Vivre Sa Vie

Vivre Sa Vie (1962)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard

Starring: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, Andre S. Rebarthe, Guylaine Schlumberger, Gerard Hoffman

From: Les Films De La Pleiade/Pathe Consortium Cinema

Featuring a pretty sweet 1950's pinball machine. I bring that up as in the past I've played some 1950's and 1960's pinball; that was either at a pinball museum I visited not too far from Tampa or at special gaming events held during a weekend in an Orlando hotel ballroom where older games owned privately are brought by nerds-let's be honest here, and I am saying that as a nerd-and there's a flat fee you pay to play any of them. The one here was from 1956 & called Sea Belles; it'd probably be fun to try out once.

I say that as a detail which amused me in an otherwise serious and downbeat look at the downfall of a young lady who wishes to become an actress but fate destined that she became a prostitute, and a happy ending is not shown. It is only my second Godard; what I know of his filmography (well, some of it, anyhow) it is not to my tastes. However, I gave high marks to Breathless so I might as well see another early work from him. It stars Jean-Luc's muse, Anna Karina. The movie is framed so the viewer would fall in love with her and well... it is understandable why he had her as his muse. This seemed to be inspired by silent movies (G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box, a great effort from 1929; they both share similar hair) as it is divided into a dozen chapters, each worse for our lead Nana.

Seemingly, each chapter was filmed different, although all seemed to be inspired by the cinema verite style; after all, much of the dialogue was improvised. You know that things will be different when in the opening segment the first few minutes are spent with Nana and whom we would soon find out is her husband, at a bar and their backs to the camera, their faces only seen occasionally in a mirror. How this is shot and framed is always fascinating, a key component in the film's power. It was not just a random movie choice that one segment had Nana at a revival screening of the legendary silent The Passion of Joan of Arc, about the persecution of a famed woman from the past. Vivre Sa Vie (roughly translated as My Life to Live) takes its time, allowing the viewer to relax instead of feeling stressed despite the sad fate of Nana. There's time to hear philosophical discussions or listen to groovy French music.

Indeed, one of the (many) things I'd like to do film-wise in the future is to see at least some more French New Wave. Hopefully nothing I see is so radical that it becomes a turn-off; we'll see.