Sympathy for the Devil

MA 15+
Jean-Luc Godard, 110 mins, UK, 1968, 35mm. Courtesy: Chapel Distribution.

Nouvelle Vague iconoclast Jean-Luc Godard relocated briefly to London post the May '68 riots in Paris and set about making a film to "subvert.all civilised values" (The Observer). The result is a countercultural mash-up of music and politics as Godard cuts between takes of the Rolling Stones recording the classic track (in which Jagger-as-Lucifer surveys the spoils of history) and staged scenes of young revolutionaries (who are intent on making their own).

In scripted set pieces, Godard explores the limits of language as a revolutionary force. Militant black activists spout ideological rhetoric while a winsome neophyte feminist, Eve Democracy (Godard's then wife, Anne Wiazemsky) provides yes/no answers to a film crew interviewing her in a bucolic setting.

The director's long, luxuriant tracking shots inside the Stones' recording studio observe the band reworking and recording the now-classic Beggars Banquet track, Sympathy for the Devil. These scenes are political in their own way, tellingly revealing the pecking order within the Stones' own power structure. As Erich Kuersten wrote in his 2009 essay, Postcards from Hell, Jagger and Keith Richards "rule like roosters".

"A film about art, power and revolution. Great stuff: a snapshot of a far-off, lost world where rock music is still a redemptive and revolutionary force" - The Observer

"Agitprop at its finest.Godard in full-flow polemic" - Eye For Film

Dates

Sat 12 May 2012, 6.45pm, 9pm

Sun 13 May 2012, 2.30pm, 5pm

Mon 14 May 2012, 7.30pm

Tue 15 May 2012, 7pm

Wed 16 May 2012, 7.30pm

Thu 17 May 2012, 7pm

Fri 18 May 2012, 6.30pm, 9pm

Sat 19 May 2012, 6pm

Sun 20 May 2012, 3pm, 5.30pm

Mon 21 May 2012, 7pm

Tue 22 May 2012, 7pm

Thu 24 May 2012, 7pm

Fri 25 May 2012, 7pm

Sat 26 May 2012, 9pm

Sun 27 May 2012, 3.30pm

Mon 28 May 2012, 6pm

Tue 29 May 2012, 7pm

Wed 30 May 2012, 7.30pm

No Longer Available