Cinema, love, politics, art, war: Godard’s obsessions explode in a supernova of color and emotion in this, possibly his funniest and most tragic film. This New Wave pinnacle, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, famously inspired a fifteen-year-old Chantal Akerman to become a filmmaker.
An iconic, pop-colored exposé of the film industry as only Godard can do. 1960s stars Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bardot fight and make love during a Fritz Lang (playing himself!) production of the Odyssey at Italy’s famed Cinecittà studios, scored to the most beautiful film music of all time.
Godard’s radical “neorealist musical” is one of the most iconic films of the French New Wave. Re-inventing Hollywood’s aging genre, it is full of fourth-wall-breaking playfulness, Eastmancolor Parisian streets, Legrand’s lush score, and the sparkling presence of Belmondo, Brialy, and Anna Karina.
Leave it to Godard to re-invent sci-fi moviemaking with a New Wave budget, stealing images of modern Paris to throw us into a pop dystopian future. An ingenious mix of futurism, detective noir, and romance, with, of course, Anna Karina along with the indomitable Eddie Constantine as “Lemmy Caution”.
Rohmer’s debut feature lucidly conjures Parisian ’50s bohemia, uncovering the trials that buffet an artist in the face of an often-cruel world. Produced by Chabrol (and with a cheeky cameo from Godard!), this New Wave drama may not have been a commercial success yet it won the hearts of cinephiles.
