I've been ostracised for breaking the new rules of Otiose Gratitude

• Published in: Independent (London, England : 1986)
• Main Author: Walsh, John
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 24.05.2014
• ISSN: 0951-9467

I'm becoming familiar with a tone, in emails, of regretful admonishment that I haven't behaved better in the to-and-fro of modern gratitude. That dinner last month, organised by a magazine, to celebrate a distinguished contributor? I contacted a senior member of staff weeks after it, and was told: "I'm glad to hear from you because I assumed from your silence that you hated the dinner with Godfrey and weren't speaking to me." Once again, I had to apologise, while thinking, hang on, the dinner wasn't a private, personal thing, it was paid for by the company and therefore... but the minute you start whining internally like that, you know you've lost the argument. It did, however, assert that "Engraved invitation cards require a formal thank you letter", whereas an "At Home" card "suggests a short letter or note". But since I do not live in an EM Forster novel, I never receive engraved or "At Home" cards. I get electronic invites that you click open, before sending an RSVP on the electro-link. We need something new to show our friends how much we appreciate their efforts, their invitations, their kindness; something, maybe, that goes beyond words. Bang on cue comes Jean-Luc Godard to show us how. He's just released a wonderfully mad and baffling "Letter in motion" in reply to an invitation from Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes Film Festival, inviting him to the opening press conference. The video starts off conventionally with "I thank you for inviting me" before lurching violently into clips from the director's Alphaville and King Lear, snatches of Leonard Cohen's "Take This Waltz", pictures of Truffaut, snaps from the Havana Bar in Paris and lots of footage of dogs. Mr Godard's new film is called Goodbye to Language. His video "thank-you" letter suggests how we might revolutionise a rather moth-eaten and troublemaking convention.