MUBI

Set in the future in a far-off planet, Alphaville was something of a departure for Jean-Luc Godard. But he always loved the seedy underworld where film noir was born (fair enough, the French coined the term), so he took the pulp fedora-wearing detective Lemmy Caution (already adopted by actor Eddie Constantine) and brought him to a new adventure in a remote world known as Alphaville, a fascist city in which emotions are outlawed. His mission is to locate the creator of a super-intelligent computer known as Alpha 60 and destroy it along with its creator.
There were no sets built for Alphaville and virtually no special-effects can be seen in the film, but this cannot fully account for how Earth-like the scenery looks. Were in not for Caution stating the time and place during his voice-over narration, we would have no immediate indication that we are in an alien world instead of any city depressed by crime and corruption. At most, it seems like an alternate universe. Later, gadgets and gizmos will serve as markers of the time, but take away such gimmicks and Alphaville plays like a traditional noir in many ways. Why Godard chose to set it in outer space is inexplicable, and feels arbitrary.
Perhaps, however, it explains the origin of Lemmy Caution, a stranger in this strange land who claims to be from New York. Currently, however, he claims residence in a place known as the Outlands. The dictatorial control that Alpha 60 has on the residents of Alphaville is as shocking to him as it is to us.
Although not altogether a great choice for a departure point, there are some interesting technicalities in Alphaville indicating that Godard was on to something. Amongst traditionally shadowy shots, Godard breaks one of the cardinal rules of the genre by filming with an abundance of light, giving Alphaville an appropriately barren effect. Terry Gilliam was clearly influenced by the look of the film and much of the infrastructure seen in Alphaville bears a striking resemblance to Shangri-La of Brazil, especially the flashing neon signs.
While undoubtedly the work of a filmmaker enamored with Philip Marlowe, Alphaville is equally hooked on sci-fi. There is a crime, but it is not the pollution of a water reserve. Rather, it is the corruption of technology and the film develops its theme referencing both history and literature. It is implied that this is a post-apocalyptic time period thanks to a mention of Los Alamos. Additionally, there are plenty of decidedly Cold War touches. There are pictures of astronauts, emphasis is placed on speaking Russian, and E=MC2 is flashed into the head of citizens, reminding them of the event that led to a place like Alphaville.
A direct reference to 1984 is the government’s ability to earn the trust of citizens by manipulating mathematics. Alphaville sees this as no different than the corruption of religion. Brain-washed people will believe anything, no matter how illogical, as long as someone they have come to trust blindly tells them to.
There are also shades of Brave New World when Caution learns that people are executed in Alphaville for behaving “illogically”, such as one man who is shot dead for weeping when his wife died. Words that express emotion (such as “conscience”) are removed from dictionaries, which are referred to as bibles. Why are attachment and love so feared in this world? Could it be that love toward another detracts from the reverence the citizens will have for Alpha 60?
By the end of the movie Lemmy Caution will understand the extent of Alpha 60 and its deadly control. It becomes probable to us that the Outlands is Earth or, at least, a parallel world and that Alphaville is a penal colony built in a remote planet by a fascist movement as a place to exile those convicted of individuality.
There are at least two sequences in Alphaville that showcase Godard at his best. Particularly well filmed is an assault on Caution in an elevator by two government minions (clearly, Godard shot the film in the most modern looking buildings of Paris). Best of all is Caution’s interview as a new arrival in Alphaville with the ominous disembodied voice of Alpha 60. It’s a spooky sequence, effectively demonstrating how devoid of humanity Alphaville is.
Alphaville isn’t exactly a success. Godard coasts from burying the message to beating us over the head with it. Nevertheless, his experiment is worthy of applause. Assorted mediums had fusing noir with science fiction for at least a decade, but Alphaville seems to have been the driving force in paving the way for A Clockwork Orange, 2001, and, of course, Chinatown.

Like Pierrot Le Fou, director Jean-Luc Godard’s other 1965 masterpiece, Alphaville is a film that transcends genre and definition. Is it science fiction? Noir? Mystery? Romance? Dystopian? A metaphor? A parody? The answer to all of these is quite simply “yes”. Here he presents something highly different from his other work I’ve seen, as he brings us into this dystopian society through the eyes of Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) a secret agent assigned to liquidate Professor Vonbraun, the apparent leader of Alphaville. This ominous city is controlled by Alpha 60, a super computer who functions life in Alphaville through calculations and looking at everything mathematically, ignoring the possibility of the unexplainable and the emotions of the heart. The citizens are forced to do the same and either succumb to the monotonous routine of Alphaville, commit suicide or are executed publically in a swimming pool.

Godard’s depiction of the society is clearly reminiscent of those created by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley; we see empty shells of emotionless beings who don’t understand the ideas Lemmy brings from the “Outlands” a world of free-thinking where the heart is just as important as the mind. As Lemmy spends more and more time in Alphaville we start to notice even deeper displays of its citizen’s loss of humanity; everyone speaks politely, asks the same questions and responds the same way, women are nothing more than sex objects and no one can nod their head “yes”, they can only shake it “no”. Lemmy navigates this strange world as he attempts to get into contact with Vonbraun and carry out his mission. Eventually he meets Vonbraun’s daughter, the beautiful Natasha (Anna Karina) and attempts to use her to get to her father. Through their interactions we find that Natasha has a desire to be more than just another hopeless citizen of Alphaville and through her we learn more about these people and life in general in this heartless city.

Eventually Lemmy gets into the center of Alpha 60, a corporate building, and is interrogated by the computer itself, standard procedure for any new members of Alphaville. This gives the audience some of the most fascinating and serious moments of the film, as Lemmy and Alpha 60 converse and we see the contrast between a human who thinks with his heart and mind and a computer who reduces everything to calculations and when it can’t handle something complex, it removes it entirely from the society. This contributes to an underlying metaphor that Godard presents throughout the film. Godard, who is notorious for being a free-thinking and highly original filmmaker, is represented by Lemmy, the open-minded outsider in a world where shells keep recycling the same garbage over and over again. It’s a great metaphor for Godard (and other unique filmmakers of the time) transcending the standard films that are released every week and do absolutely nothing new and it’s a metaphor that stands up even moreso today, as this recycled garbage is becoming more and more frequent.

Naturally, when it comes to Godard, things aren’t just as simple as a symbolic, dystopian sci-fi noir. Lemmy Caution is a character who initially comes off as your standard action protagonist, his answer to James Bond. He is a vessel for many things and Godard, being the comedian that he is, also has fun playing around with the theme of parodying some of the absurd contrivances that come with Bond-esque films. The women as nothing beyond sex objects aspect can also be seen as part of this parody, as they are so empty that Lemmy can manipulate them just as easily as Alpha 60 has and there are naked women galore, waiting for men to come along and be seduced by them. Perhaps the most hilarious example of this parody is a scene where Lemmy escapes custody, walks casually down a hallway and runs across the entire city, shooting everyone he comes in contact with, without a single shred of danger or injury coming his own way. It’s just like Godard to imbed something so witty and tongue-in-cheek in the midst of such a poignant, intelligent picture.

Even through all of this, there is still time for a wonderful romance between Lemmy and Natasha. Anna Karina is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the screen and Godard made the perfect choice of using her for this love interest, falling more and more in love with Lemmy as he helps her discover who she truly is and the joy that comes with being in love. Her performance is thoroughly convincing as she matures from this empty seductress into a fully realized woman. Natasha goes through a virtual rebirth throughout the film, emerging out of the vessel that her father turned her into and becoming an intelligent, charming and curious young woman. The final scene is immensely satisfying and heartwarming as their love blooms and she starts to make sense of the feelings that are burning inside of her. As Lemmy finishes his confrontation with Alphaville, she breaks out of the spell it put on her. A beautiful, poetic moment in a highly fascinating, unique and explosive film.