Sixty years after its original release, Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris gets the 4K restoration treatment.

Considered one of his best films, based on Alberto Moravia’s 1954 novel, it stars Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli as a couple who soon find their marriage in turmoil.

Attending a meeting at Cinecittà, a large film studio in Rome, are French couple Paul (Piccoli) and Camille (Bardot). Paul is there to meet US producer Jeremy (Jack Palance), who is having issues with his latest project. He’s producing a version of The Odyssey, with renowned German director Fritz Lang (playing himself) directing, however he isn’t happy about the direction its going in, and wants Paul, a writer, to make suitable changes.

Paul agrees to work on the project, despite mainly being a playwright, but with the money they’re offering, it’s difficult to turn the job down.

Little does he know however that by accepting the job, he puts his relationship in danger, with the film’s producer seemingly having an eye on more than just the script.

Although a film most certainly of its time, Godard’s film, translated into ‘Contempt’, is truly a work of art still to this day. And with its restoration, the colours really pop, making it a truly vibrant experience.

It’s also on the meta side; from the first scene Godard places his camera directly at the audience, as if to film our reality. And not only is it about a film being made, but it also features legendary director Lang, in a seemingly playful mood, playing a version of himself.

At its heart however, is a film about a couple with a fairly combustible relationship. All seems good right up to the point the pair meet a brash Jack Palance, whose character acts as a catalyst, as their relationship begins to unfurl.

It’s a relationship that Godard does focus on a little too much, with some of the scenes going over old ground, that isn’t helped by a repetitive musical theme that accompanies Bardot in virtual every scene she’s in. It sounds as if the same piece of music is cut and pasted whenever she appears, becoming almost comical by the end of it.

However it’s the way that it’s shot that still makes it an intriguing experience. Not only do you have the fakery of the studio in Rome, but then you have construction of the couple’s apartment, and how Godard uses it to define their volatile relationship, then wrapping up with some stunning scenes at a remarkable villa in Capri. It’s a film where Godard says just as much with his camera, and the placement of it, than any dialogue in the script.

It also cemented Bardot’s position as a screen siren, whose visible pout throughout the film is enough to make any audience melt.

It’s no surprise that the film still manages to prop up the upper parts of greatest films of all time lists, with Godard possibly at his creative best.

As an examination of a break-up on screen, utilising camera techniques as well as dialogue, Le Mépris still remains a unique cinematic vision by one of its true pioneers of French New Wave.