Starring Catherine Tanvier and Christian Sinniger. In French with English subtitles. Unrated. Plays Friday to Thursday, March 11 to 17, at the Vancity Theatre

This is supposed to be Jean-Luc Godard’s valedictory film, and everything about this three-part opus suggests that it is. The man who was once known as the brains behind the French new wave recently celebrated his 80th birthday, and he’s been making movies for most of those years, growing increasingly disenchanted in the process.

Nevertheless, some things have remained pretty constant. From his playful parodies of Hollywood genre works to Film Socialisme itself, Switzerland’s greatest director has always been more of an essayist than a storyteller. In a similar vein, he has quoted literature and paintings as assiduously as his favourite celluloid passages, and his passion for political change and delight in the natural world remain as strong as ever.

Time is running out, however—for both him and the medium he has served so long and so well—and the man knows it.

The first third of Film Socialisme takes place on a Mediterranean cruise ship, where a group of multinational tourists travels to key parts of Godard’s personal universe (Palestine, Odessa, et cetera). The middle panel of this triptych is set in a French gas station and consists of a sort of unofficial tribunal in which the young judge the old. The final part is a collection of film clips that revisit the sites touched upon in part one. (Not so coincidentally, the word Hellas is pronounced the same as the French word for “alas”).

Sound and image—the film was shot entirely in high-definition digital video—are reproduced with loving care, and for once Godard actually provides a list of the authors and directors whom he cites so freely. Clearly, this is the work of an old man—and a disappointed one at that.

On the other hand, there’s no denying that this farewell is very, very beautiful.