Reviewing a film outside its time of release can be a difficult thing. Analysing a film 50 years after it came out is very difficult, but Jean-Luc Godard’s movie, Pierrot le Fou, released 5 November, 1965 seems to transcend time.
The film oozes cool and rebellion so much so that the images and stills of the movie are something any photographer would be proud of today. Set in 60s Paris, the film follows two characters whose relationship guides its audience down a windy and directionless road. Disillusioned by the bourgeois life led by their fellow Parisians, the two are forced together at a party that reeks of such pretension. Their unlikely bond leads them to a life of living outside the law and a journey to another life, what this life looks like is never clear.
The relationship is disastrous from the get go, and Marianne Renoir (Anna Karina) is a poisonous influence on Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo). The two of them, fleeing Renoir’s threat from the gangster’s chasing her, go from place to place committing petty crimes. They finally settle in the French Riviera and begin their new life together. This soon becomes tedious and it is clear that they are not the match that, at least Griffon, desired. Their relationship becomes more and more tumultuous and comes to a brutal and fatal end.
Although the plot line of Pierrot le Fou doesn’t necessarily seem anything unique, this film came before Bonnie and Clyde (1967) & Easy Rider (1969) and helped to make the road movie a staple in Hollywood genre film. But it is the hand of Jean-Luc Godard that makes this film stand out. A true aficionado of the French New Wave, Godard’s work is tantamount to 60s France. In Pierrot le Fou we see a director comfortable in his trade and an auteur who is happy to play with form, style and structure.
Godard’s use of primary colours is blinding in such a stark way that it is difficult to not be drawn into each and every shot, each one with the ability to be a work of art. His continuous questioning of Hollywood form is always on show in Pierrot and never is this more defined than the moment when Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo) turns to the audience and tells them, ‘All she thinks about is having fun’. Suddenly the fourth wall is broken and another Hollywood rule is broken.
If you haven’t seen Pierrot le Fou and are a fan of the French New Wave and films that break Hollywood rules, this is a must see. And even if you aren’t this sort of film watcher, then it’s worth a watch to see two of the best actors in French cinema history in action, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, they are engrossing to watch. This is also a good starting point for those who wish to be introduced to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, it’s a world that won’t disappoint.
A Film History Magazine 