Le Week-end de Jean-Luc Godard, released in 1967, embodies the entirety of French New Wave cinema at its peak, in addition to being a masterpiece and a worldwide success. Peppered with different types of cuts and camera angles, as well as plenty of bright colors, Godard creates a humorous, crash-filled piece with a dark underlying plot. The combination of these seemingly opposing factors only adds to the genius of Godard, who throughout the play hints at something deeper thematically: the human self-destruction of civilization. Right from the start of the film, in the opening car crash scene, the film begins with a real bang. Godard seems to love cars, chasing them and crashing them, much like the car chase in his film two years before, Alphaville. From then on, the psychopathic couple has tons of strange encounters and crosses many accident-filled roads on their journey. Godard somehow manages to integrate humor and violence into the film extremely well, somehow making all the violent acts much more nonchalant; for example, while waiting for a ride, Corinne gets raped by chance, then the story continues. The inclusion of all these random, strange, and somewhat terrifying acts only helps Godard see the "terrible" world and the people who inhabit it. Although these acts are horrifying and a bit insane, the nonchalance of the film's tone leaves the audience fascinated and wondering what will happen next. Aside from Weekend's gripping plot and many side stories, the shots and angles that Godard uses also help greatly in drawing in the audience. The entire course of the film unfolds in shot after shot, each seemingly endless as the screen continues to slowly move...... middle of paper ...... although a bit ironic, it was the Roland and Corinne speed by the accident as if nothing had happened, without taking a second to think about the situation around them and just ready to get back on the road. However, much of the greatness of shooting comes from precisely that, from shooting. Godard uses tracking shots a lot throughout the film, but here it's spectacular. It's longer than ever, extremely smooth and coherent, easily making it the best long shot of its era and definitely deserving of a place among the best today. New things keep popping up on screen for the viewer and keep them extremely interested and excited for what comes next. This famous and revolutionary shot, along with others like it, exemplify the greatness of Godard, and are what creates the characteristics and adds to the supremacy of the French New Wave cinematic era..