A Poem by Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard, 1967

Translated by Gregory Hermann

The following poem originally appeared in Waiting for Godard, an experimental work of journalistic portraiture written by Michel Vianey in 1967. A translation of Vianey’s book by Gregory Hermann is forthcoming from Film Desk Books.

This text accompanies Metaphysics of the Pratfall: Jerry Lewis and Jean-Luc Godard, a series of Lewis/Godard double bills at Anthology Film Archives, March 19-26, 2026.

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A letter to my friends on learning to make cinema together.

I play

You play

We play

At cinema

You think there’s a

Rule to the game

But there’s none

And now you think there’s none

But there’s really only one

Rule to the game

Since you are a child

Who doesn’t yet know

That it’s a game

For grown-ups

That you’re already playing

Since you forgot

That it’s a game for children

So what’s the game

It’s many things

But here are two or three

It’s seeing oneself

Reflected in another

It’s forgetting and knowing

Quickly and slowly

The world

Within

It’s thinking and speaking

It’s a funny game

It’s life.

x

Jean-Luc Godard