VIVRE SA VIE

A Film Deep Dive

“A Bird is an animal with an inside and an outside. Take away the outside and the inside is left. Take away the inside and you see its soul.” (Godard,1962) Film says so much, whether it's dead center or in between the reads. The way it lights a room or speaks to a bar. Film is good poetry, sitting down and reading a book out loud so everyone hears. The pauses, the gasp, and the swallows.

The “French New wave” was first used by writers of the French magazine “Cahiers Du Cinéma” which emerged to reject mainstream cinema and explore new editing, narration, and visuals for irony or existential play on themes. Jean-Luc Godard’s will to push boundaries and intriguing creative direction simultaneously is what allowed him to stand out in his films. He used his art as a form of release in what he saw and stood for. In his earlier years, Jean-Luc lived in Paris where he watched and wrote about films seemingly on and off, trying to continuously work on filmmaking. After leaving the film magazine “Cahiers du Cinéma” which was influential in bringing many of the pioneers of the “French New Wave” together including Jean-Luc Godard himself.

We find ourselves in the early 1960s, Newborn baby’s to the revolution of film when Jean-Luc Godard filmed Vivre sa Vie in 62’. He had just released his first feature film breathless in 1960 which took France and the film industry by storm, it had brought international attention to the unconventional styles being used in French filmmaking. Jean-Luc was ready to create whilst the world was ready to interpret just in time too. Jean-Luc had first seen Anna Karina in Palmolive bathtub ads during movie previews while writing for “Cahiers du Cinéma”. A young Danish woman, Anna was self-taught in French and had been working as a model for several magazines, including “Elle” Magazine. Jean-Luc offered her a small role for his 1960 debut film “Breathless” but she turned it down. Soon continuing to work by his side in 61’ as he offered her another role in his upcoming film to be released later in 1963 “Le Petit Soldat”. Over time they grew a fondness for each other that spilled into every project they worked on. They fell in love and it showed even when not in subject matters of love. But jean-Luc in love and with his muse front and center, Vivre Sa Vie was released in 1962. 

“Il faut se prêter aux autres et se donner a soi - même” “Lend yourself to others but give yourself to yourself”(Godard,1962)

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