Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot Goes Wild) (Crazy Pete)

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Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot Goes Wild) (Crazy Pete)

89% Liked It
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Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot Goes W...

Anna Karina, Dirk Sanders, Graziella Galvani, Jean-Paul Belmondo

Director Jean-Luc Godard's popular 1965 drama captures '60s French cool as only Godard could depict it. After attending a mindless party full of shallow chatter, Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) suddenl...( read more  read more... )y feels a desperate need to escape and runs away with his baby-sitter, Marianna (Anna Karina). But Marianna's dark past still haunts her, and what follows is a roller-coaster ride filled with passion and desperation as the two lovers meet their fate.

Id: 5846195

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Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot Goes Wild) (Crazy Pete) Recent Reviews
  • her69eyes
    March 20, 2009
    her69eyes
    Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a man unhappy with his marriage and bourgeois lifestyle, however his wealthy wife (Graziella Galvani) seems perfectly content to live a life surrounded by such shallow nonsense. Frustrated, he soon runs away with the babysitter of his two childre...( read more)n, an ex-girlfriend named Marianne (Anna Karina). Marianne has apparently killed someone as there is an unmentioned body laying on a bed in her flat. She's also involved in some way with gun-runners and her criminal brother (Dirk Sanders). The film is an extraordinarily odd gangster story that doesn't do a whole lot of explaining. That, of course, is absolutely not a bad thing - but it certainly makes for a disorienting and hard-to-follow first viewing.

    The couple makes money robbing from gas stations, influenced by Laurel and Hardy, and throughout the film it's not uncommon to see the characters talk directly to the camera or even break out into song. If there's anything to praise "Pierrot le fou" for, it's the complete neglectance of film convention, which is obviously how Godard made his name. I've seen the film praised as a bit of a "Best of Godard" compilation, and it certainly does come off as a caricature portrait of what you'd expect from the director.

    The best moments of the film take place on a beautiful beach - scenes that seem to come out of another movie entirely. Here, much like the bedroom scene in "Breathless", is where the characters get to breath. Not only was it beautifully shot, but there was such an unrestrained whimsical quality that, to compare it with a modern film, reminded me of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (settle down, Godard fans... i'm not suggesting Gondry is on his level).

    The title of the film comes from the name Marianne calls Ferdinand, "Pierrot". The reference was lost on me, but after reading a bit it's my understanding that Pierrot is the name of an archetypal "clown" from Italian stage comedy. Ferdinand objects to this name and tirelessly demands that she call him by his real name.

    Unfortunately, I wanted to like "Pierrot le fou" more than I did. It certainly felt like children at play and therefore had a dreamlike quality that felt entirely free, however I could not invest in the frequent shifts in tone. As I mentioned, I loved most of the material in the middle - but I did not care much at all for the romantic "partners in crime" tale. It didn't fit for me, and the last act caught me very much off guard. I've heard that Godard is an acquired taste, so perhaps i'll appreciate this more somewhere down the line, but I was a bit disappointed after my first viewing.

    The Criterion Collection release of "Pierrot le fou" is available on NetFlix Instant View.
  • littlecharmer1959
    June 19, 2009
    littlecharmer1959
    "It is not really a film, it's an attempt at cinema. Life is the subject, with [Cinema]Scope and color as its attributes...In short, life filling the screen as a tap fills bathtub that is simultaneously emptying at the same rate." - Jean Luc Godard

    "The film is like a battlegr...( read more)ound. Love, Hate, Action, Violence, and Death. In one word, Emotion." - Samuel Fuller
  • TobiasXimenez
    April 18, 2009
    TobiasXimenez
    I had been waiting years to finally see this on dvd and not on some crumby full-frame vhs transfer. Thank you criterion!

    This has got to be one of the most entertaining pictures of Jean Luc Godard's career. The more films I see by the enfant terrible of le Nouvelle Vague, the...( read more) more mind bogglingly apparent it becomes to me how influential the man has been on international cinema as a whole. So many modern directors borrow or just flat out rip off his diverse styles and techniques. In many examples of contemporary independent film, his cinematic innovations have even become tired cliches.

    Great film all around. Was well worth the long wait.
  • smootysveen
    February 25, 2009
    smootysveen
    A lot of the same Godard themes from other movies, but still so many charming little moments. "I'm glad I don't like spinach, because if I did, then I would eat it. And I can't stand the stuff."
  • codyfranklin2
    February 17, 2009
    codyfranklin2
    The 2 stars are for the look of the film. It is gorgeous with vibrant colors and cool Belmondo and beautiful Karina running around in the south of France. The film is nothing but a experiment mixing Noir with Surrealism. This film is all over the place and it's just not my cup ...( read more)of tea. At times it works, but after awhile you just don't care. I read that Godard didn't have a shooting script and let the actors improvise. This may not be true, but it sure feels that way and that is no way to make a film. I had to read what the film was about after I saw it. I did pick up on some things,but if you watch this dry you will not follow the story and frankly not care. It did look great, but I doubt I will ever watch it again.
  • daghka
    December 22, 2009
    daghka
    A unique heist film for this one has little of the political dimensions associated with this era of Godard, but retains the heavy dosage of literary references. A heist film in essence, with some rad cars and sweet action, this is really one hell of a film, especially in blu-ray....( read more) I was astounded by y its differences, as it seems very concerned in vivid detail on the travails on the lead Bonnie & Clyde-like characters.
  • rayld02
    December 5, 2009
    rayld02
    Few good elements of this JLG film: a love story, nonlinearity, Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, poetry, philosophy, unending idealisms, a comedy, and a tragedy all in one. Pierrot Le Fou (Pierrot Goes Wild) is a 1965 film released the same year as Alphaville and directed by Jean...( read more) Luc Godard. It is based on the novel "Obsession" by Lionel White.

    Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo), decided to leave his wife and children after leaving his work. He lived with his past girlfriend Marianne Renoir (Anna Karina) in a life that may be described as a bit adventurous and fun. They wandered around town with a car stealing goods from people. They were like any of those typical outlaw lovers from other films, chased by syndicates and gangsters. But what made them different is that they are people of great ambition and they get what they want. While other couples in other films hold guns in their hands, Ferdinand and Marianne have books and long-playing disk with them.

    They were fanatic of many things, especially literature and music and cinema.

    They lived the life that they always wanted, simple yet fulfilling. They had no home settling at the riverside and spending their time reading and philosophizing.

    It's a basket full of American and French pop culture. As Godard has always been a fan of American films. He tried pushing towards the epithet of his favorite contemporaries but he did it in his own usual ways. Poetry has always been a signature of most of JLG's movies. Every time a character delivers a line or a narrator cites the incidents, it will always have depth and a thorough understanding must be needed. There are times that you would be losing track of the story (since it has nonlinear storyline) but in the end, you will realize them all. Characters are just typical everyday French people you will see around the country, but the way they speak and their gestures are always overly exaggerated yet fun to watch and understand.

    It is art in films (always) for Jean-Luc Godard. He made use of his techniques extraordinarily in this film. He always never fails to excite me as an audience. I'm a critic and a fan of his works. Jean-Paul Belmondo has always that tough guy appeal, I remember him from his role in "Breathless" as a playboy and a fan of American Actor Humphrey Bogart. Anna Karina, my favorite actress is such fun to watch. Saw her as a school girl in "Band of Outsiders", a prostitute in "My Life to Live", a robot-controlled woman in "Alphaville", and now a wanderer in "Pierrot Le Fou".

    This is the first colored movie of Godard I saw. And I was surprised that it turned out good. It is very advanced in a lot of ways actually. There were plays within this movie that are very amusing. Like the poor Vietnamese girl being threatened by an American officer. Godard had that sympathy for the Vietnam War. He put his rebellious thoughts in films like in this one. The music is creepy in some parts. Very revolutionary film.
  • malefius
    November 29, 2009
    malefius
    A pesar de que me pareció una película bastante hueca en cuanto a trama y con una historia que para estos días ha sido demasiado contada, me pareció como leer una revista, llena de secciones diferentes y coloridas. Finalmente lo interesante de esta película no es lo que cuenta si...( read more)no el cómo y todas las artimañas que usa para romper con las normas (uno de los requisitos o ideales de la corriente a la que el director pertenecía) de modo que de pronto estamos viendo un musical, de pronto una novela policiaca donde sus criminales protagonistas nos recitan poemas en off y así hasta llegar a la cara pintada de azul de Pierrot como cúspide del buen
    uso del color en esta peli.
  • kellylouise2
    November 25, 2009
    kellylouise2
    Godard = God. This has to be the best film I have seen to this instant. It has everything. It is the only film which truly captures all aspects of life, and does it through visual beauty, poetry and emotion. Ironically, the film which is so full of brilliant words, has overwhelme...( read more)d to such an extent that it has left me speechless. The only words which remain: "Life may be sad, but it is always beautiful."
  • ElCochran90
    September 18, 2009
    ElCochran90
    Very refined and stylish story brought as excellently as one Godard fan would expect, with Belmondo and Karina as great as always. Very fine film.

    86/100
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