Redoubtable: the greatest selling point of Michel Hazanavicius’ film is also its greatest weakness: the story deals with a relationship between Jean-Luc Godard and his wife, but the way he is portrayed (how accurate it is doesn’t really matter) makes him unbearable. Insecure, arrogant, acid, it’s hard to buy the relationship in the first place. None of it is the fault of Louis Garrel, who if anything is too good at creating such an abrasive performance; Stacy Martin, however, is a luminous presence, even if her character is a bit too bland. The film has a good period recreation (costumes, art direction), efficient cinematography by Guillaume Schiffman, but it’s also tiresome in its self-referential pastiche of Godard’s style.