Jean-Luc Godard

Alphaville

Alphaville

A cockeyed fusion of science fiction, pulp characters, and surrealist poetry, Godard’s irreverent journey to the mysterious Alphaville remains one of the least conventional films of all time. Eddie Constantine stars as intergalactic hero Lemmy Caution, on a mission to kill the inventor of fascist computer Alpha 60.

Film Info

  • France
  • 1965
  • 99 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • French
  • Spine #25

Special Features

  • Digital transfer
  • Essay by critic Andrew Sarris

    New cover by Terry Koppel

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • Digital transfer
  • Essay by critic Andrew Sarris

    New cover by Terry Koppel
Alphaville
Cast
Eddie Constantine
Lemmy Caution
Anna Karina
Natasha Vonbraun
Akim Tamiroff
Henry Dickson
Howard Vernon
Professor Vonbraun
Credits
Director
Jean-Luc Godard
Screenplay
Jean-Luc Godard
Producer
André Michelin
Cinematography
Raoul Coutard
Music
Paul Misraki
Editing
Agnès Guillemot

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Jean-Luc Godard

Writer, Director

Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard

A pioneer of the French new wave, Jean-Luc Godard has had an incalculable effect on modern cinema that refuses to wane. Before directing, Godard was an ethnology student and a critic for Cahiers du cinéma, and his approach to filmmaking reflects his interest in how cinematic form intertwines with social reality. His groundbreaking debut feature, Breathless—his first and last mainstream success—is, of course, essential Godard: its strategy of merging high (Mozart) and low (American crime thrillers) culture has been mimicked by generations of filmmakers. As the sixties progressed, Godard’s output became increasingly radical, both aesthetically (A Woman Is a Woman, Contempt, Band of Outsiders) and politically (Masculin féminin, Pierrot le fou), until by 1968 he had forsworn commercial cinema altogether, forming a leftist filmmaking collective (the Dziga Vertov Group) and making such films as Tout va bien. Today Godard remains our greatest lyricist on historical trauma, religion, and the legacy of cinema.