Hélas Pour Moi [Blu-ray]

Director: Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard

Overview

Jean-Luc Godard's Helas Pour Moi (also known as Oh Woe is Me) is a challenging, thoughtful retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Amphitryon and Alcmena. In the legend, the god Zeus assumes the physical form of military general Amphitryon, while he is away at battle, in order to spend a passionate evening with Alcmena, Amphitryon's wife. Helas Pour Moi transplants this story to the present-day French countryside. Amphitryon and Alcmena are transformed into Simon and Rachel, a businessman and his faithful, intellectual wife, and Zeus becomes a mysterious, gruff figure, a lustful God in a trenchcoat. Godard presents the story in an especially convoluted manner, dividing the film into five books, loosely held together by the figure of Abraham Klimt, a publisher who is investigating Rachel and Simon's story. Their tale comes to him in a series of widely divergent, sometimes even contradictory, fragments. Multiple narrators provide differing views of the same events, and an intricate web of flashbacks creates an almost impenetrably knotty chronology. Meanwhile, title screens periodically interrupt the action, and the characters introduce lengthy digressions on philosophical, literary and spiritual questions. The result is a beautiful but extremely difficult film, even for those familiar with Godard.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/18/2019
UPC:	0738329238469
Original Release:	1993
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Classics
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:23:00
Sales rank:	36,042

Special Features

Audio commentary by film critic Samm Deighan; Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gérard Depardieu	Simon
Laurence Masliah	Rachel
Bernard Verley	Abraham
Aude Amiot	Aude
Roland Blanche	The Teacher
Marc Betton	The Doctor
François Germond	Actor
Jean-Louis Loca	Actor
Anny Romand	The Pastor's Wife
Monique Couturier	Actor
Benjamin Kraatz	Actor
Manon Andersen	Actor
Jean-Pierre Miquel	The Other Pastor
Delphine Quentin	Actor
Fabienne Chaudat	Actor

Technical Credits

Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard	Director,Screenwriter
Christine Gozlan	Producer
Benoît Rossel	Producer
Pierre-Alain Besse	Sound/Sound Designer
François Musy	Sound/Sound Designer
Nathalie Vidal	Sound/Sound Designer