"TUESDAY 3:00 P. M. JEAN-LUC GODARD" "For whom and against whom is a film like Tout va bien made?" "There are two recent films that are similar but which were made in different ways, which I find interesting." "The two films are Coup pour coup, which Marin Karmitz shot with workers in Elbeuf, and a film I made with Jean-Pierre Gorin called Tout va bien." "One could say these two films aim to fight for those who want change, and in particular for the core element, which is the exploited, the oppressed, represented in France by the men and women of the working class." "TEN LINES LATER" "Coup pour coup goes directly to the textile workers of Elbeuf and makes a film with them." "In my personal opinion, he skips a step." "He thinks that we can listen directly to what they have to say, though they've been denied a voice for so long, and that we can be of use to them with no problem." "We think there is a problem, which is that the very medium we use was, up until now, in the hands of those we're fighting against." "Therefore, despite our good intentions, we don't completely control it." "We think we're making a film "in the service of,"" "and it risks being "to the detriment of."" "We don't fully realize this." "In my opinion, in Tout va bien, rather than simply filming female workers speaking, or directing them - The very word "direct" is loaded." "Today, who is directing France?" "In my opinion, Pompidou and Marcellin." "Therefore, the way we direct, even the way I direct in trying to fight Pompidou and Marcellin, the way I direct is strongly conditioned, because I was taught it in school, even though I've left school." "So I have to find a way to approach these people and, most of all, to let them speak." "It's quite striking." "When workers are interviewed, whether by a leftist like Rocard, as on TV recently, or by an ultraconservative like Fontanet, on the TV show A Armes égales, these people are given 15 brief seconds when they haven't opened their mouths all year." "We give them 15 seconds, or even three minutes, to speak." ""What do you think of the strike?" "What do you think of your lot in life?"" "Who can answer when he's had his mouth sewn shut?" "Who can answer?" "When intellectuals have the means to make films, since the working class doesn't, we must approach them and listen to be able to transmit their words." "We know they aren't allowed to speak, neither in films nor on French TV." "LOCK UP THE BOSSES" "INDEFINITE STRIKE" "I tried to create images that were simpler and less complicated, precisely to show just how complex the situation is." "It's a film about France in '72, using a violent factory strike to show the various social forces present." "The three social forces in France are the employers, like in this factory, the unions, and what we could call leftists, the ones who are fed up." "It shows " "It shows the three social forces in the same physical space." "Instead of first describing the individuals, it first describes the masses, and the power struggle of the masses." "Because it's real." "It's what's happening in France." "It's a power struggle between unions and employers... and a sort of third force that could be called "those who are fed up."" "The accusation is often brought against us that," ""You want to make films for the working class, but they don't understand a thing."" "I say it's not so simple." "First, it's normal, seeing the way we make films, that even a film with good intentions might be considered not very good." "I think our challenge is not to make films "in the name of."" "That's one criticism I have of Karmitz's film, despite its qualities." "Rather than speaking "in the name of," we should first speak in our own name." "A worker who buys a small movie camera or a still camera and films his vacation is making a political film." "That's what I call a political film." "That's the only film he can make." "It so happens that he's allowed to film his vacation, but strangely enough, he's not allowed to film his work." "Cameras are forbidden, as Edmond Maire proved on TV, in factories, in the workplace." "The sacrosanct "right to work"" "is an old cliché of French employers." "If I show up, an informer, a filmmaker, with my right to work as a filmmaker, meaning to film, there's hardly anywhere I'm allowed to shoot." "Why?" "Because we live under the reign of private property." "But I'm not even allowed in so-called state-owned businesses." "I don't have the right to film in the subway, or in a museum, factory, or airport." "I don't have the right to film in any of the places that represent 80% of productive activity in France." "What about my "right to work"?" "Are you filming?" "The exploiter never tells the exploited how he's exploiting him." "So we tell." "It's precisely us, the news, cinema, television, the press, who enter this discourse of the exploiter who does tell the exploited." "That's what cinema, novels, the press and television do:" "They tell." "Those of us in this field should find a new way to tell, so that we might finally say something else."