:
Eddie Constantine,
Anna Karina,
Akim Tamiroff,
more...
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Jean-Luc Godard
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Criterion
: Foreign, Science Fiction , France, Criterion Collection, French New Wave
: 99 min.
: French
: English
see additional details...
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In Alphaville, Jean-Luc Godard fuses a hardboiled detective story with science fiction. Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine), a hero Godard borrowed from a series of French adventure films, comes to Alphaville, the capital of a totalitarian state, in order to destroy its leader, an almost-human computer called Alpha 60. While on his mission, Lemmy meets and falls in love with Natacha (Anna Karina), the daughter of the scientist who designed Alpha 60. Their love becomes the most profound challenge to the computer's control. Void of any flashy special effects, Alphaville uses 1960s Paris to depict the city of the future. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
You might also enjoy:
Gattaca
Also slightly abstract, dystopian sci-fi
Red Desert
Cold and haunting classic from the same post-Industrial era
Contempt
Godard's take on filmmaking, with Brigitte Bardot and what more do you want?
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| computer scare
by MSapir
August 19, 2006 - 6:29 PM PDT
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1 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| The movie shows how scary computers are, they dehumanize humans. It is about a guy with a gun fighting against computers, professors and engineers. And winning. My impression: very stupid. Not even funny. |
| Godard's student film
by mrfrosting
August 18, 2004 - 5:03 PM PDT
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10 out of 15 members found this review helpful
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| I cannot express what a waste of time this film is. I've always thought very highly of the few Godard films I've seen...up to this point. The plot, action and characters are childish and amateurish. The dialogue goes nowhere half the time (though it's possible part of that is due to the English translation). Alpha 60 talked so slow at times that I couldn't remember what the point of the sentence was by the time Alpha 60 got to the end of it. I had to fight my way through this, telling myself that it really couldn't be as terrible and self-indulgent as it appeared. In fact, afterwards I read some high-praise for the film including info that filled in the film where the film seemed to resist filling itself in. But a film-buff knows when he's getting snowed. Alphaville is an awful, boring, nonsensical place that should never have been visited. |
| French New Wave's Future's Past
by AMicone
August 11, 2002 - 9:23 PM PDT
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8 out of 9 members found this review helpful
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Though I usually abhor french films, this one is an exception. This is french new wave cinema's past vision of the future. Godard has constructed a world where everything (in france at least) is run by the ominous alpha-60 master computer. Spy Lemmy Caution must thwart the computer and either return with an exile from the outlands or kill him.
Alphaville has all the odd trappings you expect from french new wave cinema, especially long musings on the nature of existence, and non-sequitors like water ballet executions. It also features cheesy and sometimes humourous special effects, such as the alpha-60 computer which is represented throughout the film by a Westinghouse 100 Watt floodlamp.
Still, this is another interesting film in Godard's arsenal of films. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.91)
402 Votes
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