April 3, 2012



(...) FR3, with the INA as an intermediary, asked us if we could make a 1-hour film in two months. There was a contract to make them one hour per year. I told them no, two months for an hour is not enough time, because an hour is enormous and I need time to do it. I don't want eight weeks; I want a year to do an hour, at a minimum. For shooting. But when we learned that they had six hours, we said to them: maybe six hours, we could do that for you in three months. Because at that point you conceive it completely differently. To have the time to talk for six hours to your girlfriend, for example, is huge. Because if you have to say everything in an hour it may not be enough. You panic completely, you don't see why someone would say... -- but suddenly, with six hours, you say to yourself: 'Well, at least I can do a frank and honest conversation', at least I can do what is never done on television, which is not to cut, even a ten-minute section, after four seconds.

- Godard, "Fourth Voyage, Part Two: Masculin Féminin: 15 faits précis"
from Introduction to a True History of Cinema and Television. Translated by Timothy Barnard. Caboose Books, Sept 2012. A happy occasion: this "Voyage" is available in full here, along with further information on the forthcoming release of the book in English.

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