Essays and Reviews


    PIERROT LE FOU
 
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Year: 1965

Runtime: 110 minutes

Country: France

Cast:
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina
Screening Times:
July 7, 2009 7:00 PM
Screens at Jackman Hall
Images Courtesy of the Film Reference Library
 
  
 


One of the greatest works ever about amour fou, Pierrot le Fou was originally restricted to adults in Britain for its “intellectual anarchism.” Godard called this study of sexual obsession and betrayal “the story of the last romantic couple.” Tired of his rich wife and comfortable Parisian life, Belmondo sets off on a voyage across southern France with a babysitter (his mistress, played by Anna Karina), the archetype of Godard’s “woman as treacherous enigma.” He yearns for a rich cultural tradition and a contemplative life, while she has an erotic fascination with guns and money. Left in their reckless wake are corpses, burning cars, and any number of famous sequences: Sam Fuller’s definition of cinema at a cocktail party, Demy-like dance numbers on the beach, and the colour-coded, literally explosive finale.  “It looks sensational . . . radiates joy of cinema. . . . I first saw Pierrot le Fou when I was 17 . . .  and was convinced it was better than Duck Soup, maybe the greatest movie ever made” (J. Hoberman, The Village Voice).