Sink or Swim: Immersing Ourselves in Jean-Luc Godard’s Adieu au langage
This chapter consists of a close reading of Jean-Luc Godard's 2014 3D film Adieu au langage. It explores the different immersive qualities of the film (including those generated by its 3D technology) and their relation to the questions of orientation and disorientation that this book has been investigating. It is argued that the film's bewildering surface can mislead us into thinking it is less concerned with narrative than is in fact the case, and that – considering that in some parts of Switzerland "adieu" can mean "hello" as well as goodbye – Adieu au langage need not only be read as a dismissal of language and narrative but also as Godard's way of welcoming them, albeit in a qualified and deliberately confusing manner.
Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
2016 ◽
Vol 9
(1)
◽
pp. 65-82
2018 ◽
Vol 11
(2)
◽
pp. 132-146