About three years ago, I did a short called "An Alright Start," and I honestly should have given Jean-Luc Godard a credit at the end of the film. That's how much of an influence "Contempt" has been on my own work. The film is such a raw, exposed nerve of emotions and resentments. The apartment scene in particular is terribly painful to watch as you witness the utter lack of empathy and the total breakdown of communication between Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli. But the scene (or the movie) never becomes grotesque or maudlin or melodramatic. Much more is left unsaid than discussed. Very little is ever resolved. 

There is one shot in the apartment scene that I specifically ripped off in my short, which you can check it out here (clip 2). I also tried to appropriate the feel of that scene as much as I could. Hopefully I was successful. 

There's another thematic element that runs through "Contempt" that has been a large influence on "Chupacabra." Namely, it's the battle of the romantic versus the realistic. Michel Piccoli's character (Paul) incapsulates this dialectic perfectly. He freely admits to taking the screenwriting job for the money, then pines for the days of being poor and writing plays and pulp fiction. The use of Georges Delerue's sweeping score often plays counterpoint to the simmering resentments between Paul and Camille. But it's Godard's use of Homer's "The Odyssey" that has been especially influential on my current project. There is perhaps no greater juxtaposition of the mythic and the mundane than exists between the epic journeys of Odysseus and the pettiness of the modern world. 

Here's a interview with Godard shortly after the release of "Contempt." Enjoy: