Pierrot Le Fou (1965) SC 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC AAC-SARTRE

Pierrot le fou (1965) is Jean-Luc Godard's sixth film staring Anna Karina, his first wife. It is the story of Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Marianne (Karina). They meet when Ferdinand's wife hires Marianne as a baby-sitter. As he drives Marianne home, Ferdinand decides to run away with her. The couple get caught up in a mysterious gun-running scheme involving Marianne's brother (Dirk Sanders). With Pierrot le fou Godard returns to the story of A bout de souffle (Breathless): the tale of a couple on the run. But in the six years between the two films Godard developed a more complex and often difficult style. Pierrot le fou incorporates musical numbers, references to the history of cinema and painting, and quotations from literature. The film features Godard's most extended use of color to that point, as the shots are filled with blocks of bright primary colors. Pierrot le fou is a catalogue of cinematic inventions and of gestures made by couples in love.

I like the color on this Studio Canal version better than on the Criterion, notably the outdoor scenes.


Extras

• Presentation by Colin Maccabe - A lovely introduction to Pierrot le fou by Godard expert Colin Maccabe, who discusses the message of the film, its characters, Godard dissatisfaction with American politics, etc. In English, with French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles. (4 min, 480p).

• Godard, Love and Poetry - A fifty-three minute documentary created by French filmmaker Luc Lagier in 2007, tracing Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina's marriage and films, from Le petit soldat through Pierrot le fou. The documentary also includes interviews with Karina and Godard collaborators Charles Bitsch, Raoul Coutard, Jean Douchet, and Jean-Paul Savignac. In French, with English, Dutch, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles. (53 min, 480p).

• Commentary by Jean-Bernard Pouy - A terrific audio commentary/deconstruction of Pierrot le fou and Godard's body of work. In French, with Dutch, English, German, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles.

• Trailer - The original French theatrical trailer for the film. In French, with English subtitles. (2 min, 480p).

• German TV ad - In German, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 480p).