Alphaville
1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Eddie Constantine, Anna
Karina
I
shouldn’t like Alphaville. By my own
admission, I have problems enjoying the films of the French New Wave, and Alphaville
is very French New Wave. And of the
French New Wave directors, my least favorite is Godard, and Alphaville
is very Godard. But there’s something
about the mash-up of science fiction and film noir with Godard’s New Wave style
that, inexplicably, works for me.
Lemmy
Caution (Constantine) is an undercover agent from a region called the
Outlands. Masquerading as a journalist,
he is sent to enemy region Alphaville with the mission to locate scientist
Professor Von Braun and take him back to the Outlands or kill him. Along the way, he encounters Von Braun’s
daughter Natacha (Karina), and through her, he starts to realize the strange
workings of Alphaville. Alphaville is
controlled by a central computer, Alpha 60, that has outlawed free thought,
poetry, and illogical emotions, such as crying after the death of a
spouse. Caution must find a way to take
down Alpha 60 in order to complete his mission and free Natacha.
