Codirected by Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, the ironically titled Tout Va Bien (''Everything's Fine'') misuses Fonda and Montand as a U.S. journalist and her French husband, who are ensnared in a Paris factory strike. The often static film asks whether intellectuals should be observers or activists, with Godard's heavy-handed tactics — slow pans, voice-overs, long speeches to the camera — calculated to distance the audience. And, perversely, he gives his stars little to do.
EXTRAS An hour-long 1972 doc, Letter to Jane, finds the directors monotonously deconstructing a photo from Fonda's North Vietnam visit after wrapping Tout, with references to Descartes, Lenin, and Steve Prefontaine. A vintage Godard interview examines his strong leftist politics, while in a 2004 conversation, Gorin nostalgically recalls the ''completely crazy operations'' of Godard's collective. But — zut alors! — Gorin still thinks it was clever to treat their bit players as the stars, and their stars as bit players.
