Reviewed by Vittorio Carli for Reel Movie Critic
★ ★ ★ ★
Cast
Jean-Paul Belmondo Pierrot/Ferdinand
Anna Karina Marianne
Sam Fuller As himself
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. A satiric thriller/road movie. unrated. Touchstone Pictures. Running time: 110 minutes. In French with English sub-titles.
The film is opening at the Music Box Theater on August 17. A new 35 mm print will be shown.
By seeing this film, viewers can see for themselves just how much of a debt Quentin Tarantino owes to the art/trash master, Godard (The script of “True Romance” in particular is very derivative of this film).
With its crazed couple on the road plot and its ironic tone, the film also seems like it might have been a huge influence on both Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde” and David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart.”
Jean-Luc Godard was the most radical and one of the most important figures to emerge from the French New Wave. He started out as a film critic, so it’s no surprise that his films are very theoretical (some of his later works seem more like dialogues on film than films.) His most important features include “Breathless,” “Contempt” and “Weekend.”
Godard allegedly shot “Pierrot Le Fou” without a script, and much of the improvised absurdist dialog is still fresh, today.
Jean Paul Belmonde (who worked with Godard before on “Breathless” is wonderfully cool as Pierrot, a disturbed but fun loving man who takes up crime out of boredom and the need to escape social conventions.
Godard’s ex wife, Anna Karina is irresistible in the role of Marianne, Pierrot’s impulsive lover. She is completely ordinary, totally psychotic, and the most beautiful woman in the world in the role.
Early in the film, Pierrot leaves his wife and mundane existence behind when he runs off with his former girlfriend, Marianne, who has killed a man. They hit the road in a stolen car, and lead a completely hedonistic lifestyle—killing and robbing many people on the way.
They are pursued by some Algerian mobsters who want to shoot Marianne. They spend some time on a deserted island, and go back to the mainland to face their destinies.
The movie is unconventional in every way including the love scenes. Early in the film, the still married Marianne announces that she is going to put her hand on Pierrot’s knee, and somehow it’s more erotic than 99% of the steamy sex scenes in today’s films.
Pierrot is not a completely typical criminal. When he isn’t killing people he becomes immersed in the world of literature (perhaps he is supposed to be Godard’s id), and Marianne complains that he spends all his money on books. The film contains some marvelous quotes about literature such as “Poetry is a game of loser take all” and “The language of poetry rises from the ruins.”
Most viewers would probably despise “Pierrot Le Fou,” but the film is more modern, and exhilarating than any crime film that is out today. “Pierrot Le Fou” ranks among the best and most accessible works in the great auteur’s oeuvre.
