Vivre Sa Vie on DVD (1962)

Ennui in Black and White

A customer from Carpenders Park, England , 22/05/2006

Of the French New Wave pioneers Jean Luc Godard was frequently the most annoying talent, much colder than Truffaut and considerably less witty than Chabrol. 'Vivre Sa Vie' is one of his coldest, a documentary-style look at a Parisian prostitute-by-default, played by Danish actress Anna Karina at her most 60s-iconic. Divided into 12 chapters, the film is a series of vignettes in which dull people have remarkably inconsequential conversations during which we learn little of interest other than details of the pragmatic attitude of the French state towards prostitution. There is no real story, just fragments, and in truth the film would be as dull as ditchwater were it not for Raoul Coutard's utterly gorgeous black and white cinematography. He can quite literally make the back of someone's head--held in shot for a minute or more by a director who believed himself to be such an artist that the most tedious devices would be taken seriously--look unexpectedly beautiful. 'Vivre Sa Vie' remains one of Godard's visually elegant Rorschac blots, meaningless in itself but an invitation for the susceptible audience to read meaning into it. Many did in the 60s...fewer are likely to today.

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Must See New Wave

Grizzlybear from Swindon, England , 06/12/2005

For me not quite up their with Godard's seminal masterpiece 'Breathless' (1959) but still visually superb. Godard concentrates the camera quite unashamedly at his new wife Anna Karina throughout the film and she does not disappoint.The film tells the story of a former shopgirl who turns to prostitution when money gets tight. But one gets the feeling that money is not the only reason for her choice as Godard lingers long on her writing a job application in the cafe which will never be sent. One gets the sense that she is looking for excitement and freedom that conventional work cannot provide despite the personal and moral consequences. The real story though is how she maintains her spiritual integrity within the immoral world she inhabits (Goddard even likens her to French heroine Joan of Arc). However in the film's ending perhaps Godard is trying to convey that no matter what the purity of one's intentions, trying to inhabit 'moral' and 'immoral' worlds at the same time is ultimately doomed to failure.

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Dissapointed

A customer from london , 09/07/2008

The DVD that I was sent didn't seem to have any options for subtitles and despite my French A Level I wasn't quite up to it.

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Dissapointed

A customer from london , 09/07/2008

The DVD that I was sent didn't seem to have any options for subtitles and despite my French A Level I wasn't quite up to it.

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Ennui in Black and White

A customer from Carpenders Park, England , 22/05/2006

Of the French New Wave pioneers Jean Luc Godard was frequently the most annoying talent, much colder than Truffaut and considerably less witty than Chabrol. 'Vivre Sa Vie' is one of his coldest, a documentary-style look at a Parisian prostitute-by-default, played by Danish actress Anna Karina at her most 60s-iconic. Divided into 12 chapters, the film is a series of vignettes in which dull people have remarkably inconsequential conversations during which we learn little of interest other than details of the pragmatic attitude of the French state towards prostitution. There is no real story, just fragments, and in truth the film would be as dull as ditchwater were it not for Raoul Coutard's utterly gorgeous black and white cinematography. He can quite literally make the back of someone's head--held in shot for a minute or more by a director who believed himself to be such an artist that the most tedious devices would be taken seriously--look unexpectedly beautiful. 'Vivre Sa Vie' remains one of Godard's visually elegant Rorschac blots, meaningless in itself but an invitation for the susceptible audience to read meaning into it. Many did in the 60s...fewer are likely to today.

Read all highest rated reviews