The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2019: Alphaville (1965), directed by Jean-Luc Godard

The Trailer

and

The Appropriate Tune: "Computer Age", by Neil Young

       Of all the filmmakers that made up what film historians now call the French New Wave, it seems to me that none can quite top Jean-Luc Godard. Francois Truffaut had his successes, as well as a fantastic book on Alfred Hitchcock, but he also stank up the joint with his adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Louis Malle had a fruitful career as well, but I can’t say the work of his that I’ve covered (My Dinner with Andre and his segments in Spirits of the Dead) really blew me away. Godard, however, seems like the romantic of the group. Full of big ideas, big emotions, who unabashedly attacked film like a painter would attack a canvas. His films can be very polarizing, in fact I think the trope of weird arthouse cinema was in part inspired by him, but if one defines the purpose of cinema as a means of self-expression, of eliciting an emotional response from the audience, then Godard’s place in the annals of history is assured. If nothing else you’ve got to give him a smidge of respect for inspiring other famous directors like Martin Scorsese, and that smidge is just enough to buy him the penultimate place in this year’s Marathon. What a shock, eh? Did I leave you breathless?

       At 24.17 Oceanic Time, in perhaps another galaxy entirely Ivan Johnson, a reporter for the Figaro-Pravda newspaper in what is known as the Outer Countries, arrives in the city of Alphaville. Alphaville is a technological marvel, a society whose every aspect is managed by an enormous super-computer known as Alpha 60, the invention of the city’s chief figure, Professor Leonard Von Braun. Sounds pretty cool at first, until you learn a while back Alpha 60 obtained consciousness, and his views on humanity has transformed Alphaville into a mindless dystopian state, where the toughs at Civil Control routinely arrest and execute people for illogical thinking, every other lady seems to have been branded and brainwashed into soulless comfort women, and words like ‘love’ and ‘why’ are practically nonexistent. Poetry, music, art, theater, all relics of those inferior civilizations that aren’t ruled by a couple hundred pounds of psychopathic silicon. All things that Ivan Johnson enjoys, being from the Ouer Countries (New York to be specific). Except his name isn’t Ivan Johnson, newspaper reporter, it’s Lemmy Caution, secret agent. And his job isn’t to write an article on Alpha 60’s creator Leonard Von Braun, it’s to kill him.

       A science fiction film noir set in the future  whose principal theme deals with modern society’s over-reliance on machines to the detriment of its humanity. Throw in a megacorporation and Jean-Luc Godard would have preempted the cyberpunk genre by 2 decades. Not exactly of course, I don’t think the internet was even science fiction in 1965, but it’s fascinating to watch this and see the roots of films like Blade Runner. Particularly the first half of the film, dealing with Lemmy’s investigation and culture shock dealing with this weird ass society, and you’re subconsciously waiting for him to pull his gun out and gun down some Replicants. I love sci-fi and I love film noir, hardboiled detectives, femme fatales the works, so the more I can get that combo in me the happier I am.

       The second half isn’t as tight. Keeping in mind that certain nuances in the script are going to be lost in translation, although I’m sure the people at Kino Lorber do great work, there’s a certain point where things just stop making sense. Not in a ‘suspension of disbelief’ kind of way, I legit couldn’t understand what the fuck the characters were going on about. Conveniently enough this also where Godard starts getting ‘artsy’, like suddenly cutting into a dark room where Lemmy and Natacha (our love interest) pose around each other, or ‘hey these 5 seconds are going to be photo negative, enjoy!’ The exact kind of thing that you would expect get mocked if the name on the poster wasn’t Godard, and maybe still then. Things which I wouldn’t necessarily mind given the kinds of film that pass through here, but on a first impression comes across as pretentious. Why is a computer talking about becoming a tiger?

It’s also worth noting that there isn’t much of anything in the vein of special effects in this sci-fi movie. In fact if you had somehow stumbled upon it while channel surfing you wouldn’t be able to tell this is a science fiction movie at all until Alpha 60’s toad of a voice came up or someone mentioned the word galaxies. I think it works out fine, but if European science fiction tends to be about the ideas rather than the American position of the spectacle, then Alphaville might be the most European science fiction film ever made.

       I’m also not entirely sold on our main character, personally speaking. The stoic detective/investigator is a common trope in film noir, and I think that actor pulls that off well, but in the context of the film it seems a bit strange. After all, the entire point is that Alphaville is full of these robotic people and yet Lemmy doesn’t come across as any more emotional than any of the other characters. He’ll say things but he won’t express things. You could chalk that up to his nature as a secret agent, but it ends up having to force the issue somewhat at the end to give the larger cultural conflict between Alphaville and the Outer Countries some weight. 

       This is also another one of those movies that loves to use and reuse music stings, specifically a 2 second burst of swelling brass that will turn out to be a greater monster than Alpha 60. I don’t know if this would be a universal issue, but when I was watching it with headphones the horns were mixed so loud that I actually had to turn down the volume of the movie because it was physically painful. A tolerable experience if the context of the scene called for it, but of course if I’m writing about it. Godard apparently had an addiction because he constantly drops this cacophony in the film, even when it makes no sense to do so. Oh, you’ve got a 10 second scene of Lemmy showing pictures to passersby on the street. Better pretend this is a dramatic scene then! Just outright souring the viewing experience.

       Alphaville is a film that’s long been on the Marathon to-do list, and perhaps the expectations of what it could be ended up overshadowing what it actually is. It’s a fascinating film for the time though, a spiritual ancestor for properties like Blade Runner and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and I think overall Godard managed to push some interesting ideas while still making an accessible movie. Which wasn’t always the case with his films, from what I’ve heard. It gets the recommendation, as well as the award for Easiest Halloween Costume. Forgo logic and pig out on candy and popcorn this Halloween instead.