Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Producer: Georges de Beauregard
Writer: Jean-Luc Godard
Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani
Music: Antoine Duhamel
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Distribution: DeLaurentiis, Rome-Paris, SNC
Release Date: November 5, 1965 (France), January 8, 1969 (USA)
Running Time: 110 min
Jean-Luc Godard is a filmmaker who has never been afraid to flout controversy, and indeed his reputation in cinema history has been the source of much controversy. As of right now he stands at the #10 spot on They Shoot Pictures Top 100 Directors list, but at the same time there are many who loathe him, even among my fellow film snobs, and there was even a user on IMDb who in a polite manner wished death upon Monsieur Godard. There appear to be several reasons for the hate, the first is simply his style of filmmaking, while not as radical as it was back in the sixties Godard has always been one to throw aesthetic and narrative curveballs. There’s no telling what to expect when you pop one of his films into the DVD player. The other reason may his politics, Godard was at one point a die-hard Marxist, and while I do have Marxist sympathies the political overtones of some of his films like Week End can appear quite obnoxious. Godard, however is an important figure in cinema history, and so instead of explaining why Pierrot Le Fou is such a great film (which it is), I’m going to instead explain why it is a film worth watching even if you may not enjoy it.
Pierrot Le Fou follows Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) a man living a vapid bourgeois life with his rich Italian wife. After ditching a party, Ferdinand meets up with his old girlfriend Marianne (Anna Karina) who has been babysitting their child. Ferdinand (or as Marianne calls him Pierrot) decides to run off with Marianne to the south of France. However Marianne has gotten herself caught up with a gang of Algerian gun-runners. The couple embarks on a series of adventures that ends in an explosive finale.
Pierrot Le Fou plays out in an interesting manner, the film is very episodic, and there’s very little consistency throughout. Ferdinand and Marianne are constantly shifting characters. They engage in random song and dance numbers, talk to the camera, have sex, and kill people. One moment Marianne is one person and another moment she seems like an entirely different character. The same goes for Ferdinand. Godard clearly has fun with his loose narrative structure which allows him to throw together random genres and see just what comes out. Most of the time his style works, and it makes for some outrageous cinematic moments, but the middle portion of the film tends to lag a bit. I don’t think further editing would have done much, the film is perfect length, perhaps it’s because the middle is in many ways different from the rest of the film. I’m nitpicking though, Pierrot le Fou maintains its offbeat pace throughout the film, and in some strange way it works.
The acting from both Belmondo and Karina is superb. Belmondo spends a lot of time brooding, and he’s very good at brooding. His performance is both subtle and slightly over-the-top at the same time, though it’s Godard’s (then) wife and muse Anna Karina who makes the film. Karina is beauty personified, a sort of strange femme fatale out of an Andy Warhol painting. Karina does a great job shifting the multiple personalities Marianne takes on, she’s both innocent and helpless and at the same time corrupt and driven. Karina seems to find a middle ground between these two sides of her character, and it works. The rest of the performances from the supporting players are playfully over the top, and represent their character’s stereotypes quite well.
The cinematography of Pierrot Le Fou is stunning; Godard paints his film in bright, primary colors that pop off the screen in a whirlwind of beauty. This is pop art in motion. Godard like with every other aspect of the film is clearly having fun with his visuals here, there is very little that isn’t in bright pigments, but there are moments in this film of true beauty, there is one exquisite shot after another, and coupled with the jazz-like score the aesthetics of Pierrot Le Fou are most certainly pleasing to the senses.
Overall Pierrot Le Fou is a challenging film, it’s one that should be seen, and is worth the two hours. There’s no denying Godard’s place in cinema history, but whether you come out liking the film or not is up to you.
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