12/05/2002 Entry:
"My Life To Live - Jean-Luc Godard (1962)"

I actually got this on accident from netflix. It had drifted up my queue, and got shipped before I had a chance to rearrange things when I sent something back. Ironically, it is this film which has finally made me sit up and take notice of Godard.

I liked this movie a lot, it is easily the best of the Godards I have seen. Ana Karina is dazzling as Ana, who falls into prostitution and loses everything just as it seems she might get out. However it is the camera of Godard and his cinematographer Raoul Coutard which is the real star of this film.

Through out the film, the camera is used to express Ana's moods, thoughts and feelings in some truly innovative ways. For instance, men are often shown from the rear, or with their faces cropped off frame. Ana sees them as faceless things for her to use, unrelated to herself. The only man whose face is always shown is the young man she meets in the pool hall and who she later falls in love with. There is a scene where Ana is walking down the street lost in thought, and she meets an old friend who she at first doesn't seem to recognize, and who she then joins up with to go for a drink. In this scene the camera starts out following Ana down the street, then when Ana stops it actually keeps going for a second, before stopping with only the back of Ana's head in frame. It stays there before gradually beginning to drift back towards the front as they begin talking and head out to the restaurant. This was really great, it is as if the camera is representing Ana's though processes. When she is stopped she is jarred out of her train of thought and a little lost as she tries to recognize Yvonne, and that is when the camera actually passes her and stops with her mostly out of frame. As her mind comes back and she begins talking and walking with Yvonne, the camera slowly moves around them before coming to face them as Ana becomes fully engaged. In yet another scene in this cafe, Yvonne introduces Ana to her pimp Raoul. The camera is placed behind Raoul, with Ana being seen either over his left or right shoulder. Except when she is asked a particularly pointed question, then Ana's face is hidden behind his head. That great stuttering camera is used when the machine gun fire erupts outside, what a great effect. So simple yet conveying everything about what that noise does to your head.

Godard also uses a lot of long tracking shots. The introductory shot of Ana and Paul reflected in the mirror is one, as is the cafe sequence with Raoul above. Of course there is the dance sequence, as Ana dances around the pool room free as she might be. Such a splendid scene, Godard's camera combined with Ana's apparent joy really make it come to life. The only part of this film which really didn't make it for me is the ending, which just sort of seemed to come out of nowhere. I mean, it fit its purpose well. She is told the story about how the first time a man stopped to think, he died. Then she stops to think about her life after falling in love with the young man, goes to quit the business, and it costs her. She also realizes just who controlled all this time, despite what she might have told herself. Still, it seems like it could have been done in a more integral way without a random gunfight in which the two hoods basically settle their business by whacking her. It didn't make any sense to me. Still, this movie was quite a revelation for me, and it makes me want to revisit Breathless (which I didn't much care for at the time) as well as the rest of Godard's films from this era. Contempt DVD from Netflix here I come!

Replies: 5 comments

Bad things happen to girls who play pinball. It's too bad you haven't seen Band of Outsiders yet. I think you'll like it even more than MTTL. The dance sequence in BoO surpasses the dancing in MTTL. The Criterion edition of Band of Outsiders comes out next month so queue it up. Posted by skeeter meter @ 12/06/2002 01:19 AM CST

Oh man, I can't believe I forgot to mention the pinball. I believe that game was called Sea Breeze, and it has an interesting history of its own which you can view here. I could be wrong on that one, but I don't think its out of control to think that a game made in Montreal was exported to France. Band Of Outsiders is definitely on my list, I was upset to miss it when the reissue came through at Music Box last year. Posted by gdd @ 12/06/2002 06:31 AM CST

Oh by the way, when you click that link, the Sea Breeze you are interested in is the second one. Posted by gdd @ 12/06/2002 06:31 AM CST

OK, so upon further investigation I have positively and conclusively identified that game as the 1956 Gottlieb Sea Belles, as described in the second listing at this link. Cineblog.org regrets the error. Also skeeter, what did you think of Written On The Wind? Posted by gdd @ 12/06/2002 07:08 AM CST

Written On The Wind contains possibly the most bored looking pinball player in the cinematic world. Posted by skeeter meter @ 12/06/2002 11:09 AM CST