Godard's letter is self-accusatory, and with its naked longing it has surely only been excelled by Pierrot le Fou in the spelling out of utter tragedy.

Bardot and Piccoli are deeply sympathetic as a couple in free fall, the locations are invariably stunning and the score by Georges Delerue is so heartbreaking and epic that Scorsese borrowed it, re-using it with equal power in Casino.

Godard, himself working with American co-producers and facing demands to insert nude shots of Bardot (whose fees constituted half the film’s budget), turns this conflict between culture and cash into an ironic, self-reflexive odyssey.

60 years on from its initial release, Jean-Luc Godard’s elegant and layered Le Mépris (Contempt) remains a landmark achievement in his career and the French New Wave.