Le Mépris (1963)— Bardot / Godard / Bleu blessé — FRENCH POSTER 120x160

This original French cinema poster for Le Mépris, printed for the film’s 1963 theatrical release, is a defining artefact of Nouvelle Vague iconography. Measuring 120 x 160 cm, in the standard grande affiche format, the poster arrives folded as originally distributed to cinemas — its creases tracing the path of a film that has become a touchstone of modern European cinema.

Jean-Luc Godard’s adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel is a study in disintegration — of love, authorship, cinema itself — and this poster crystallises that fracture in a stark palette of bruised blue and overlaid photomontage. Brigitte Bardot appears twice: once nude, soft and aloof; once coldly clothed, turning away, unreachably distant. Michel Piccoli in a hat, Fritz Lang at a distance, the film set within the image — all the parts of the production turned into symbols.

Everything here is surface and sign, which is exactly what Le Mépris was about. This isn’t just a poster, it’s a mise en abyme: a poster about a film about the impossibility of films, presented as a piece of immaculate commercial design.

Technical Sheet

Title: Le Mépris

Artist / Author: Jean-Luc Godard (director)

Date: 1963

Technique / Printing Method: Offset lithograph

Medium / Materials: Folded cinema poster on paper

Dimensions (cm): 120 x 160

Language: French

Condition: Vintage, original folds, otherwise excellent

Publisher / Editor: Forum (France distribution)

Printed in France for the 1963 theatrical release