Godard Forever: Part One, a 17-film retrospective of director Jean-Luc Godard’s early work, begins this Friday at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. To mark the occasion we look at the politics and provocations that were the auteur’s long-time trademark.

Romance is a fool’s errand—the American writer knew this well, and it was reflected in her novels. With her birthday falling tomorrow, our correspondent proposes Wharton, who had a “special expertise in loneliness,” as the patron saint of the loneliest month.

The United States has a long and ugly history of spying on its own citizens. Last week, as the surviving members of a daring 1971 operation to expose FBI dirty tricks finally went public, revelations about present day NSA spying continued to mount. A tour through some of the art inspired by America’s obsession with enemies-within.