Review of Alphaville (1965) by Mereie D — 10 Feb 2010

Of the Godard films Iâ??ve seen so far, this is the first one I can actually appreciate: it is as unconventional as many of his movies are, but it is watchable and entertaining at the same time. The topic is intriguing, important and contemporary (the dangers of mind control systems occur more often in movies of the later sixties â?? see, for instance, The Power from 1968 or even some episodes of The Avengers).

Godardâ??s execution of the topic is original: I liked the retro American film noir detective style, combined with the matching suspenseful music, which tends to be ironically overdone. The same irony can be felt in the romantic music used from time to time, during scenes that are anything but romantic.

Lemmy Caution (Eddie Contantine) is a good match for the tough guys he faces, so we need not feel sorry for him, no matter what may happen. Instead, we can sit back and be entertained relaxedly. The power of Alphaville obviously lies in the ridiculous nature of the opinions (expressed in conversations and by peopleâ??s actions) and the action scenes (mainly consisting of Caution evading assailants and shooting them with a casual nonchalance).

We do, of course, have a good hunch as to how it all might end, and the plot is simple and basic, but the topic is solid enough for us to expect nothing else than what weâ??re getting. I did however find the dialogues between Caution and Natacha von Braun (Anna Karina) somewhat unnecessarily stretched, but apparently Godard canâ??t help himself whenever he is filming pretty women (compare some of the scenes with Jean Seberg in A bout de souffle).

Needless to say, the futuristic look of the surroundings (which is actually just Paris) greatly contributes to the atmosphere too.