs out for long rides. Oh dear!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!