11. Alphaville

My guest for this month is Serenity Caldwell, and she’s joined me to discuss the film I chose for her, the 1965 French science fiction noir film Alphaville. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.

Show notes:

Jean-Luc Godard is perhaps the most famous of the Nouvelle Vague directors
Noir is a genre I love, with a fairly poor definition. It’s definitely a know-it-when-you-see-it kind of thing
Lemmy Caution is basically the French version of an American James Bond
The Stranger is an existentialist novel by Albert Camus, it’s a fun one
Babar is so damn cute
The Criterion way is pretty much what we do around here
Metropolis is basically the grandparent of all modern Science Fiction films
Blade Runner and Dark City are noir influenced Science Fiction films that feel somewhat similar to this one
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick is what Blade Runner was based on. The book is better
Lemmy Caution is incredibly well played by Eddie Constantine
Capital of Pain seems like a breezy read
Synchronized Swimmers aren’t usually performing as state sponsored murderers
Nineteen Eighty-Four definitely comes off as a pretty strong influence on this film
Instamatic cameras were super new when this film came out, it was part of the futurism
Anna Karina is one of the most well known French actresses of all time
A Wrinkle in Time is a super well loved novel by Madeline L'Engle, with some series science themes
The emperor is from The Empire Strikes Back, which is a film in the Star Wars series. Just in case you didn’t know
JRPGs are pretty well known for their ridiculously overwrought stories and themes
I didn’t like Last Year at Marienbad. There, I said it, now you can judge me
Sith lords are also from Star Wars. We like Star Wars a lot
E = mc2 is a concept we got from Albert Einstein. It has to do with energy. Godard is apparently enamored with it
Surrealism and Dadaism are concepts, somewhat explored here
Tarzan vs IBM would probably not have been a title he could have legally used
4:3 is a description of the aspect ratio of this film
Breathless is the French film that got me into French films. I think I’m not alone on that
A Woman is a Woman is another great Godard film with Anna Karina

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