Blu-Ray Review - Vivre sa vie (1962)

Jean Luc-Godard may have not made a great film in a few decades but his early work primarily the films he made from À bout de souffle to Weekend remains one of the most impressive bodies of work of any filmmaker. The work really speaks for itself with only a few slip-ups in the 15 feature films he made in that period. The best films for the most part starred his then wife Anna Karina and one of their finest collaborations Vivre sa vie has been re-released by BFI in a new Blu-Ray package.

Vivre sa vie may not be Godard’s most well-known film during his Nouvelle Vague period but it has the playfulness of his best films but also has a really emotional grab and to some extent lacks the detached aesthetic Godard often uses in his work. Anna Karina plays a young woman Nana who is trying to becoming a film actress after leaving her husband but soon falls into the world of Parisian prostitution to make some more money due because she can’t seem to break into the acting world and her job at a record shop doesn’t pay well enough.

Karina who is at her most beautiful here with a bobbed haircut that is reminiscent of Louise Brooks which may or may not be a deliberate homage by Godard to the film Pandora’s Box which starred Louise Brooks. She has all the charm and those eyes that any man (or woman) can fall in love with. The fact she is literally on-screen for pretty much every frame of the 84 minute running she just radiates the screen with those eyes and that smile and during this period Godard was still very much in love with Karina so he the way he shoots her is almost a love letter to her.

The film is told in 12 vignettes of Nada’s life, it’s one of the more experimental films of his early ’60s and for the most part doesn’t follow the conventions of genre which he used to great effect in his early films like film noir, science fiction or even the musical. It has a more restrained look then his early films because it lacks the freewheeling camera work of À bout de souffle and Bande à part even though it has aspects of cinéma vérité. Godard’s obsession with American consumerism in France is also briefly alluded too but lacks the Maoist agitprop of his later ’60s work and for the better. Vivre Sa Vie emotional pull is rare in Godard’s work but like his best films it works for both casual fans of his work but also diehards.

BFI’s package is impressive, it includes a commentary by Adrian Martin which was originally on the US Criterion disc. The film includes a introduction at NFT by Leslie Hardcastle from 1968 along with a great 37 minute interview with Anna Karina where she discusses her work and the film she directed Vivre ensemble. However the really highlights are three shorts by Godard made from the late ’50s to early ’60s which show the seed of what he would later do in this features, they are some of the most playful films Godard ever made.