Goddard's "Alphaville"

[sal]

I've recently been turned on to Jean-Luc Goddard after seeing "Breathless", which is one of the best films I've ever seen. I'd like to see some more of his films, and "Alphaville" sounds very intriguing. Can anyone who has seen this give me some feedback on what they think of this one? A store by my house has a used copy of the Criterion Collection DVD, and I'm considering picking it up, even though I've never seen it, but I wanted to get some always-helpful opinions from this board first.

Thanks!

Sal

[JohnS]

I can hardly remember it, but I'm sure it left a positive impression. One to see again.

[Jason Drake]

Alphaville is in a slightly different vein than Breathless/A Bout de Souffle (more sci-fi than gangster on the run), but still uses a "classical" narrative format. In the early run of films Le Mepris/Contempt is my favourite. Soon after Godard abandoned narrative cinema for a more polemic style - these may/may not be up your street. After about 1980 he returned to narratives again and a couple of years ago released Eloge de l'amour, which is also highly rated....

[Shawn]

Joe Milazzo turned me onto this film, quite an interesting experience to be sure! You can see how this movie inspired more recent fare like Dark City...but in a less cerebral fashion.

One of my favorite things about this movie is that character actor Akim Tamiroff is in this....fans of Preston Sturges should remember him as the wonderul character "The Boss" from The Great McGinty & The Miracle Of Morgans Creek.

[brownie]

'Alphaville' is a bit unique in Godard's filmography. And pretty special. Not sure jumping from 'A Bout de Souffle' to 'Alphaville' is the best way to explore his films. I would make stops at 'Le Mepris' and 'Pierrot Le Fou' first.

I rank 'Pierrot le Fou' as Godard's masterpiece. With 'A Bout de Souffle' being in a class of its own.

[bertrand]

My favorite Godard is 'Le Petit Soldat'. I found 'Alphaville' very tedious, but perhaps I missed something.

I even saw some real obscure ones at the Cinematheque de Chaillot, back in the early 80s when the student discount allowed me to see movies for 5 or 6 francs (a buck fifty or so). There was one called 'One American Movie', filmed in New York, where the Jefferson Airplane performed on the roof of a building until the police showed up. The Beatles later stole this idea for Let It Be.

Bertrand.

[BruceH]

Personally, I always thought Alphaville was a really lousy movie; boring, pretentious, and stupid. But then, I've never been much of a fan of Godard anyway. Just my two cents.

[ejp626]

I think Alphaville has its moments (unlike Last Year at Marienbad which I do find very pretentious and boring) but I would suggest renting it rather than buying it. It's not something you would likely watch more than once or twice.

Eric

[brownie]

I even saw some real obscure ones at the Cinematheque de Chaillot, back in the early 80s when the student discount allowed me to see movies for 5 or 6 francs (a buck fifty or so). There was one called 'One American Movie', filmed in New York, where the Jefferson Airplane performed on the roof of a building until the police showed up. The Beatles later stole this idea for Let It Be.

Bertrand, if you had been at the Cinematheque de Chaillot a few years earlier we might have met then. I was a card-carrying supporter f Les Amis de Henri Langlois society and fought an open air battle with riot police in early 1968 alongside people like Godard, Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Leaud on the hill of Chaillot when Langlois was ousted by Andre Malraux. The injuries were more moral than physical Those Cinematheque incidents happened a few weeks before the start of the May 1968 uprising.

And to return to Godard, don't forget 'One By One', the film he shot in London at a recording session when the Rolling Stones (and a stoned Brian Jones) were working on 'Sympathy For the Devil'. The song managed to make sense. Not the film. One of Godard's lesser effort.

[The Mule]

I agree with Brownie. ALPHAVILLE is interesting and a bit of an anomaly in Godard's filmography. I'd go with CONTEMPT and PIERROT LE FOU first.

[Brandon Burke]

My favorite Godard is 'Le Petit Soldat'. I found 'Alphaville' very tedious, but perhaps I missed something.

Yeah, but you don't like Kubrick. So...