A black and white, low-budget French film from 1965, with no special effects and shot on the streets of Paris, doesn't sound like a solid candidate for the best scifi movie ever, but Alphaville was created to defy expectations.
I discovered the film during university, thanks to a screening arranged by my lecturer, and it is insane. The idea is that the galactic alliance has lost contact with one of its worlds. Having sent the best of their agents to the rescue, including Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy, they become concerned that none of them return. As a last ditch effort they send another agent, Lemmy Caution (the hero of a number of previous French noir private detective films, played by the same actor, Eddie Constantine), who discovers that the planet has been overtaken by an emotion-hating, logic-worshipping computer, that has enforced emotional repression on the population and turned the world into a 1984-style dystopia.
Having heard that, would it surprise you to know that, if you muted the film, you'd think you were watching a Humphrey Bogart picture? Aside from the retro-inspired computer, nothing appears scifi. The hero wears a fedora and trenchcoat, the planet he is on looks like 1960s Paris. The bad guys carry revolvers, and no-one goes into space.
Taking its cue from French expressionism, the film is similar to La Jetee in its black and white images and pedestrian setting contradicting far-out fantasy ideas conveyed by narration leaving you mistrusting everything you see. The effect is like watching a foreign-language film overdubbed with the wrong script. The direction is a work of art, yet the film also has heart.
The plot is an allegory opposing fascism and censorship while worshipping artistic expression and love, both romantic and philosophical. Alphaville is at once the most innovative and original film I've ever seen and one of my favourites. If you can find a way to track it down, I really suggest you give it a try. Love it or hate it, you'll never see anything else like it.
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I actually turned up that week at uni! I remember this film - I also remember it was far too much hard work for my liking! But then I like my movies squeaky clean and 'hollywood' so it was never going to be for me!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, this is a brilliant film both as SciFi and as FilmNoir. It has that protoCyberPunk feel of hard boiled detective in a dystopian near future. Very Orwellian in it's approach to love, politics and culture.
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