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Four years after Film Socialisme, Jean Luc Godard has returned with two immensely striking and provocative pieces of work, almost incompatible if viewed together. Therefore, it only makes sense that they run alongside each other simultaneously as Goodbye to Language 3D, a film of countless contradictions, questions and very few answers.

Aesthetically, it is as nasty and dizzying as you can get, deploying the frequently scorned 3D medium as a weapon, yet, this escapade into visual experimentation is still a delight to witness. The ingenuity of this move is that it shines a light, a violently blinding one, which clouds our judgement towards the narrative figuratively and literally, effectively mocking a generation who can harp on about how Avatar and Hugo were marvellous experiences, while failing to consider if there was even a storyline somewhere in there. “Words,” a voice says out of nowhere. “I don’t want to hear about them.” Everything that we love is pure spectacle.

Due to this fact, Godard throws into the mix a shockingly dense essay, which analyses the limits and failures of communication. His articulate philosophising obviously requires your complete undivided attention, hence, we encounter so captivatingly innovative a visual medium. By deliberately overpowering the script, he is turning us into moths if we allow ourselves to sit back and relax for even a second.

The audience essentially finds themselves fighting in a pit against as many obstacles as Godard can possibly fit into the film’s seventy-minute duration. He is goading you into being lost for words, urging you to bid them farewell. Yet, even more intriguing, is the fact that although this is completely opaque, it is also being as clear as possible in delivering its message. By eradicating conversational subtexts and literally stating its claim aloud, Goodbye to Language intentionally beats the viewer into a state of alienation and incomprehension, forcing them to assess how they ought to approach words upon exiting the theatre.

Godard suggests that the only honest speakers are the nihilists, who, by accepting their lack of values, can actually fulfil what they state. Citing Hitler as the prime example here, he fixates upon the senseless violence of the Nazis, who when confronted with the question “why?”, refuted it by simply stating “no whys”, while voices chime in by stating, “Man, blinded by conscience, cannot see the world.” It is an unsettling reminder that we cannot attempt to explain or justify the actions of humankind, yet we will never accept this fact.

Goodbye to Language 3D is perhaps as intense a film as you will subject yourself to this year, comparable only to either Irreversible, or Enter the Void by Gaspar Noe, if they were remade to fit the Dogme 95 code of chastity, as if it was not challenging enough without that last part.

A casual cinemagoers nightmare, please do not enter Godard’s theatre if you want to unwind after a long day. This is borderline inaccessible, frequently deafening, absolutely unnerving, likely to induce motion sickness, spectacularly pretentious, laden with misanthropy, obsessed with one non-descript dog and worth every penny that you might otherwise waste on making friends.

Here’s to Godard. An auteur who really takes the social out of socialism.