Review of Alphaville (1965) by Christopher M — 07 Mar 2007

There's certainly a lot going on in this film. It's a futuristic French post-modern sci-fi noir, among other things. It tells the story of an Americanized detective called Lemmy Caution (played brilliantly by Eddie Constantine) who is sent to a (very weird) space city called Alphaville, where love and self expression are outlawed.

Very early on, this film reminded me of a few works of literature, such as William S. Burroughs' "Nova Express" and Huxley's "Brave New World" - because it explores some similar ideas and themes.

In how this film is made though, I can see no relative (except the other work of the director, Jean-Luc Godard) - it is distinctly fresh and original in the way it is filmed, and decidedly art house. At times during this film can be a drawback, but overall it worked.

There's an element of absurdity and black comedy present, and I the parallel between Alphaville and the France of the 50s and 60s is very interesting. Godard must have been in his prime when making this, because the direction is definitely exceptional.

His use of lighting is phenomenal. Overall, this will probably be one of the weirdest movies you will probably ever see, but I'd recommend you do.