Deux Fois Cinquante Ans de Cinéma Français

A video production in which Godard and Miéville stop and think about why the centenary of film should be celebrated. What is actually celebrated? It is not the fantastic potential of the medium itself, but the first time that people payed to attend a show. The video comprises many aphorisms and fragments from historical films, but the core is a conversation between Godard and Michel Piccoli as chairman of the French centenary committee. Godard bombards him with sly and difficult questions that Piccoli cannot always answer satisfactorily. Slowly but surely, Piccoli himself starts to have his doubts about just how obvious it was to celebrate the anniversary. The conversation took place in a Swiss hotel and its staff were also given a role to play in the film.