Histoire(s) d'aftershave

Paris, 1971. Early morning, disheveled flat. A young couple awakens. He immediately turns on the radio which is blaring news about Palestine. She'll have none of that. They argue. She puts the coffee on. He shaves. They shout. He splashes Schick over his visage. She loves the smell. All is calm. It's love all over again thanks to the healing power of aftershave.

This mini-drama buried in an advert (political overtones and all) was directed by none other than Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, who at the time had signed a lucrative deal with the Dupuy-Compton ad agency. As long as they proposed one idea a month, and shot one of those ideas each year, they'd get paid. For the Schick ad, they requested a budget for about a week's worth of shooting, but completed the entire advert in half a day. Doesn't sound very Maoist (or Marxist) to me.....

Regardless, enjoy what is no doubt one of Godard's shortest works -- think Une Femme est une Femme meets Pierrot le Fou in just under sixty seconds. 

Enjoy! (Crossposted to my Tumblr page.)

Schick...Pour Etre Mieux Dans sa Peau from Filmbrain on Vimeo.

Comments

[Blydro]

vemio sux

[Tucker]

that's awesome! thanks for sharing

[Daniel]

Is that Juliet Berto or did every French girl of the 1960s look like that?

[Filmbrain]

I was thinking the same thing, but I'm not sure. It does look like her, but I think that was a popular look back then...

[Robert]

Incredible! How is it possible that I've never seen this mentioned anywhere? Did JLG make any others for the agency?

[craig keller.]

Andrew --

Just a quick comment to note his name is not "Pierre Gorin" — it's Jean-Pierre Gorin.

The woman is indeed Juliet Berto, the greatest actress in the history of the cinema.

craig.

[Filmbrain]

Craig --

Thanks for catching that. At least I got it right on the Vimeo page.

Thanks also for confirming that it's Berto. Now -- can we identify the other actor?

[Tom Russell]

This is now my favourite post-1968 Godard film. Seriously.

Of course (and here your humble commentator risks giving Filmbrain a serious case of apoplexy) that's not saying a whole lot as I've never really been a huge fan of post-1968 Godard anyway.

::hangs head in cine-shame::

[elevator]

Bless Palestine

[Yan]

I think it's very Marxist. Marx is a critical philosopher, not an ideologue, and this is a highly critical little film. The sheer audacity of slipping middle eastern politics into an aftershave commercial! The overt comparison of international conflict with the narcissistic stupidity of intepersonal family squabbles! The highly critical implications of the suggestion that a pleasant smell and all is forgiven (the suggestion that happiness, pleasure, security, not reason, not language, not argument, is the basis of social unity).

It's thought-provoking. And I'm tempted to agree with Tom Russell -- this may be my favorite post 68 Godard, too!

Thanks for this!

[Fangtasm]

It does pose existential questions like, if he has a razor, why that moustache? I'm going to look out for Schick now.

I don't think he should leave it on that windowsill in the sun though...