Search - Pierrot le Fou - Criterion Collection on DVD

Post modern road film...

Edmonson | Canada | 04/19/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Pierrot Le Fou"(1965) was Jean Luc Godard's tenth film. The premise is simple enough, Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is unhappily married and recently fired so he decides to leave his wife and children for his babysitter, and ex-girlfriend, Marianna Renoir (Anna Karina). They travel about a little like Bonnie and Clyde, stealing automobiles and money, on their way from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea in the French Riviera. This, however, is a Jean-Luc Godard film so the unexpected always happens. Like pop art, the film uses visuals drawn from cartoons and utilizes a garish visual aesthetic based on bright primary colours, and a parodic, but admiring attitude towards American pop culture, mixing high and low art, dissecting popular movie conventions with a collage-like narrative structure. This was the last movie Godard directed with Anna Karina, which was filmed as Godard was breaking up with her, so there is an extra poignancy to the scenes when Marianna betrays Ferdinand and runs away with another man.

The remastered blu-ray looks marvelous in colour, with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It's monaural soundtrack was also cleaned up. The set also features a video interview with Anna Karina, an informative "Pierrot" primer with commentary by Jean-Pierre Gorin, and a 53 minute feature, "Godard, l'amour, la poesie", about Jean-Luc Godard, his life and films with Karina. There are also archival interviews with Godard, Karina, and Jean-Paul Belmondo, as well as a booklet with an essay by Richard Brody, and a 1969 review by Andrew Sarris, as well as a 1965 interview with Godard. Criterion is also losing the rights to this film so the DVD and Blu-ray set will no longer be available from Criterion."

Blu-Ray Specific Review

Z. Burke | 04/12/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"So, the movie itself is beyond words, something to be experienced.
Whether or not that experience is worthy anything to you will vary by person, but I for one, enjoyed it immensely.

It escapes description.

As far as the quality of the Blu-Ray, it was superb. I was amazed by how clean and clear a picture (as well as audio) the movie had,
both because of its age and the technology associated with films of that period. Criterion has done a masterful job with this edition,
and I couldn't have been more pleased with its presentation. Of course, the beautiful cinematography helps out, too.

Give it a shot, it defied everything I thought it would be. I don't think I'll ever see anything else like it."