York U Flashback: 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her and Semiotics

As you may know, I graduated from York University, here in Toronto, with a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Media Studies.  Wanting to keep a record of all my writing, I have retained every essay I have written during my four years in film studies.  While I already link to my favourite essays from my film writing portfolio, I thought I would occasionally dig into the archives and dust off one of my old essays, which somehow relates with a current event. The current highlight at the TIFF Bell Lightbox is their massive two-part retrospective on French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard, which will begin tomorrow with his most well-known film Breathless.  I admittedly have a very iffy relationship with Godard, which stems from the fact that I was shown a number of his films (including Breathless) in my film classes and I never really cared much for them.  The Godard film that I liked the least was undoubtedly his 1966 film 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, which I saw as part of my second year Film Theory course.  As it turns out, I was assigned to write an essay about the famous “coffee scene” in the film and how it relates to the theory of semiotics. So, you shall find the link to the essay below and, if you feel inclined, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her will be screening at the Bell Lightbox on February 8. Read the essay