As with all of Godard's movies I feel I'm only skimming the surface of a deep pond full of greater meaning than I'm capable of attaining without having seen all of the same movies, read all of the same books, heard all of the same songs, thought all of the same thoughts, or breathed all of the same breaths as Godard. I suppose that's what makes him a definitively personal filmmaker, his "fingerprints on every frame" as my Francophile film studies professor would repeat like a damn mantra. It can be alienating at times, but in Pierrot Le Fou I think the perfect balance is struck between Godard the ponderous semiotician, Godard the strident leftist, and Godard the movie dude.…

Another Godard, another pleasantly inviting, off-kilter trek with charismatic outlaws. Jumping from Breathless to Pierrot le Fou couldn't have been a more serendipitous selection, as their similarities are shocking. Not just in star Jean-Paul Belmondo, nor in the tale of two lovers on the wrong side of the law, but in the vibe and content - a strike against society and its inane, mundane commercialism. Here, instead of the law, Godard has Belmondo escaping from a drab life full of corporate sponsorship, empty philosophers, and family just as sick as he is, but too apathetic to change. Both Michel and Ferdinand craft fantasy personas for themselves; Michel a gangster, Ferdinand a poet. And both are in way over their heads;…

"Chapter Eight"

The fragmentary incoherence of the stories we tell about ourselves; the inherent contingency and inconsistency of both narrative and identity.

I’ve been trying to include more plot synopsis in my reviews, because I easily get carried away with a lot of nonsensical posturing, but Pierrot le fou makes that a rather difficult task. At its most basic, it’s a story about a man who runs away with a woman (the French New Wave’s two most beautiful people, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina), but it’s filled with so much structural experimentation and narrative ambiguity that such a summary sells the movie short by ignoring its most interesting elements. Godard confines himself to some extent to the formal constraints of…

I guess it was only a matter of time before I was so impacted by a film that I wrote something in regards to my personal life as much as an actual review of a film. It's something that I've been wanting to talk about for the longest time but deep down, I always feared that something like this would only annoy people on top of contributing nothing to the discussion of the very films that make me feel this way. But then I remembered that letterboxd is explicitly designed to work like a diary, and what are diaries good for if you cant express yourself and your fears. I'm being weird and rambling and blaghhhh so I'm gonna move…

Not Another 30 Day Film Challenge: Day Fourteen, An Art House Film.

Why do you look so sad? Because you speak to me in words and I look at you with feelings.

Jean-Luc Godard is my personal favorite and one of the most misunderstood French directors of all time. A lot of his films seem to get criminally underrated by the public, but that may be due to the fact that his artistic, avant garde filming style can be a turn-off to many people. Granted, I don't care for some of his later work, but he has seemed to be beginning to redeem and resurrect himself with the most excellent Goodbye to Language 3D. Despite my lauding praise for that…

Jean-luc Godard is very experimental and his style is definitely not for everyone. Pierrot le Fou is total mess but in a good way. Its quite unique and insanely fast paced. Those who are not familiar with Godard might not like that.

The story is quite simple, Ferdinand/Pierrot (Jean-paul Belmondo) left his wife for another girl, his ex "Marianne" (Anna Karina) who is being chased by gangsters. They together run from place to place and its so fun and joy to watch them.

Godard turned this simple story into a incredible adventure for us audience with his phenomenal direction. The cinematography is superb and the use of colors is wonderful. Its written so brilliantly, the dialogues are highly quotable and…

it’s ours again.
–what is?
eternity.
–that’s just the sea, gone with the sun.

these are the lines that close this masterpiece by Godard and i can’t help but think that in them lies the love story of this film. with vibrant tones of blue (him, just like the paint on his face) and red (her, like the dresses she wears) as the dominant colours, it’s as if Ferninand and Marianne represent the sea and the sun, respectively. and just like the sea and the sun, they seemingly touch on the horizon, but they can never really meet. as if it was a metaphor for this pair of people who are so different -- she likes the flowers and animals,…

Pierrot Le Fou after watching it I still have mixed feelings about the film. I honestly think I have not quite understood the plot, not because the story is not clear but rather because of its strange execution. The film tells the story of two lovers who decide to be free from the routine of their lifes; sounds simple but the way the film is told left me with a strange feeling. This is specially because of the drastical changes in tone, specially the music. Sometimes the soundtrack would be quick during a scene and then suddently stop allowing for a clearer diagetic sound, but then after a dialogue would finish the music would come back again, and this process…