Director Godard in front of camera

Jean-Luc Godard appears in new film by his collaborator. Keystone / AP Photo / Bernd Kammerer

The Franco-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard makes a rare screen appearance this week in a film made by his long-time collaborator, Anne-Marie Miéville, which opens in Geneva and Lausanne.

“Après la réconciliation” (After the reconciliation) is the fourth full-length movie directed by Miéville, who has worked with Godard for nearly 30 years. She also appears in the film – the first time they have acted together.

The film is a philosophical work which goes beyond the reconciliation of friends who had fallen out, as suggested by the title.

It examines the meaning of love, happiness and the use of language, and ends with the characters accepting the world as it is, with all of its contradictions and illusions.

Lausanne-born Miéville says Godard had felt in harmony with the scenario and insisted on playing the part of a man totally disillusioned with life. They appear – along with two other characters – as a couple, trading insults for much of the time, but not without comic touches.

Miéville’s other full-length movies are “Mon cher sujet” (1988), “Lou n’as pas dit non” (1993) and “Nous sommes tous encore ici” (1996).

Since 1972 she has been involved in nearly all of Godard’s films in a wide variety of capacities – as actress, producer, editor and co-director.

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