Contempt (French title: Le mépris) is a film by
Jean-Luc Godard released in
1963. It is the story of the end of a
marriage, set against the backdrop of a
conflict between art and commerce. Camille (
Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with her husband Paul Javal (
Michel Piccoli) while he is rewriting the
screenplay Odyssey by American producer Jeremiah Prokosch (
Jack Palance). Paul is hired to work out a
script for the new movie about
Ulysses, directed by
Fritz Lang (who plays himself) and produced by Prokosch. Because Paul abandons her by walking home while she drives with Prokosch in the producer's two-seater, Camille believes that her husband has sold her body in order to obtain the writing contract.
Prokosch, with his sneer and red Alfa Romeo, holds art films in contempt and wants Paul to help Lang commercialize the picture. Palance has one of the most memorable lines in movies with "When I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my checkbook".