JLG/JLG – Autoportrait de décembre - Stockholms filmfestival

If Godard's chief concern during the 60s was the deconstruction of narration and representation he has become during the 80s and 90s more interested in single images, and the breaking down of the image, the sound and structure of a film into their smallest elements. Godard the film-maker is gradually being replaced by Godard the scientist, using the camera, microphone and editing suite as instruments with which to analyse the world, and our ways of conceiving of the world. His most recent work can best be characterised as film essays. JLG/JLG has the subtitle A self-portrait in December. The film opens with Godard's shadow, his voice (distorted), reflection, a grainy youthful portrait, thus he gradually ''arrives'' in the film. The film's study of what constitutes an ''I'' leads to the question of whether the person who feels something is the same as the person expressing this feeling; or the distinction between the two ''JLG''s which appear in the title of the film. Maybe an ''I'' can be found in the space between the two. Connected to this question of self, is the question about what constitutes an image. Even this concerns a space in between. It is mentioned at one point in the film that an image's strength and impact is dependant upon the distance between the ideas which result in the association which becomes the image. The image is thought rather than seen, which is beautifully illustrated in the scenes when the blind editor helps him to edit a film, a film no-one has seen. Quotations are often a central element in recent Godard films. JLG/JLG is no exception, and includes quotes from Wittgenstein, de Toc-queville, jazz, string quartets and paintings, also films by Ray, Renoir, Rossellini, Godard himself etc. It is worth noting that many of the quotes - including all of the film quotes (apart from one) - are given on the sound track, which emphasises the importance of sound in the film. JLG/JLG touches on a number of subjects: art objects as merchandise in a market place, the situation in the Middle East and the Balkans, the difference in cultural attitudes between Europe and USA, the domination of American films - it is noted when the authorities in the film raid Godard's house that his video collection comprises 16 shelves of Ame-rican films yet only one of Russian or Italian films. As with much of Godard's recent work JLG/JLG contains an excess of information: several voices speaking simultaneously on the sound track, written text competing with what is spoken or shown, etc. It has however been some time since Godard has produced such a personal film, the images are more contemplative, the atmosphere more elegiac, making JLG/JLG one of Godard's most accessible and inviting films in recent years. It borders on the intimate; from the grainy photograph at the outset to the concluding statement: ''A man nothing but a man. No better than any other but no other better than me''. KG