Verfremdungseffekt in Cinema

Brecht’s widely influential Verfremdungseffekt or alienation effect is a theory where the artist aims to distance himself from the audience and vice versa and prevent attachment to the work so as to allow the audience to more carefully contemplate what the work is trying to express and the sociopolitical implications of it. This theory has been widely influential amongst various filmmakers.

Let’s use Jean-Luc Godard as an example.

This can be achieved by ignoring the fourth wall (the interviews and cuts in La Chinoise, Karina and Belmondo acknowledging the camera in Pierrot le fou), highlighting the fictional...