A striking black-and-white hybrid of film noir and science fiction, "Alphaville" (1965) is now one of the most enduringly popular of Jean-Luc Godard 's films of the 1960s. Working without sets, special effects, or even a script, Godard created a dystopian vision of a technocratic city of the future, which resonates with filmmakers today. "Alphaville" pits secret agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) against Alpha 60, the super-computer that presides over a city where weeping is outlawed, poetry goes unrecognised and the words 'conscience' and 'love' have ceased to exist. Lemmy's mission is to capture the renegade scientist Professor von Braun (Howard Vernon) but is complicated when he falls in love with the Professor's ravishing daughter, Natasha (Anna Karina). In this first ever exploration of Godard's masterpiece, published on the fortieth anniversary of its release, Chris Darke uncovers the film's unique combination of genres and styles and draws on new interviews with the director's collaborators to chronicle the film's production. Analysing "Alphaville" in its historical context, he also examines how the film in fluenced Godard's later work, as well as exploring Alphaville's 'afterlife' in the work of other filmmakers and artists.
--This text refers to the
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'Darke's book is as timely as it is superlatively written and researched... as entertaining and pleasurable to read as it is incisive.' -Time Out 'Darke brilliantly shows how this is much more than science-fiction fantasy.'- Financial Times 'Illuminating... Darke's absorbing meditations never fail to engross. It is a style born of the poetry of Orpheus, not the logic of Alpha 60... a downright pleasure to read.'- Film InternationalFILM INTERNATIONALDarke's musings on Alphaville prove both enlightening and a downright pleasure to read.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
About the Author
Chris Darke is a film critic, writing for 'The Independent', 'Cahiers du Cinema', 'Sight and Sound' and others. He is the author of 'Light Readings' (2000).
--This text refers to the
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Seven and a half miles from the heart of São Paulo there is a gated community that houses 30,000 of the city's richest and most security-conscious residents, many of whom travel by helicopter to work among the 17 million other inhabitants of the world's third largest city. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Seven and a half miles from the heart of São Paulo there is a gated community that houses 30,000 of the city's richest and most security-conscious residents, many of whom travel by helicopter to work among the 17 million other inhabitants of the world's third largest city. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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It answered some questions...
23 May 2010
By Michael Valdivielso
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mr. Drake points out that the film is influenced by many sources, from the book 1984 to the real events in history, such as the Holocaust, but also other films. The numbers on the back of the women's neck, for example, seem to come from the Holocaust. And the ex-spy batting at the light bulb seems to come from a movie by Orson Welles, The Trial. But many questions still pester me. If the numbers show the people losing their individual identity, why do we only see them on the women? And why was a woman on the table in the senior engineer's office? And what about the nude woman in the glass box? Is sexism alive and well in a society run by computers? Is sexism logical? Or does it represent how logic can limit our freedoms? Is that why more men were shot than women? Were they more emotional and more likely to be punished in a society in which emotions were illogical and against the rules? OR is this a warning about the future of France? Or was it a warning about what France had already become? Isolated from the world, destroying its culture, its language, its freedoms?
I still have so many questions and while the book is good, for I learned a lot about French films in general, it didn't really answer my questions about THIS film. Focus, people, focus!
I still have so many questions and while the book is good, for I learned a lot about French films in general, it didn't really answer my questions about THIS film. Focus, people, focus!
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