Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André S. Labarthe

This film explores a Parisian woman's descent into prostitution. The movie is comprised of a series of 12 "tableaux"-- scenes which are basically unconnected episodes, each presented with a worded int...( read more  read more... )roduction.

Flixster Users

93% liked it

5,628 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

21 critics

Unrated, 85 min.

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard

Release Date: September 20, 1962

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DVD Release Date: August 11, 1998

Stats: 333 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (333)


  • August 22, 2007
    Good...it's a little out there...but then again what do you expect from a Godard movie?

    Kudos to the machine gun jump cuts and the rockin song they play on the juke box...anyone know what it is?
  • November 2, 2006
    I watched about 6 Godard movies in a week's time a few years ago, so they kind of blur. However I remember liking this one...
  • November 27, 2009
    I love Godard's technique. It's a bit obscure, but you can sense the earnestness in his works. Anna Karina is my favorite actress.
  • November 24, 2009
    Io ho un po' di problemi col cinema francese, ma questa è un'opera d'arte, Anna Karina è un'opera d'arte.
  • October 29, 2009
    Un Godard dont on n'entend moins parler, mais qui vient pourtant de se hisser dans mon top 3 personnel du cinéaste. C'est plutôt simple, mais c'est très convaincant, même avec le détachement apparent des comédiens et leur jeu parfois assez distant. Anna Karina est sublime, dans s...( read more)on interprétation comme dans son apparence. Et ces conversations où l'on ne voit que des dos et des derrières de tête, ça fait sourire. Un film somme toute assez déprimant, mais d'une bonne façon.
  • July 25, 2009
    Glad to see it wasn't a typical hollywood portrayal of prostitution. Anna Karina is certainly gorgeous and the cinematography shows it, but this movie is lacking something major.
  • July 16, 2009
    Nana, personagem interpretada por Anna Karina, tem algo de especial, que chama a atenção. O seu modo existencialista de ver a vida, talvez. E, como sempre, encontramos capturada na tela o belho olhar da atriz.
    Mas, em se tratando de Godard, prefiro Alphaville.
  • July 15, 2009
    My fav. Godard movie. Anna Karina is amazing here, and Godard experiences with movie making really work in Vivre sa vie.
  • May 30, 2009
    I've had a copy of this for so long, but never got to it.
  • April 14, 2009
    A film shot as a series of twelve tableaux, twelve scenes from a life, "Vivre Sa Vie" opens with a Magritte-like take on the back of Anna Karina's head. It's at once magnetic and depersonalising as we observe two people sitting side-by-side in a Parisian café, not communicating. ...( read more)This is the dissolution of a relationship, the passion stirred into the past like cream into coffee. This is also the dissolution of a person, of a character, into a series of structured images.

    We move to the record shop where Nana (Anna Karina) works. We see her arguing with the concierge, losing her home. She is interviewed by the police. She walks the streets, embracing her first client in functional, emotionless commerce. She seeks life, she seeks love, she seeks escape, but all the while her world is being shaped by the men in her life. All the while her options are closing down, all the while she is destined to reach the end of the film. She has to take responsibility for her own decisions and actions, yet she is merely an actress at the whim of those who would script and dress and direct her life, her images and self-images contrived and devoid of intrinsic personality.

    The film juxtaposes these twelve blocks of Nana's life - we understand a person by following a narrative. Change the order of the narrative and we change our understanding of the individual. Godard deliberately fragments Nana's life, presenting her as an unreality: he breaks away from an artistic tradition of inviting the viewer to suspend disbelief and enter into the story, become absorbed by it. Here, he consciously reminds us that we are watching a piece of cinema, that we are viewing a construction, something unreal, yet something which relies on the naturalistic imagery of the Paris in which it is filmed.

    Godard, here, is capturing images on film. Nana is compared, visually, to the actress Louise Brooks, to Jeanne d'Arc, to other images which appear upon the screen. He consciously sets out to capture poses and postures, to expose the way film represents people ... and how people remodel themselves after images from film. Godard was fascinated by Karina's image (the pair were married at the time), so "Vivre Sa Vie" has a reflexive quality, with the filmmaker making the character's life come alive.

    Godard constantly makes references outside the film - it begins with a quote from Montaigne, it contains stage-managed images of posters, paintings, photos, readings from books, music, etc. It takes on a documentary quality, a stylised reflection of real Parisian life. It becomes a moving image to hang on the wall of a cinema (or TV), to be absorbed by and referenced, even revered, by its observers. The nature of modern life has become so visually intensive that it is impossible to separate reality from image. Godard lures the viewer into recognition of this enigma.

    Anna Karina is extraordinarily beautiful and utterly captivating, yet plays the role in almost frumpish fashion. She is entirely self-centred and self-contained, barely noticing the life around her, seemingly unaware that she could snap her fingers and have men running after her. The fragmentation and disjunction of her character and of the role of film goes right to the heart of her life. She lives her life.

    An extraordinary movie which may well change the way you experience film, this is an exceptionally rewarding film despite its bleak themes and tone.

Critic Reviews


November 13, 2008
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Godard frames and edits his shots, moves the camera, uses music, and deploys his actors in ways that still seem radical -- even as several generations of directors since have cribbed and stolen from him. full review

April 11, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This is a great movie, and I am not surprised to find Susan Sontag describing it as 'one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and original works of art that I know of.' full review

View more My Life to Live (It's My Life) (Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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