Bill Phillips
This was supposed to be Jean-Luc Godard's return to "mainstream film." Are you kidding? New wave had gone so far, this "return" to mainstream is still completely off the wall, incomprehensible, and totally obscene. Full of senseless and exaggerated graphic conversation, it tells more about Godard's twisted imagination than what was supposed to be a depiction of French sexual mores.If I thought all fathers talked about their pubescent daughters as is portrayed here, and all encounters with prostitutes were as mechanically detached as the "role playing" in this film, or that many gay men were as indiscriminate as he depicts, I would think that Godard had some useful social comment going, but I suspect this is all about "Godard" and nothing about "real life."
gavin6942
An examination of sexual relationships, in which three protagonists interact in different combinations.In addition to Godard's typical refusal to keep viewers oriented through expository dialogue and continuity editing, the film is experimental in its use of the technique that Godard called "decomposition," which he first employed for the 1979 French television mini-series "France/tour/detour/deux/enfants". In the technique, there is a periodic slowing down of the action to a frame by frame advancement. The "slow motion" segments are somewhat obnoxious and really detract from the enjoyment of the film.Film critic Vincent Canby, writing in The New York Times, described the film effusively as "stunning," "beautiful," and "brilliant". I don't feel as strongly.An interesting side note: the appearance of the nationality sticker on the back of a car. In the United States, these did not really become popular until the 1990s or later, and yet they seem to be found somewhat commonly in 1980s Europe.
FilmCriticLalitRao
The English title of this film "Sauve qui peut la vie" made by Jean Luc Godard is "Everyman for himself".This is exactly what happens in this film which is only for people having unusual cinematographic tastes.All the three main characters are in their own world without bothering about what the other persons are doing.There are a lot of similarities between the film maker Jean Luc Godard and the film director's role played nicely by French singer,actor Jacques Dutronc. It appears as if Godard had deliberately chosen Dutronc for that role keeping in mind their own erratic behavioral patterns.Nathalie Baye is acceptable in her role as the hapless girl friend of this eccentric director.The most challenging and in some sense controversial part has been played by Isabelle Huppert as an innocent prostitute who silently bears all the ill treatment meted to her by her clients.This is a good psychological film directed by Godard about the emotional stagnation of some characters who are unable to come out of their mental framework.
Hammy-4
Somewhere about thirty minutes into the movie it struck me how much Godard loves something about movie-making. That's a rare feeling -- to watch a movie and feel the director's love, passion, or fascination for/with the medium. There's a character named Godard in the movie. He's a director. At one point, he says, "The only reason I make movies is because I haven't the strength to do nothing at all." One thinks that the Real Godard would have us believe the words were coming from him. BUT seeing his frames, his cuts, the way he sets the light -- the inventiveness of all of it -- you just feel his joy in the enterprise.
AD
