An attempt, according to Godard, to capture the origins of the 21st century, ordered in 2000 for the opening of the Cannes Film Festival: “I have tried to cover the memories of the atrocious explosions and crimes with children’s faces and the tears and smiles of women.” “The attempt was of course bound to fail, as there is no cure against all the horrors of the last century in this retrospective. Godard scans the 20th Century in reverse; its major trends include armies and refugees, cannon shots and prisoners, freight trains and mountains of corpses, conquests and occupation, humiliations and torture. And when a scene starts a quest for a lost Century, the aim is not to find again the sweetness of remembrance, but an era lost because it was devastated by violence and wars.” (Michael Althen)
French spoken
