Wherever you are. In the living moment. Entombed by lonely commerce.
If for you it read Lotte in Italia. You understand that Lotte is not a person. Comme Lotte Lenya.
But we have our subject. Cristiana Tullio-Altan says Italian Wikipedia.
What a beauty!
In communism you are not allowed to say, “What a beauty!”
In capitalism you must pay to say, “What a beauty!” Unless it is a lie, in which case it is free. Gratis. Grazie.
Prego…
From the start we have a “choose your own adventure” situation. Francese or Italiano?
We start with French but realize that we will get Italian anyway. This isn’t a Cinecittà production.
We switch to Italian. We were already 3/4 there. Now we merely lack the French interpolations…interruptions.
If you auto-translate the Wikipedia page Lotte in Italia (there is no English equivalent), you will get some bizarre gender dissonances.
Paola is a he?
No, Paola is most certainly a she.
We are too old to write dissertations on the “fertile” ground of transsexual discourse.
It is mostly a trap.
Boring.
As for entertainment, that Wiki translation…”Translate this page” clicked from Google results. A garbled mess.
Althusser.
Leave it to Godard to make revolution sexy. Again.
But this was really a shunning of the movie star world.
Yet, for us, living in absolute despair, it is a moment of hope.
It reminds us how thoughts have shaped history.
And Paola is most attractive in her green military surplus jacket and red wool scarf.
And her white T-shirt. Plain. Ready for work.
The productive force of intellect.
It is time we told you that there will be no wind from the east. No Vladimir. No Rosa.
There is no getting anywhere.
Two separate sentiments.
Somewhere we took a wrong turn.
And many beautiful people took a right turn. It seems.
There is no talking about something so hidden.
So I again reaffirm the gruff beauty of Paola.
We wretched of the earth. Vietnam.
Che Guevara’s Rolex. Right.
We are not meant to know.
Why Das Kapital is not on the endcap at Wal-Mart.
Or Barnes & Noble.
Or anywhere.
An amazing film makes itself with a simple phrase…a combination of terms…through Google’s master search algorithm.
It will change. Depends.
Someday…we fill in the blanks.
The purpose is not to explain, but to get you thinking.
Once you think, there is no stopping that.
And so take stock of the present situation.
How are you treated? Objectification is universal. At least galactic. Reification.
Don’t thing-i-fy me.
And who is the worst culprit?
Oh, to be in a French-speaking country…where one might perchance stumble across Cahiers du Cinéma.
Even if the publication has seen better days, one can go back in time to an era unlived and trace memories unmade.
It is not this cruel world where we are useless.
We learned another way which doesn’t exist. Like the big stage at MGM for la nouvelle vague.
Just a moment to delineate a pain so perfect as to chop our knees off.
We doubt any place for this skill set.
Put “unskilled worker”…
-PD
paulydeathwish 
It is sad thinking of the hope, political and filmic, in these works considering what direction the world took.
Then again, they always exist to be rediscovered (if not at Wal-Mart).
Always a reflective process, reading you.
I’ve always admired that Godard let his political thoughts come to the fore during this periods. It is a great example for those of us who ponder the world for long hours. All is not lost as long as integrity asserts itself. The world is longing for something real…especially the wealthiest countries which pass their days in a stupor. Those ideas of the past which are true sparks will reemerge. The genius of past thinkers will emerge from dormancy. Take heart, my friend!
Gladly, friend. Your sentiments ring true.
There was nothing sexy about Velvet revolution.
I liked “thing-i-fy”. 🙂
You manage to write just so that I really want to see that movie now. 🙂 Thanks! And I like your positivity.
It’s strange how the Velvet Revolution came to be associated with The Velvet Underground through Vaclav Havel. When the band (VU) reformed for a European tour in the 90s, I believe they played in the Czech Republic. At any rate, Lou Reed and Havel I believe met during this tour and VH told how VU was inspiration for dissenters in the the Czech Republic under communism. Thank you for your gracious compliment! –Paul
Thanks, I did not know that exact fact, but yes, makes sense, music had huge impact on dissenters.
Actually, I meant to say Singing Revolution in my comment, the one of 1989 that I lived through. But same with Velvet, all the same.