Synopsis Goodbye to Language

—godard in handwritten synopsis written in verse , first posted on twitter

goodbye language experimental narrative tells 2 similar versions of couple having affair. these 2 stories named 1 nature , 2 metaphor , , respectively focus on couples josette , gédéon , ivitch , marcus – along dog (godard s own dog roxy).

the film begins 1 nature @ nyon cultural center. young couple, marie , boyfriend, setting used bookstand. couple, davidson , isabelle, arrive. way marie, boyfriend, , later character ivitch address davidson, appears professor. brandishing copy of gulag archipelago, davidson remarks author, aleksandr solzhenitsyn, did not need use google search book s subtitle. professor asks isabelle thumbs used before smartphones, making punning reference french children s story hop-o -my-thumb. proceeds deliver impromptu lecture on ideas of jacques ellul, such abdication of individual rights , responsibilities state, situation ellul declared triumph of adolf hitler. abruptly car drives up, man gets out and, speaking in german, accosts josette, has been standing nearby. after demanding come home (implying man josette s husband), threatening consequences, , trying physically drag away, man retreats out of frame , fires shots gun. other characters rush shots fired, car departs. josette wanders away, while gédéon, has been watching along, follows her. josette washes hands in fountain, gédéon approaches , declares her, @ service.

the film switches 2 metaphor . @ nyon lakefront davidson sitting on bench looking through book of nicolas de staël reproductions when marie , boyfriend arrive goodbye before go united states. ivitch arrives, dressed davidson in matching trench coat , hat. while 2 discuss tyranny of images, german speaking man arrives , scene plays out before: accosts ivitch, fires gun, , leaves. before, man approaches shaken woman. time man offscreen , woman onscreen (ivitch behind metal bars – image used in promotion of film). man, marcus, puts hand on bars , declares, @ service.

the film returns 1 nature. gédéon , josette in process of having affair , staying in house in summer; talk literature , domestic issues. gédéon references rodin s thinker while sitting on toilet , declares people made equal through act of defecating. @ point, scene shifts nyon marie examines body of unidentified man. returning gédéon , josette s affair, dog roxy frolics in countryside narrator talks human s relationship dogs. wanders car gédéon , josette, bring him home , continue talking roxy present. josette mentions knife gédéon gave 4 years earlier. gédéon , josette leave board ferry, leaving roxy behind.

the film returns 2 metaphor. marcus , ivitch have affair in same house in winter; talk painting , political issues, such mao zedong s opinion of french revolution , how russians never europeans. have argument while showering together, followed shot of bloody knife in sink. relationship deteriorates, ivitch reminds marcus told @ service. marcus declares should have children, ivitch says should dog instead.

in epilogue titled 3 memory/historical misfortune roxy again in countryside while voiceover narration representing roxy s thoughts (and paraphrasing clifford d. simak s time , again) wonders water trying him. narrator mentions mary shelley wrote frankenstein near couples house in cologny; shelley seen in country writing book quill , ink , joined lord byron , percy shelley. unseen man , woman (godard , florence colombani) paint watercolors , black ink. order roxy out of room , (paraphrasing dostoyevsky s demons) compare kirillov s 2 questions, big 1 , little 1 (the other world , suffering) , difficult[y of] fit[ting] flatness depth act of creating art. roxy falls asleep on couch narrator (anne-marie miéville) describes thoughts , film ends sounds of dog barking , baby crying.

references other works

like many of godard s films, goodbye language contains numerous references other works of art or science intertwined within narrative. includes clips such films boris barnet s bluest of seas, rouben mamoulian s dr. jekyll , mr. hyde, jean-pierre melville s les enfants terribles, artur aristakisyan s ladoni, fritz lang s metropolis, howard hawks s angels have wings, robert siodmak s people on sunday, alexandre aja s piranha 3d , henry king s snows of kilimanjaro. verbally quotes jean cocteau s testament of orpheus without showing clips , uses archival footage political events of twentieth century, such nazi germany , soviet union.

the film references or quotes several writers of literature, science, philosophy , political theory. these include both direct quotes (often paraphrased characters or unseen narrators) , copies of books seen in shots. references include alain s feelings, passions , signs, jean anouilh s antigone, guillaume apollinaire s alcools, louis aragon s elsa, je t aime, alain badiou s rebirth of history, samuel beckett s image, joceyln benoist s concepts: introduction analysis, maurice blanchot s awaiting oblivion, jorge luis borges s book of sand, louis-ferdinand céline s church , letter elie faure, jacques chardonne s eva or interrupted journal, pierre clastres s society against state, jean-paul curnier s world @ war, charles darwin s descent of man, , selection in relation sex, jacques derrida s animal therefore am, françoise dolto s gospel @ risk of psychoanalysis, fyodor dostoyevsky s demons, jacques ellul s victory of hitler?, gustave flaubert s sentimental education, hadrien france-lanord s heidegger: thought irreducible errors, didier franck s nietzsche , shadow of god, sigmund freud s introductory lectures on psycho-analysis, julien green s journal, victor hugo s expiation, emmanuel levinas s totality , infinity, cesar pavese s house on hill, ezra pound s works , usury: 3 essays, marcel proust s jean santeuil , la prisonnière, rainier maria rilke s duino elegies, george sand s elle et lui , lettres à alfred de musset, louis antoine de saint-just s rapport à la convention, march 3, 1794, jean-paul sartre s being , nothingness, age of reason, nausea , traitor, mary shelley s frankenstein, percy bysshe shelley s peter bell third, clifford d. simak s time , again , city, philippe sollers s interview philippe forest, paul valéry s aphorismes, françois villon s hanged man s ballad, ludwig wittgenstein s philosophical investigations, aleksandr solzhenitsyn s gulag archipelago, léon brunschvicg s descartes et pascal, lecteurs de montaigne, a.e. van vogt s world of null-a, v.s. naipaul s bend in river, mao zedong (or zhou enlai s) famous tell quote, laurent schwartz s theory of distributions, paul dirac s dirac delta function, plato s proverb beauty splendour of truth , works bernhard riemann, jack london , luc ferry.

it includes references claude monet , auguste rodin s thinker , images painter nicolas de staël.

godard quotes himself: showing forest, easy. showing room forest nearby, difficult paraphrased godard s 1958 review of alexandre astruc s film une vie. of references false, such marcel proust quote erroneously attributed claude monet , quote william faulkner not traceable in known works.

music in film includes alfredo bandelli s folk song witch hunt, sung pino masi. there brief fragments of ludwig van beethoven s symphony no. 7, second movement, giya kancheli s abii ne viderem, dobrinka tabakova s suite in old style, part ii, pyotr ilyich tchaikovsky s slavic march, arnold schoenberg s transfigured night, jean sibelius s symphony no. 2 , valse triste , valentyn sylvestrov s holy god.