Monday 20 July 2009

Pierrot Le Fou (Crazy Pete) [1965]


Contemporary Bengali humorist, satirist, songwriter and cinephile Chandril Bhattacharya composed a tribute song on Jean-Luc Godard a few years back, and Pierrot Le Fou, along with its lead actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina featured prominently in it – such is the movie’s popularity among Godard aficionados. It is a loose (and perhaps a deliberate) companion piece to his groundbreaking first feature Breathless. However, though it still was a pastiche to American B-movies and film noirs, and the basic plot may be quickly encapsulated with the phrase ‘love on the run’, in place of the lighthearted and freewheeling dynamism of Breathless and even his Band a Part, the structure here was far more complex and cerebral. Filled with references that range from literary to pop culture to political, this was less about its plot (hell, Godard didn’t even have a script to start with while filming this movie), and more about the French iconoclast’s opinionated musings. And the chemistry that Belmondo shared with Karina might not be as crackling as the one with Jean Seberg, but was no less irreverent and breezy. Interestingly, the movie has two lovely impromptu songs and a memorable cameo by iconic American director Samuel Fuller.

Note: My recent review of this film can be found here.







Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Genre: Romantic Drama/Road Movie/Avant-Garde/Experimental
Language: French
Country: France

4 comments:

Adrenaline and all that Jazzz said...

chandril from chandrobindu ? name the song!

Shubhajit said...

Yeah, thats him!!!

The song goes like this (hopefully verbatim),
"Genius Godard had no script,
tobu his filim superhit,
a jump cut here & a jump cut there,
a Belmondo here & an apogando there.

Genius Godard'r mathay chhit.

Tobu Godard hote pari na,
Nei je Anna Karina,
...".

The song plays during the opening credits of his directorial debut Y2K. Its a brilliant song - apparently subversive, but in essence a glowing tribute.

Soham Talukdar said...

ya heard that song. your blog is really fascinating. good work done dude.recently i saw eternal sunshine of the spotless mind,reading the review from your blog and its been a savouring experience.

Shubhajit said...

Thanks man, thanks a lot. Do keep visiting!