LeonLouisRicci An Audacious Amalgamation of Literature and Film, Goddard's Movie is bursting with Pop Cultural references. With a Philosophical Conceit, a Very Low-Budget, and Unlimited Energy from the Director, the Film was extremely Derivative and Influential. No Mean Feat.There are Incomprehensible Things, like one would likely Find in the Future, much of it doesn't make a whole lot of linear sense. The Hero (Detective, Secret Agent, Journalist), plucked Iconically From Film-Noir, says He drives a Ford Galaxy. It's actually a Mustang.This is a Tongue in Cheek Homage and its Strength is the Sharp, Flashing, Expressionistic Sets and Lighting. The Director's Expressionism comes from within the Camera and Not From SFX.There is much to Take In from "Alphaville". You can siphon Nuggets almost Everywhere and Constantly, and its Blend of Styling, both Literary and Cinematic, are that of Sci-Fi, Film-Noir, Comic Books, Orwell, Kafka, Welles, and others. It's Goddard's Bouillabaisse. A Tasty Treat of Film-As-Art. Stimulating, Bizarre, Unique, Avant-Garde, Funny, and Entertaining.

Christopher Culver Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film ALPHAVILLE has one of the most bizarre premises in the history of cinema. Godard borrows the character of Lemmy Caution, a tough FBI agent/secret agent played by Eddie Constantine that had appeared in a number of French B movies, and then Godard drops Caution into a science-fiction film. And yet, this film taking place in a different galaxy far, far away doesn't use any specially created sets or fancy ray guns. Instead, Godard simply shot the film at examples of modernist architecture in Paris, in industrial buildings, and among the room-sized IBM mainframe computers of his time.In the dystopian city of Alphaville, all decisions are made by the gigantic Alpha 60 computer that pursues logic at all cost, banning human emotions and leaving the inhabitants zombified. Caution is sent from outside with the task of retrieving Alpha 60's creator, the rogue scientist Von Braun (Howard Vernon). Caution's femme fatale is Natasha Von Braun (Anna Karina), daughter of the scientist, whom she has never met. Though zombified like the other inhabitants of Alphaville, Natasha shows a budding individuality. Caution is baffled by the inexplicable behavior shown by the inhabitants of this city, but he remains focused on his goal to extracting Von Braun, no matter how many obstacles are thrown in his way.ALPHAVILLE is often categorized as a science-fiction film, but it's soon obvious that Godard was interested more in the changing world around him in the 1960s. He worried that the technocratic society, the desire to use technology to solve all manner of problems from food distribution to architecture, would rob the human race of a certain flexibility, of a certain liberty, and of a certain poetry. (It's interesting that Godard anticipated so much of the Sixties counterculture that would preoccupy the youth, though he was already well into his thirties, and themes that would later be explored by thinkers like Theodore Roszak.) Alpha 60 is less a vision of the far future, something from a time of intergalactic space travel, than a rising trend of the mid 20th-century.I had heard of the premise and much of the details before and I thought the film would be lame, but I absolutely loved it. I came to ALPHAVILLE after watching Godard's work to date, which features some remarkable imagery and avant-garde techniques, but is rarely very comedic. I had no idea that ALPHAVILLE would be so hilarious. As the film opens, we see Godard playing with the trope of the hardboiled detective or spy overcoming assassins sent to kill him, and this is exaggerated to the point it becomes slapstick. There are a lot of absurdist touches here, from a mass execution using bizarre methods (and where's the blood?) to the peculiar way our hero is at one point incapacitated by some goons sent to bring him to the feet of the villain.The performances here are great, too. In spite of the unusual script, which might have had some actors blowing off the director's concerns, Eddie Constantine unflappably maintains his noir style here. Akim Tamiroff turns in a great supporting role as Caution's fellow agent Dickson, and this already elderly actor brings in a lifetime of experience in comedic roles. Karina continues to show that, while Godard was originally interested in her merely as a pretty face, she had enormous talent. Some of the long shots are cleverly done, and the film includes an exciting car chase.

antcol8 I am really afraid to say anything negative about this film, given the incredibly low level of critique demonstrated by the people here who didn't like it, but...I have never thought that this was anywhere near the best of his '60s films. But I jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen again yesterday. I hoped to revise my opinion. Which I did not.People who do not understand why the Paris of the moment when the film was made is used to represent a future dystopia should be condemned to never watching a film outside of the Mainstream ever again. The point is blindingly obvious: dystopia is all around us. Using music and lighting and camera movement to represent that, rather than relying on triumphantly gaudy and expensive production design, shows that Godard is a filmmaker down to the tips of his toes. He learned so much from the American directors who had no recourse to expensive sets and had to use shadows and fog...I'm thinking of Lang on Man Hunt, Mann on G - Men. Of course, Ulmer on Detour, etc.All this is amazing. And there are great set pieces (the swimming pool, for example). And the use of the same couple of bars of music, over and over, is great, too.Look, I don't need to believe in the relationships and the ideas in Godard films in order to enjoy them. Karina and Constantine was perhaps a very inspired mismatch. And I've read and studied lots of Brecht. But Alphaville just doesn't SWING for me the way most of the others from this time do. But, you know what? I'm going to watch it again.

spacedrone808 Great plot and idea. Poor visuals due to early years of production. Very weak actors (in my opinion).AND THE MOST ANNOYING- DISTURBING- DISGUSTING-GURGLING-WOBBLING NARRATOR COMPUTER VOICE EVER. It almost destroyed my poor ears during film watching. But luckily, i survived. Sound effects and music design is miserable too, considering the main theme of the movie. Story line of video-film is V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W and have no dynamic scenes at all, but this is common stuff for 60s, 70s movies.Hoping, that Brazil (1985) with similar storyline will be far better! Can't say anything more.