Alphaville (1965)

Alphaville (Alphaville, une etrange aventure de Lemmy Caution)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Written by Jean-Luc Godard
1965/France/Italy
Andre Michelin Productions/Filmstudio/Chaumiane
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Alpha 60: Once we know the number one, we believe that we know the number two, because one plus one equals two. We forget that first we must know the meaning of plus.[/box]

Second viewing confirmed my opinion that Godard is just too full of himself for me.

The story takes place some time in the future in a city called Alphaville that is run by the Alpha 60 computer and logic.  Alphaville looks exactly like the seedier side of 1965 Paris. Our hero secret agent Lemmy Caution (AKA Ivan Johnson) (Eddie Constantine) arrives from the Outlands (New York) on a mission to bring back Professor Leonard Nosferatu Von Braun, who controls the computer, dead or alive.

First he meets Von Braun’s daughter Natasha (Anna Karina) who has been assigned to accompany him on his travels through Alphaville.  Then he meets with fellow secret agent Henri Dickson (Akim Tamiroff) who is on the verge of either suicide or murder.

Lemmy and Natasha fall in love – an emotion that is unknown and forbidden in Alphaville. The bulk of the movie is occupied by cool looking strangeness and pretentious philosophy.

Godard reminds me of a precocious teenager who thinks it is brilliant to just stuff every random idea that comes into his head, no matter how obvious or inane, into his movies. My readers are already sick of hearing about what I think about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WKC0o53VKU

Restoration trailer