View source for Weekend (1967 film)

{{Infobox film
|name            = Week-end
|image           = Weekendflm.jpg
|caption         = Film poster
|director        = [[Jean-Luc Godard]]
|producer        =
|writer          = Jean-Luc Godard
|starring        = [[Mireille Darc]]<br/>[[Jean Yanne]]
|music           = [[Antoine Duhamel]]
|cinematography  = [[Raoul Coutard]]
|editing         = [[Agnès Guillemot]]
|distributor     = [[Athos Films]]
|released        = {{film date|1967|12|29|df=yes}}
|runtime         = 105 minutes
|country         = France
|language        = French
|budget          = $250,000 (estimated)
|}}
'''''Weekend''''' ({{lang-fr|'''Week-end'''}}) is a 1967 [[black comedy]]<ref name="metalasylum.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.metalasylum.com/ragingbull/movies/weekend.html |title=Week End: Jean-Luc Godard |accessdate=2010-09-17|work=metalasylum.com}}</ref><ref name="movie-gazette.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.movie-gazette.com/1193/week-end |title=Week End (1967): Review |accessdate=2010-09-17|work=movie-gazette.com}}</ref> film written and directed by [[Jean-Luc Godard]] and starring [[Mireille Darc]] and [[Jean Yanne]], both of whom were mainstream French TV stars. [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]], iconic comic star of numerous [[French New Wave]] films including [[François Truffaut|Truffaut]]'s ''[[Les Quatre Cent Coups]]'' (''[[The Four Hundred Blows]]'') and Godard's earlier ''[[Masculin, féminin]]'', also appears in two roles. [[Raoul Coutard]] served as [[cinematographer]]; ''Weekend'' would be his last collaboration with Godard for over a decade.

The film was nominated for the [[Golden Bear]] at the [[18th Berlin International Film Festival]] in 1968.<ref name="berlinale 1968">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1968/01_jahresblatt_1968/01_Jahresblatt_1968.html |title=18th Berlin International Film Festival |accessdate=2009-01-09|work=berlinale.de}}</ref><ref name="IMDb.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062480/awards |title=Awards for Weekend |accessdate=2009-01-09|work=IMDb.com}}</ref>

== Plot ==
Roland ([[Jean Yanne]]) and Corinne ([[Mireille Darc]]) are a bourgeois couple, although each has a secret lover and conspires to murder the other. They set out by car for Corinne's parents' home in the country to secure her inheritance from her dying father, resolving to resort to murder if necessary.

The trip becomes a chaotically [[picaresque]] journey through a French countryside populated by bizarre characters and punctuated by violent car accidents. After their own car (a [[Facel-Vega]]) is destroyed in a collision, the characters wander through a series of vignettes involving class struggle and figures from literature and history, such as [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just]] ([[Jean-Pierre Léaud]]) and [[Emily Brontë]] (Blandine Jeanson).

Corinne and Roland eventually arrive at her parents' place, only to find that her father has died and her mother refuses to give them a share of the spoils. They kill her and set off on the road again, only to fall into the hands of a group of [[hippies|hippie]] revolutionaries (calling themselves the [[Seine-et-Oise|Seine and Oise]] Liberation Front) that support themselves through theft and [[cannibal|cannibalism]]. Roland is killed during an escape attempt; he is chopped up and cooked. 

==Cast==
{{div col}}
*[[Mireille Darc]] as Corinne
*[[Jean Yanne]] as Roland
*[[Paul Gégauff]] as Pianist
*[[Jean-Pierre Léaud]] as [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just|Saint-Just]]
*Blandine Jeanson as [[Emily Brontë]]
*[[Yves Afonso]] as [[Tom Thumb]]
*[[Juliet Berto]] as The Radical
{{div col end}}

== Background==
According to a letter from the Argentine writer [[Julio Cortázar]] to his translator [[Suzanne Jill Levine]], the indirect inspiration for the movie was Cortázar's short story "The Southern Thruway." Cortázar explained that while a British producer was considering filming his story, a third party presented the idea to Godard, who was unaware of its source. Because he had had no input on the making of the film, Cortázar vetoed the suggestion to translate the story's title as "Week-End" to take advantage of the tie-in.<ref> Cortázar, Julio. ''Cartas'' (2012) tomo 4 p.292.</ref>

== Themes and style ==
''Weekend'' has been compared to ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Alice in Wonderland]]'', the ''[[James Bond]]'' series, and the works of [[Marquis de Sade]].<ref name="Hoberman">{{cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/weekend-when-godard-burned-the-movie-house-down-6433180|title=Weekend: When Godard Burned the Movie House Down|last=Hoberman|first=J.|newspaper=The Village Voice|date=October 5, 2011|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1034126-weekend/reviews/|title=Weekend - Movie Reviews|work=Rotten Tomatoes|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref> Tim Brayton billed it as a "film that reads itself, tells the viewer what that reading should be, and at the same time tells the viewer that this reading is inaccurate and should be ignored."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alternateending.com/2008/01/tspdt-199-week-end.html|title=TSPDT #199: WEEK END|last=Brayton|first=Tim|website=''Alternate Ending''|date=January 21, 2008|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0062480|title=Weekend}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|1034126-weekend|Weekend}}

{{Jean-Luc Godard}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weekend (1967 Film)}}

[[Category:1967 films]]
[[Category:1960s comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:French films]]
[[Category:French-language films]]
[[Category:French avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:Dystopian films]]
[[Category:Black comedy films]]
[[Category:Road movies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jean-Luc Godard]]
[[Category:Cannibalism in fiction]]