10. Contempt (1963)
Based on the novel A Ghost at Noon by Italian writer Alberto Moravia, the 1963 film Contempt was director Jean-Luc Godard’s first attempt at a bigger film with international funding.
The film starred Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang and Brigitte Bardot, being the one foisted on Godard by the international money men.
Godard didn’t want the actress, nor the extra nude scenes they mandated of the actress. Still, in spite of the difficulties between Godard and Bardot, Contempt remains one of those rare masterpieces with two heavyweights of the era.
“Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli), a young French playwright who has found commercial success in Rome, accepts an offer from vulgar American producer Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) to rework the script for German director Fritz Lang‘s screen adaptation of the Odyssey.”
The film was all that critics and fans loved about the New Wave and French films in general.
