De l’origine del XXIe siècle was a commissioned film made in 2000 for the opening-night of the Cannes Film Festival, and in the words of Godard it was an attempt. “I have tried to cover the memories of the atrocious explosions and crimes with children’s faces and the tears and smiles of women”. The attempt was bound to fail since there is no cure for the horrors of the last century in a retrospective of this kind.

Michael Althen