Pierrot le Fou

This is one of those utterly satisfying film experiences that seem to exploit every possibility of the cinematic medium

The French New Wave drew much inspiration from American crime stories, and Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film PIERROT LE FOU has a plot that is essentially simple: Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo), five years into a marriage that leaves him unsatisfied, meets his children's babysitter and discovers that she's an old flame of his, Marianne (Anna-Karina). They both want to run away, and as it turns out that Marianne already has some experience in the criminal underworld, the pair steal some cash and head towards the south of France. On their way to what they hope is a better life, they leave a trail of more crimes in their wake. H...

Remember the old days of vinyl when you'd put the stylus on, and it would just slide across the disc? Well, despite the number of times I have watched this film, it does the same as that stylus. I just don't really get it. It centres around the slightly Bonnie and Clyde existence of the married and recently unemployed television executive "Ferdinand" (Jean Paul Belmondo) and his flighty ex-babysitter "Marianne" (Anna Karina) as they travel across France trying to make a Bohemian sort of living whilst she avoids some Algerian gangsters from whom she has worked smuggling guns. Now we know from the start that these two have a bit of history - she continuously calls him "Pierrot" - much to his chagrin, but different as they are, and rather desp...