Le Mepris (1963)

Jean-Luc Godard writes and directs this French drama starring Brigitte Bardot, Fritz Lang and Jack Palance. An aspiring playwright, Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli), finds himself caught between the creative director (Lang) and the crass American producer, Jeremy Prokosch (Palance), on a movie adaptation of Homer's epic poem 'The Odyssey'. While the director wants to faithfully recreate Homer's world artistically, the producer demands a more commercial feature and waves his mighty chequebook to make it happen. When Paul finds himself swayed by the power of the producer's money, he finds his wife Camille (Bardot) begins to regard him with increasing contempt.