Historical Markers of the Modern Soundtrack

4	Hail Mary	1985 - Jean Luc Godard (France)
	Symbolism & collage	Jean-Luc Godard & Francois Musy’s collaborations; musique concrete; silence, sound & space on the soundtrack; multiple symbolisms

A: Godard

Key figure of the French New Wave from the sixties (along with Rivette, Rohmer, Truffaut, et al) whose films varied from the didactic to the dialectial, always concerned with communicating as much about the problematics of film language as their stories. Godard's output was considerable throughout the sixties (averaging two films a year) ; from 68 to 72 he worked with Jean Pierre Gorin, working in more of a documentary tradition (via the Russian Dziga Vertov) and making films primarily concerned with Marxist dissemination. While the latter seventies weren't a particularly productive period for Godard, he has resummed making rich and intensely complex films in the eighties : EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF (SLOW MOTION) 80, PASSION 82, PRENOM CARMEN 83, and HAIL MARY 85.
 
B: New Novel versus New Wave

Whereas The New Novel style of filmmaking is concerned with its form as constructed out of a generation of pleasure, a mobilization of desire and a playing out of suspense and mystery in an intellectual relationship with the viewer, the New Wave approach to, filmmaking is probably more fundamentally concerned with its contents, in that there actually is a reality to be intentionally depicted and a narrative to be constructed in order to communicate its contents. In reference to THE MAN WHO LIES, HAIL MARY does not 'lie' in that sense; The New Novel treats the communicative process " as a play with meaning ; the New Wave treats the communicative process as a struggle with meaning.
 
C: External form of HAIL MARY

There are two films which make up the film of the title
I THE BOOK OF MARY d. Anne Marie Mieville
II HAIL MARY d. Jean Luc Godard

However there is no clear way in which we can treat these two separate productions, apart from discerning or making symbolic, referential and textual links between the two. This problematic can be detailed thus
(a) who is the author of the project Qe. not the director, maker or artist behind its production, but whose voice is speaking to us through the text)?
(b) how do we go about making connections and relationships between the two films?
(c) what are they once we have found them?
(d) what is the meaning we extract, obtain and comprehend from our understanding of the film's form and its status as an object?

Even before we start coming to terms with 'what the film's about' we first have to decide upon what is the film's overall shape, and where we locate it. In short, we first have to find the film in order to interpret it. However, if we reflect upon this problematic, perhaps the contents of the film (its supposed reworking with the story of the Virgin Mary as told in the Bible) can become clearer.
 
C: The narrative and its story

Consider how we interpret the bible (irregardless of our belief or non belief in its writing) and how we are attempting to interpret this film. Are not the above 4 points also invoked when we go about reading the bible, in terms of trying to understand, respectively

(a) whose voice is speaking (god, prophets, apostles, the church, historical figures, society, etc.)?
(b & c) what are the functions of prophecies, parables, etc. and how do we relate them both to the flow and structure of the text (the whole book of the bible) and to our current experience of lite and reality?
(d) what social/cultural/political/religious role does the bible play today and how do we evaluate that role?

HAIL MARY is concerned with not only constructing a new narrative for the story from the bible, but it is also concerned with basing its story on the narrative of and in the bible.
 
D: The story and its narrative

We could go on endlessly now about the narrative structure of the film itself. Listed below are some topics and areas for further discussion :

(a) the second film titled HAIL MARY has two stories in it, which (like THE BOOK OF MARY and HAIL MARY) is linked by the title card "At That Same Time"
(i) the domestic situation between Mary and her boyfriend Joseph before, during and after Mary becomes pregnant while still remaining a virgin.
(ii) a philosophy teacher conducts classes, takes the students on an excursion, and has an affair with one of the students.
The central relationship between these two stories is the mystery of the conception of lite and the process of creation Note the relation between the body of space impregnated with the molecular' structure and presence of life, and Mary's body impregnated with some sort of ethereal sperm, the 'seed of life'.
(b) This 'mystery' is represented in HM in two major ways (i) as a catalyst for the characters' interactions with one another (from the seductive appeal of the professor's ramblings to the half confused/half accepting state of Mary), and (ii) as a concurrent visual narrative, told by the sounds and images of nature. Note especially how these images and sounds reflect upon and probe into the same questions asked by the characters of both stories. (Consider : the moon and its relation to fluids from the oceans' tides to womens' menstruation; the changing of seasons with the development of personal relationships ; the behaviour of animals and insects and our problem in dealing with their consciousness ; etc.)
(c) Narrativity the act, effect and presence of narration and narrating is a core subject raised throughout HM by a series of dichotomies soul/body, spirit/flesh, word/voice, belief/disbelief, story/event, presence/absence, touching/feeling.

Consider the numerous instances where these dichotomies are either raised by characters (in actions and/or dialogue); quoted from other books (by characters reading the books or reciting from memory); or visual ly/aurally represented (by representations of nature or incidentals concerning the characters' stories). Consider also how the working arid questioning of these narrativities relate to the textual structure of the bible itself.