Weekend (Week End) (1967)

95% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
80% of users liked it
(7,496 ratings)

French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard's Le Weekend remains his most consistently relentless attack on the bourgeois values of his own country and the perceived imperialism of the United States. Mireille Darc plays the central character, an "average" woman who is systematically radicalized during a… More French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard's Le Weekend remains his most consistently relentless attack on the bourgeois values of his own country and the perceived imperialism of the United States. Mireille Darc plays the central character, an "average" woman who is systematically radicalized during a weekend motor trip. No sooner have the woman and her husband (Jean Yanne) embarked on their journey than they become enmeshed in the mother of all traffic jams. The motorists rave, rant, burn, rape, murder, pillage and even descend into cannibalism -- all of which is treated by Godard as a natural progression of events. The prevalent theory that Jean-Luc Godard had intended Weekend as the apotheosis of his career is bolstered by the film's last two titles: "End of Film." "End of Cinema." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 45 min.
Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard
Written By: Jean-Luc Godard
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1967 Wide
On DVD: Aug 23, 2005
Studio: Janus Films

Critic Reviews

J. Hoberman, Village Voice
This apocalyptic farce-Alice in Wonderland as reconceived by the Marquis de Sade-would mark both the high point and the end of Godard's meteoric career as a popular artist.
Renata Adler, New York Times
The film must be seen, for its power, ambition, humor, and scenes of really astonishing beauty.
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
As long as cinema like this exists, there's no end in sight.
Dan Jardine, Cinemania
Uncompromisingly cynical and completely unforgiving, Week End is a satire so black, you couldn't see hope if it was dancing in front of your eyes carrying sparklers and singing La Marseillaise.
Jay Antani, Cinema Writer
This is Lord of the Flies as played by adults, and for Left Bank intellectuals, heady with righteous protest and wired on too many coffees and cigarettes
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
There is nothing predictable about Weekend; Godard uses the camera as a radical satirical tool, inserting it up the backside of a society he perceives as lost, constrained and confused. And so are we.
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
A film that reads itself, tells the viewer what that reading should be, and at the same time tells the viewer that this reading is inaccurate and should be ignored.
Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)
Visionary, insane, and barbarously funny; don't miss the chance to accept the challenge Weekend is still dying to make.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
It's nice to have this superlatively nasty film on DVD in America, but what the hell is up with that corrected splice?
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Weekend is a luridly colorful compendium of aesthetic juxtapositions and audio-visual schisms that evoke the frustrated tenor of the era.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
give the man credit for bitching about the human condition in style
John Esther, Pasadena Weekly
A seminal film everyone should see.
Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly
Godard pushes his Brechtian didactics to the limit, his exhilarating modernism giving him free rein to draw on Freud, Marx, Lewis Carroll and James Bond.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Conner R

An unconventional bit of storytelling that I found to be quite enjoyable. Looking at this movie with a preconceived notion of narrative would make this an extremely unpleasant and boring experience. Letting go would be the first thing I would advise someone to do. Given the proper… More
An unconventional bit of storytelling that I found to be quite enjoyable. Looking at this movie with a preconceived notion of narrative would make this an extremely unpleasant and boring experience. Letting go would be the first thing I would advise someone to do. Given the proper lens, it's a beautiful film. Its hostility towards traditions are quite interesting. It attacks not only capitalism, but marriage, life, death and compassion.
Jennifer D

Bizarrely strange and beautifully done. Nice political message.
Stella D

radical surrealist road movie a la buñuel. political harangues get a bit tiresome. no doubt it was cutting edge in 1967
Arash X

"What a rotten film. All we meet are crazy people" Now I can see why Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies"
Rubia Carolina .

Political. Surrealist. With terrible black humour. Trop stupide pour moi. <br> <br>
Pierluigi P

Campy and mildly funny attack to the upper classes by Jean-Luc Godard, one of the most acid and persuasive demagogues in film history.
Lady D

This film, completely went over my head, I?m sure to many it?s a creative masterpiece, but I just found it dull, annoying and it lacked any kind of real storyline
Ken S

Imagine La Aventura meets Discreet Charm of the Bourgeois meets Monty Python
Adam M

Godard's most f'd up, apocalyptic movie
cody f

First off I am not a big fan of Godard. I think Godard is really talented and groundbreaking,especially with the style and visuals of his films. What he does that bothers me is he is too political, too preachy and relies on shocking the audience too much, and that is what's wrong… More
First off I am not a big fan of Godard. I think Godard is really talented and groundbreaking,especially with the style and visuals of his films. What he does that bothers me is he is too political, too preachy and relies on shocking the audience too much, and that is what's wrong with Weekend. The story never really makes any sense, people are being raped and murdered everywhere and their is no explanation. There is an amazing tracking shot of a car slowly weaving through traffic as chaos reigns all around, really this scene should be shown in all film school. Sadly there is another scene where a garbage man rants about politics in America for 10 minutes, it's dated and a waste of time. I thought there was no story or direction, just moments, some good, some bad. I know it's a surrealist film,but it is dated and is kinda a mess. Overall not a film I would revisit, but glad I watched some of it.
Ivan D

Godard's Surrealist film that deconstructs bourgeois society, from its highly materialistic self back into primitive savagery, symbolized by the apocalyptic imagery of road accidents and dead bodies. Aside from that, "Week End" tackled a wide-range of sensitive topics,… More
Godard's Surrealist film that deconstructs bourgeois society, from its highly materialistic self back into primitive savagery, symbolized by the apocalyptic imagery of road accidents and dead bodies. Aside from that, "Week End" tackled a wide-range of sensitive topics, from armchair politics to class struggle, highlighted by grotesque images suggesting the film's take on such issues. Godard has also able to insert a brief critique of pseudo-intellectual cinema, in a scene where the main character told the poem-reciting woman that "this is not a novel. This is a film. Film is life". "Week End" is not an ordinary film, or was it even normal. It was "far from normal", it tries to point out a different, pessimistic take on a postmodern world, but turned out to be too pretentious for its own good.
Tom S

Earlier Godard directed with a chuckle. This Godard says "Ha!" and violently spits on the ground.

Read all 12 featured audience ratings

Cast

Mireille Darc
as Corinne
Jean Yanne
as Roland
Jean-Pierre Kalfon
as Leader of the FLSO

Valérie Lagrange
as His Moll
Jean-Pierre Léaud
as Man in the Phone Booth
Jean Eustache
as Hitchhiker

See full cast