King Lear

*"The art of our necessities is strange, That can make vile things precious" * Godard's work in the 80s is a gift that keeps on giving. Definitely my favorite period of his and I would even go as far as to say that this film is one of his best. Anyone that knows anything about Godard would know that he is the worst choice to direct a Shakespeare adaptation, yet somehow this might be the best adaptation of King Lear. In some ways it is Godard playing a million dollar prank on producers who aren't smart enough to realize it, but at the same time he does end up making an intricately layered film about language. In part a film about why it's a bad idea it give Godard 1 million dollars to adapt King Lear, but it is also an adaptation of King Lear that works in dialogue with the original work rather than being a simple direct adaptation. A Shakespeare adaptation in which Godard himself plays the jester in a world where art and culture is dead. Incredibly prescient in it's critique of the commercialization of art and culture.