Cinema Gadfly

11. Alphaville

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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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    Cinema GadflyBy Arik Devens
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