having spent several days adrift, Paul runs into his ex-wife and daughter and asks plaintively to spend more time with them. Walking backwards away from the two, Paul accidentally steps in front of a car and is hit. Isabelle's sister, now apparently a prostitute, flees the scene with the driver of the car, her client. Paul's ex-wife also urges Cécile to come away, saying "it's nothing to do with us." As the two walk off, they pass a small orchestra set up in a garage yard that is playing the theme music which has echoed through the film. Cast Jacques Dutronc as Paul Godard Isabelle Huppert as Isabelle Rivière Nathalie Baye as Denise Rimbaud Cécile Tanner as Cecile, Paul's daughter Background After twelve years of low budget, militant left-wing, and otherwise experimental film and video projects outside of commercial distribution, Every Man for Himself was Godard's return to "mainstream" filmmaking, with a sizable budget and French film stars. Godard promoted what he referred to as his "second first film" heavily in the United States, notably appearing on two episodes of The Dick Cavett Show. Nevertheless, in addition to Godard's typical refusal to keep viewers oriented through expository dialogue and continuity editing, the film is experimental in its use of the technique that Godard called "decomposition," which he first employed for the 1979 French television series France/tour/détour/deux/enfants. In the technique, there is a periodic slowing down of the action to a frame by frame advancement. Consequently, the film was given the name Slow Motion when it was released in the UK. The French title Sauve Qui Peut literally means "save who can," and is a common phrase shouted among a crowd of people when there is dangerhence the American title of the film, Every Man for Himself. Godard has stated that a better title in American English would be "Save Your Ass." In his initial proposal for the film, a 20 minute video known as Scénario de Sauve Qui Peut (la vie) (included as a supplement on the Criterion Collection DVD), Godard suggested a guest appearance by Werner Herzog that is not in the finished film, including a still photo that is apparently of Herzog doing a backflip. Perhaps this is a joke, Herzog having made Every Man for Himself and God Against All six years earlier. Poet and author Charles Bukowski provided the subtitles for the film's English-language release. Reception