| Alphaville |
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| Ever hear great things about a certain movie that you've never seen?
Critics and fans rave about it so much that there is no way in the world that the
film can possibly live up to its reputation. You finally get to see the film and
...it exceeds your expectations. Such was the case for me with ALPHAVILLE, the 1965 film directed by French New Waver Jean-Luc Godard. The film stars craggy faced Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution. Constantine looks like he had been carved out of the side of a mountain.Caution was a role first played by Constantine in the early fifties in French films such as Dames Don't Care, Poison Ivy and Diamond Machine. Lemmy is a hard drinking, fast shooting womanizer always ready with a quip or a bullet.Akim Tamiroff plays Henri Dickson, Anna Karina is Ms Von Braun and Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon plays Dr Von Braun. Describing this film is a task that leaves even professionals somewhat non plussed. Lemmy Caution hops in his Galaxie 500 (actually a Mustang) and drives to the planet Alphaville (Paris). It seems that Dr Von Braun has developed a death ray and plans to use it on the "outside worlds" (aka Europe). He has also created a massive computer Alpha-60 that rules Alphaville with an iron fist and has forbidden emotion. Caution falls in love with Von Braun's daughter and is determined to bring Alpha-60 and Alphaville crashing down. Even if he has to kill a lot of people to do it. There is a lot of black humor and sly humor to this film. It is also a slow moving film that may bore you to tears or throw so much at you that repeat viewings are required. It certainly is not for everyone. Within a few minutes of checking in to the Alphaville hotel Lemmy throws out a sex surrogate and gets into a gunfight with hotel employees. And it is basically business as usual as not much comes of it. There are a couple of scientists named Eckel & Jeckel (Heckel & Jeckel) and references to Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon.There is a swimming pool execution scene that is rather unsettling and is viewed by the upper class as entertainment. Other things of note: Scientific theories are in neon, the future doesn't look too much different from the present, the bible/dictionary gets shorter everyday as words are taken out of circulation and there is also a naked blond in a glass case. Why? She's being reprogrammed as a spy but she has a nice arse! How does Lemmy's Galaxie 500 travel through outer space? We had one when I was a kid and we could hardly get the damn thing out of the neighborhood! Light plays a significant part in this film. Whether it be neon, natural or electrical light you are bombarded with it. There is a wonderful musical score by Paul Misraki and the imagery of this film warrants another viewing just to see what I missed the first time around. The film is in black and white and Criterion offers the french language version with english subtitles. Some quotables from Lemmy Caution: "All things weird are normal in this whore of a city!' "I'm too old to argue so I shoot". |