The Principle of Laudatory Criticism

I’m told that the original expression is “critique élogieuse”:

People say we can no longer write about our colleagues. Obviously it becomes difficult having a coffee with someone if that afternoon you have to write that he’s made a silly film. But the thing that has always distinguished Cahiers from the rest is our principle of laudatory criticism: if you like a film, you write about it; if you don’t like it, don’t bother with tearing it to pieces. One need only stick to this principle . . . the important thing is to lead the profession around to a new way of thinking about the cinema.

-Jean-Luc Godard, ‘Entretien,’ Cahiers du Cinema 138, December 1962.