Vivre Sa Vie [My Life to Live] **** (1962, Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André S Labarthe, Monique Messine, Henri Attal, Gérard Hoffman) – Classic Movie Review 6065

In 1962 Jean-Luc Godard shot Vivre Sa Vie [My Life to Live] (1962) over four weeks in Paris for $40,000, and it became his first commercial success since À bout de souffle [Breathless] (1960), ending up as the fourth most popular movie at the French box office in 1962.

This key French New Wave film is smart and voguish, and its star Anna Karina gives a memorable, iconic performance. It is attractively shot by cinematographer Raoul Coutard in fashionable cinéma vérité style, showing off the stylish images of Godard’s Sixties consumerist culture Paris. Praise should also be given to Michael Legrand’s score.

In 1960 Godard married Anna Karina in Switzerland and he showcases her in this movie as Nana Kleinfrankenheim, a beautiful young Parisian woman in her early twenties.

Its original complete title Vivre Sa Vie: Film en douze tableaux tells us that Godard is describing 12 brief unconnected scenes in the life of the Parisian woman Nina, who leaves her husband and infant son hoping to become an actress. She ends up as a hard-pressed shop girl and then descends into prostitution, controlled by a pimp, Raoul (Sady Rebbot).

[Spoiler alert] Raoul sells Nana to another pimp, the pimps argue and Nana is killed in a gun battle.

The episodes are preceded by an intertitle, each explaining what will happen next. This is one of the many Brechtian alienation effects Godard uses,  including also jump cuts, characters filmed from behind and strongly backlit, actors talking to the camera and a voice-over with Godard’s personal narration.

The screenplay and story are by Jean-Luc Godard, based on a book Marcel Sacotte, who also contributes additional narrative to the film.

Vivre Sa Vie was released as My Life to Live in the US and as It’s My Life in the UK.

Born on September 22, 1940 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Anna Karina came to Paris at 18. Karina met Coco Chanel and Pierre Cardin and started out as a top model. She thought her then-husband Jean-Luc Godard made her look ugly in Vivre Sa Vie.

French new wave star Anna Karina, actress of charm and grace, and muse of Jean-Luc Godard, died of cancer on December 14, 2019, aged 79.

Jean-Luc Godard died aged 91 on 13 September 2022 at his home in Rolle, Switzerland, following an assisted suicide procedure.

His best films are his early ones: Breathless, Le Mepris, Les Carabiniers, Vivre Sa Vie, Alphaville, Weekend, Pierrot le fou, La Chinoise, and Masculin Feminin.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6065

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