This film is currently unavailable
Film socialisme
Jean-Luc Godard’s acerbic and disorienting essay on the decline of Western civilisation, shot aboard the famously grounded cruise ship, the Costa Concordia.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
The Debate strand is supported by Col and Karen Needham
Overview
Jean-Luc Godard’s first film in HD is a typically acerbic and disorienting essay on the decline of Western civilisation. Divided into three parts, the film opens in style with a brilliantly shot chapter aboard a cruise ship which counts war criminals and UN investigators among its passengers, while in the second section a group of children summon their parents before a tribunal around the themes of liberty, equality and fraternity.
The third is peripatetic journey around the monuments of ancient Europe, examining the future for Western culture in the face of irresistible globalisation. Always a pioneer in the use of video in his filmmaking, Godard here revels in the freedom of HD video, indulging in playful experiments in both visual and aural form. It’s one of Godard’s most inventive and enjoyable features in years, earning widespread praise from its debut at the Cannes Film Festival 2010, and gaining further notoriety when the cruise ship Godard featureds prominently, the Costa Concordia, famously ran aground in 2012.
Related
Kensuke's Kingdom Kensuke's Kingdom
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 84 mins Director: Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry
Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel is brought to life in this delightful, animated tale of a young castaway who discovers he’s not alone.
Robot Dreams Robot Dreams
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 103 mins Director: Pablo Berger
Spanish director Pablo Berger delivers a rich and emotionally engaging dialogue-free animation about friendship, set in a bustling 1980s New York City.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2022 108 mins Director: Pierre Földes
Impressive and captivating animated adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short stories.
Times For Times For
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1970 80 mins Silent Director: Stephen Dwoskin
Four characters go through a series of deeply emotional, psychedelic, sensual, sexual encounters, evoking the times and textures of the 1960s underground.
Estuary Estuary
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 49 mins Director: Chris Welsby
Tides rise and fall and the landscape twists around the camera.
Belle Belle
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2021 122 mins Director: Mamoru Hosoda
High-school student Suzu finds her voice in an incredible virtual world that allows everyday people to become extraordinary.
24 City 24 City
Drama-documentary 2008 107 mins Director: Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke mixes reminiscence and performance in his cool, measured, moving look at the changing fortunes of a Chinese factory-turned-shopping mall
Las acacias Las acacias
Road movie 2011 83 mins Director: Pablo Giorgelli
Pablo Giorgelli's debut is a slow, touching Argentinian road-movie about a quiet trucker warming to a woman and child he reluctantly gives a lift to
The Arbor The Arbor
Biopic 2010 90 mins Director: Clio Barnard
Clio Barnard's film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays.
The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands
War 1927 106 mins Silent Director: Walter Summers
This dramatic reconstruction of two decisive naval battles from the First World War is one of the finest films of the British silent era.
Blancanieves Blancanieves
Drama 2011 105 mins Director: Pablo Berger
Pablo Berger’s imaginative black-and-white ‘silent’ movie relocates the story of Snow White to 1920s Spain – complete with bullfighting dwarfs
Brick Lane Brick Lane
Drama 2007 97 mins Director: Sarah Gavron
Sarah Gavron’s subtle and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel charts the experiences of a Bangladeshi woman in London.
Breathless [À bout de souffle] Breathless [À bout de souffle]
Film noir 1960 90 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature, an insouciant and iconoclastic crime film that paved the way for the French New Wave.
Le Mépris Le Mépris
Drama 1963 103 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard conducts an autopsy of love and the creative process, as a boorish film producer dismantles a seemingly strong marriage.
Alphaville Alphaville
Detective drama 1965 99 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s venture into sci-fi pits secret agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) on a mission to destroy the malevolent supercomputer, Alpha 60.
Une femme est une femme Une femme est une femme
Drama 1961 84 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Godard’s colourful and exuberant tribute to the Hollywood musical, with Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Jean-Claude Brialy.
Pierrot le Fou Pierrot le Fou
Crime 1965 110 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Godard’s stunning, colour widescreen account of the wild journey of ‘the last romantic couple’, Pierrot (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his lover Marianne (Anna Karina).
Goodbye to Language Goodbye to Language
Drama 2014 70 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s typically innovative and playful meditation on technology, love and language was acclaimed one of the best films of 2014.
Only the River Flows Only the River Flows
Crime 2023 102 mins Director: Shujun Wei
Shujun Wei's slow-burn noir draws us inexorably into its mysterious psychological journey.
The Critic The Critic
Period drama 2023 101 mins Director: Anand Tucker
Ian McKellen is in delicious form as London's most vicious critic, who strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actor (Gemma Arterton).
Special People Special People
Comedy 2008 74 mins Director: Justin Edgar
Justin Edgar's pioneering feature comedy about a neurotic filmmaker enlisted to make a film with a class of wheelchair-users.
Timestalker Timestalker
Comedy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
What if unrequited love spanned the centuries? Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.