MovieChat Forums > Pierrot le fou (1969) Discussion > An odd film to rate

An odd film to rate

posted 14 years ago by AfterwardDeified
5 replies | jump to latest

I saw this a few weeks back, and upon completion, I felt unsatisfied (no pun intended!). Karina was amazing and gorgeous (and amazingly gorgeous), as usual, Belmondo was excellent, and the locations were beautiful. It was also very vibrant. But, ultimately, it was too all over the place for my taste...and longer than it should have been. And yet I find myself liking it more and more as the weeks go by. The weird thing is I feel that way about alot of Godard's work. I dismiss them initially, but come around later. Am I the only one, and why is that even the case??

Even though Ferdinand had it coming, I still felt bad over Marianne's betrayal. And I understood why he took his own life at the end...she royally *beep* him over, didn't she? He abandoned everything for her, got into major trouble, and then had the rug pulled out from underneath him. But, again, he went into that mess willingly, so we can't feel too bad for him.

For all it's self-indulgences, Godard had a message he wanted to make: giving your heart to a woman, completely and unconditionally, is like playing with TNT. Something I can, unfortunately, attest to :/

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go change my Netflix rating from 3 to 4 on this one.

[–] ManFromSanFernando 14 years ago

You don't think Belmondo was gorgeous as well? I too gave my heart to a woman and was crushed, which is why I only date guys now. I find women more beautiful, but with men, you can actually have friendship and comraderie, with women, you really can't connect unless you are one of the lucky ones. Women are different, despite how modern society wants to tell us everyone is equal, they tend to care about superficial things, they ultimately want to have kids, and they care more about money and material things.
For example, my neighbor was recently divorced in part because his financial situation wasnt good from an entire career of helping disadvantaged kids. She remarried a rich man and her daughter ended up going to a very very expensive art school. ironically she eventually got a complete scholarship.....
Men have honor and codes(best illustrated by the samurai in Japan) while women want dollars and gold. To prove my point (although there are exceptions) has any heard of the 47 Ronin incident? If so, have you ever hears of a group of women sacrificing anything close to as much in the name of a principle?
I don't blame them by the way, giving birth and therefore being solely responsible (I know a man was needed, but they can just walk out the door) is detrimental to honor, you will degrade yourself and do anything to make a place on earth for you child.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Manmandiran 14 years ago

If IMDb wasn't globalized americano BS, this movie would rank #1.

[–] AfterwardDeified 14 years ago

Eh, I wouldn't say number one...then again, you're perfectly entitled to your opinion :) Very unique film, for sure.

[–] udippel 8 years ago

I beg to differ.
I'm not a Hollywood-Americano movie follower. I prefer many European, especially French, movies.
If I have a choice, I usually select the European movie, whichever it is.

Now, this one is different. The OP already stated 'An odd film to rate'. Everything nice, understood, partially funny, very well acted. Acceptable cinematography. And yet, some surrealism that I fail to grasp. And I love surrealism. To me, it looks like some comic strip acted by real persons.
The whole story is unrealistic, and the trips into the land of musical don't help me.
It is an odd movie, yes. I miss suspense, probably due to the comics-style plot.
Maybe I'd fell for it, totally, after a good smoke. But sober? What shall I rate it when sober?

Someone else asked 'sad?' in this forum. I wouldn't feel sad, because the whole lot looks like an acted comic, and I don't usually feel sad at the end of a comic.

I'd really love to learn why the movie had to be that far outside of realism.