Passion

‘Following Sauve qui peut (la vie), this is the second feature film from Godard’s “third wave”, which, after a series of video works, brings him back to classic cinema – including star-studded casts – even as he continues to playfully disregard the conventions and forms of conventional storytelling. Passion thus appears to be about a filmmaker (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz) working on an unusual production in which classic paintings, from Rembrandt to Goya, are to be recreated as faithfully as possible in a film studio with costumed extras. As a counterpoint to this artistic endeavour is the cacophony of the outside world, represented by the factory next door, whose owner (Michel Piccoli) has sacked a stammering female worker (Isabelle Huppert), who protests and begins an affair with the director. Godard stages *i* *Passion* */i* around his central themes – love, work, cinema – as a study in contrasts that remain unresolved.” (Christoph Huber, Austrian Film Museum)