OVERRATED "ART FILM" ALERT: The following film is adored by sophisticated and "with it" film fans. The fact that the average person may find the whole thing unfunny and bland is due to their just not being smart enough to understand and appreciate this masterpiece.

One reviewer wrote "minimalism isn't a crime". No it is not, though creating a horrible and pretentious film and labeling it "art" should be. This is a terrible movie and there's practically NOTHING positive I can say about the film. Yet, mysteriously it receives a lot of critical praise while the average viewer might find themselves dumbfounded by its banality--sort of like the old story of the Emperor's New Clothes! Like the little boy that yelled out "the Emperor is nekkid!", I am yelling "this film STINKS!" in the hope that it will prevent you from wasting your time watching it.

As I said above, the movie reminded me of Plan 9--mostly because of the incredibly amateurish camera work, choppiness of the film and the $1.98 that was spent on sets and props! Some say this is because it is part of the "French New Wave Cinema Movement". I might agree if that's another way of saying "bad French films". For example, the computer that rules Alphaville with an iron fist looks like an old space heater (and I really think it is) and the film looks like it was shot in 8mm! If this film was NOT by Godard and if it was not labeled "new wave", it would have been seen as pretentious crap with no real reason to watch it (unless you want an unintentional laugh).

The acting was generally on par with the average zombie film (though with less emotion) and talented people, such as Akim Tamiroff, were completely wasted. The music, at first seemed pretty good, though after a while its repetitiveness really annoyed me.

Now this brings me to Jean-Luc Godard. Although this director has an exceptional reputation, I just don't see why. When I saw his most famous work, Breathless, I was not particularly impressed--it's at best an average film about some nasty people who most viewers will care less about. However, since then I have seen a few other of his films and now realize this MIGHT just be his best film! Pretentious crap like Alphaville, First Name: Carmen (Prénom Carmen),and Pierre le Fou are terrible films no matter how "artistic" they might be.

Judging by how many found this review helpful and how many did not, it is obvious that there are widely divergent views on this film. Go ahead and see it for yourself--just don't say I didn't warn you!

I am still perplexed by this film. I don't know if its overall strangeness really hits home. Nevertheless, having grown up in the fifties and sixties, I saw the fears and paranoia of that era in this movie. One can't help think of the existential parody going on here. Like so many films, it throws the whole thing at us and when we can't apply usual logic to it, it simply says, "How about that?" The main character is on a mission but is playing on a field that he can't understand because he is still a man of emotion. The folks who permeate this movie have given up emotion, including affection. I guess in the post war era with the threat of annihilation around every corner, a base and cold society isn't too far fetched. Just look at what East Berlin was like to understand it. I am uncertain how to finally judge this. I think another viewing would be worth the time, but only after some study of its origins.

In a near future, the American secret agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) travels to Alphaville posing as the journalist Ivan Johnson from the Figaro-Pravda newspaper. His mission is to find the missing agent Henry Dickson (Akim Tamirof) and to convince Professor von Braun (Howard Vernon) to come with him to Nueva York. Prof. von Braun is actually Leonard Nosferatu and has created the powerful computer Alpha 60 that has conceived the inhuman dystopian society of Alphaville, where love, conscience, poetry and emotion have been banished and words are systematically eliminated from the dictionary. Alpha 60 is also omnipresent and Lemmy has the assistance of Natacha von Braun (Anna Karina),who is the daughter of von Braun. Soon he falls in love with Natacha but he needs to complete his mission before leaving Alphaville.

"Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy" is my favorite Godard movie and maybe his most digestible film despite being weird. This is the third time that I see this sci-fi noir (last time was on 07 September 2001) and it is still an intriguing story that resembles George Orwell's 1984, inclusive with the idea of rewriting the dictionary removing words related to emotions and including new ones. The scary atmosphere gives the sensation of nightmare and the sets and locations are ahead of time. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Alphaville"

Note: On 03 March 2021, I saw this film again.