Stylistically, the movie hits you like a hammer. But whereas Rivette's film was in wide-screen color, the ultimate in High Cinema, Godard's is in stately black and white for its first half, which takes place around the present, and in oversaturated, video color for its second, which takes place a couple of years before. What both techniques share is a remarkable beauty. Because Godard's films can be such daunting intellectual puzzles, their surface pleasures, if you will, sometimes go unnoticed. This being a Godard movie, the characters make wide- ranging comments on politics, including, for example, the war in Kosovo, current during its shooting.
Some characters also make comments about America, two of which stand out.
One is that since America had no memory of its own, it could take the memories of other nations for itself. Godard is actually talking about American filmmaking with that comment. The other remark is that since citizens of the United States call themselves Americans, which could be used by any member of two continents, they have no exact, exclusive name for themselves. Thus they are nameless as well as memoryless. At a news conference after the screening, Godard was asked what he thought American audiences would make of these comments.