Jean-Luc Godard Collection Vol.2 Details

Pierrot Le Fou

Jean Luc Godard pushed the boundaries of cinema to new limits with the bold and innovotive Breathless in 1960. Five years later he took it even further with the audacious and bizarre Pierrot Le Fou, a film he claimed to tell the story of the last romantic couple.

The picture is another fine example of Godard's preocupation with politics, American cinema and violence (in this case the looming Vietnam War) which concentrate more on feeling, mood and technique rather than an orderly plot. This approach allows a constant and feverish stream of cameos, gags, bold ideas and stylish set pieces. It's an anarchical film where he tries to do everything but the fact that it holds together and manages to balance the relation between popular and high culture confirms Godard as a true virtuoso of cinema. Belmondo and Anna Karina are as good as ever and the colours look fantastic.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Light charm

A charming film, full of pretty people, laced with gaiety and wit; clever. (Gallic wit, of course, is not quite consonant with English humour ...) Sharply filmed with neat cutting and cross cutting; with amusing interjections and references to other films and situations. (Jean Paul Belmondo speaks about watching 'À Bout de Souffle' ... in which Jean Paul Belmondo starred.) ... Godard, justement! So why, I wonder, did the film not hold my attention better - all cleverness, less substance? It felt longer than its 80 minutes! Near the end Émile sums it up by declaring that he is not sure if it is 'comédie où tragédie: en tout cas, c'est un chef d'oeuvre': true; or, put differently, it's a brilliantly delightful farce - either great fun or a bit of a disappointment? Putting it another way ... as clever films like this tend to lead you to do ... the content of the script may have been fairly light, but it was a most cunningly crafted vehicle to bring out all the charms and skills of Anna Karina and Belmondo and the cleverness and sharpness and wit of Godard and of Coutard with the camera. Brilliant.

As usual, I struggle to follow the dialogue, but where I could follow, the sub-titles did seem to be decidedly dodgy.