Alphaville
Yeah, so I keep pushing things away from me when I find them difficult to do. Blogging “Alphaville” is probably the most difficult thing to do, especially since I think that it deserves more than just a few superficial comments. Now, Godard movies are mostly superficial in a very positive sense. Without going all too deep (and even Alphaville does not if you ask me), I find them extremely remarkable for their style. If there is one “style” of movie that I would have to call my favorite, then it definitely is the french Nouvelle Vague. I want Jean Seberg’s hairstyle, I want their 60s clothing, I want their enthusiasm for arthouse movies and ménages à trois. In many respects, “Alphaville” feels the same to me, and I guess I am not doing justice to Godard by thinking so. Simply put, I was unable to understand the movie.
Of course, everything somehow makes sense: It’s a dystopian world in which feelings are forbidden, the main character is a film-noir-trenchcoat-type Hollywood private detective parody, and Anna Karina is the key figure of the story. Even then, I would have expected much more; instead, it was showing an absurd storyline that – to me – makes no sense (wasn’t it actually supposed to be a very logical world?) Perhaps I am just used to dystopian fiction to be very, very clear and fluid – which this movie absolutely was not.
Stilistically, this is perhaps my personal favorite after “À bout de souffle”. The display of “E = mc2” was beautifully random and this screenshot makes me want a a coat like hers so incredibly much. Just like the linked posting says, I fully agree with the immense stylishness of her coat blended into these spiral stairs.
From the point of humour, I think Alphaville had quite a lot. The depiction of women as mere ‘service toys’ made me grin every time, and shooting through the tits of a double page in a porn magazine is quite an amusing rendition of Wilhelm Tell. These were all details that I have thoroughly enjoyed while watching the movie – and there only can be details, because I truly feel like I have not gotten the big picture. There should be more to it than “Private detective falls in love, destroys super computer with the power of love and poetry, and runs away with the woman”.
Years ago, I remember somebody saying that Godard’s movies were all artistical wanking except for “À bout de souffle” and “Le mépris”. This person did not tell me how high Godard’s level of art is. Did you ever know that Godard can be separated into “God” and the ARD? After watching the movie, I could not sleep and randomly thought of that. XD
In a review a while back, one of the professors on the review likened a project to the “Occupe, Occupe, Occupe” scene from Alphaville — an endless hallway. I loved that scene so much, but the professor was advocating that the building should /become/ that endless hallway, and I was shocked. That scene was portraying a space that was not very pleasant at all, but alas, what can you do with architects?
Huh, what? XD To be honest I don’t really see the point for an endless hallway. I found the “Occupé” concept pretty interesting. My interpretation of it would be that in the building, everybody is allowed to go into an empty room and do things there, so that nobody has their own office (which would be personalized, which is bad). Then again, this is probably impossible to do – I wonder.
Anyways, if you really want to speak about architecture, I actually think that the spiral staircases are the best! I wonder where the heck you can find them in Paris. XD
The most famous spiral staircases in Paris were originally on the Tour Eiffel itself; however, they are now sadly closed. There is another old French movie with a rather amazing chase scene going down (or up) them, but I can’t remember what it is.
They are closed, really? I remember seeing a few people using the stairs to go onto the Eiffel Tower (but they also said that you are not allowed to go to the very top). It’s even much cheaper to use the stairs. Perhaps we should add this to our more things to do in Paris list. We also have never been to the Opéra Garnier, incredible.
Another old french movie… I have no idea either. But! I think the best staircase is the one in the musée Gustave Moreau. XD