One of Jean-Luc Godard’s better films, mainly because it shows a mastery of cinematic language rather than pretentiously flaunting it. It’s still not a great film – it’s slow-paced and meandering (as French New Wave films tend to be) and still pretty pretentious at times (as Godard tends to be) with some cheesy voice-over narration, and it’s pretty weak as a crime drama and only marginally successful as a character piece. But there are some strong naturalistic performances and a few compelling moments. Great score by Michel Legrand.