Friday, 11 November 2016

Film You May Have Missed (#4)

Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)


In 1964 I began working in central London and discovered the delights of the Academy cinemas and the French New Wave films, one of which was 'Alphaville'

Jean Luc Godard’s spoof of, and/or tribute to, American sci-fi/spy dramas/crime films starred Eddie Constantine as secret agent Lemmy Caution on a mission to Alphaville, the ultra-modern city state that has criminalised love and self-expression. The authoritarian voice of the city is that of a computer Alpha 60 invented by Professor Von Braun who is Caution’s mission target, but first he must find Henri Dickson played by the Russian-born American actor Akin Tamiroff  and get involved with Von Braun’s daughter played by Anna Karina (Godard’s wife who appeared in several of his films).

 
                        Akin Tamiroff and Eddie Constantine      Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina

Remember, this is Godard directing, so don’t expect a straightforward drama film, although French New Wave voice overs, cinema-verité location shooting, Raoul Coutard’s black and white high-contrast cinematography and Eddie Constantine playing his part totally seriously all add up to a very interesting period piece.

In my opinion, Alphaville is the last of the run of great films Godard made that started with ‘À Bout de Souffle’ (‘Breathless’) in 1960 and included ‘Pierrot le Fou’, ‘Vivre sa Vie’ and, Tarrantino’s favourite, ‘Bande à Part’ (‘The Outsiders’). Godard then seem to stop considering his audiences and made a number of totally self-indulgent films, some of which are frankly unwatchable even to a veteran of ‘left-field’ film viewing like myself.


Fun fact: Eddie Constantine had already played Lemmy Caution in a series of French adventure films in the 1950’s and ‘60’s.

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