Pierrot le Fou Poster

Pierrot le Fou (1965)

Crime | Romance 
Rayting:   7.7/10 29.9K votes
Country: France | Italy
Language: French | English
Release date: 5 November 1965

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

Movie Trailer

Where to Watch

User Reviews

anagram14 30 April 2005

Normally, I'm a sucker for artsy movies, and my sympathy for the "mad" is very close to boundless. So my disappointment in this specimen came as a surprise to me. Pierrot-Ferdinand starts out by reiterating how he is surrounded by "abrutis" (brutes) to whom he patently feels vastly superior (which he shows by constantly telling them what books to read); how he is not particularly interested in his wife (so who was the idiot who married her?), and generally behaving as though he were an eternal fourteen and refusing to come to terms with maturity, or to see any beauty in everyday life. He then proceeds to Get Away From It All in search of what I can only see as cheap thrills - and turns out to be pretty abruti himself, as people do who project their disgust with themselves on all the world. What charm he gains as the movie develops remains rather puerile. As for Marianne, her only function seems to be to set him off. Pierrot is "the man who is driving towards a precipice at a hundred an hour", she is "the woman who loves the man who's driving" et cetera, and remains a pretty face with no background sketched in; conveniently, Godard has her refuse to talk about herself. Is this art? Philosophy? Or just adolescent posturing?

saladman-registery 16 December 2013

Fmovies: I've been living in French-speaking countries for several years now and speak French quite well, however inevitably when I go to the cinema, 80% of the films are imported from the US or the UK.

Unfortunately, now I see why even the French don't watch French cinema, minus the handful of big hits that make it every year or so (Les Intouchables, La Haine, etc).

I was hoping for something artistic yet that was also actually a good film, e.g. Fellini or Hitchcock. Unfortunately, this is a load of film school dreck that I would give a student a C- if it was their senior project. Between rambling, self-obsessed characters, a hot female lead who is unfortunately also terribly uninspiring, and an utter lack of plot, I can't really see what people like about this film. I'm glad I've seen it, so I can know not to waste my time on any more Goddard films.

If you think that randomly quoting philosophers is a way to show how smart you are, or if you think "omg so random" is hilarious and/or insightful, this film is for you. If you like films that are enjoyable to watch, or films that teach you something, or films that are artistically beautiful, then skip this and instead go watch The Fountain or The Fall or any number of other films.

I can't say it's worth watching even to know that you dislike Goddard films. If you don't already know the answer to this, then I can pretty much guarantee you will hate it.

badajoz-1 7 October 2013

Godard gets 2 for trying to be different, but this early sixties, experimental, existential (it has to be, doesn't it?), barely plotted, inexplicable jumble of ideas, off the cuff meanderings, and comments on what was happening in the world at the time just does not stand the test of time. It now looks mannered, pretentious, tedious, pseudo-philosophical (as if made for an in-crowd seminar critique by Jean Paul Sartre and his Left Bank Gitanes-smoking cronies), experimental colour-laden because the Director could fiddle about in homage to his European contemporaries mess of a film. Yes, Godard was revered, but 'Alphaville' and 'Breathless' were fit for cinema - this only bores you to tears with his self-indulgence masquerading as 'IMPORTANT' cinema. Belmondo survives everything, and he does here, effortlessly reading philosophy at the same time as coolly romancing an out-of-reach femme fatale. Some of the sixties cinema was crap on reflection - and this is prime off-colour rump.

zolaaar 1 December 2005

Pierrot le Fou fmovies. "Film is like a battleground", tells Samuel Fuller Ferdinand in the beginning of this film: "Love, hate, action, violence, death. In one word: emotion." 'Pierrot le fou' is a 110 minutes film by Godard and his tenth feature. It's roughly based on a crime novel written by Lionel White. Tho, don't expect a linear adaptation. In fact, Godard and his actors mostly improvised and therefore deliver a dodgy 'surrealeperiment'.

The plot summary therefore must be given a little superficially: It's about a wannabe writer, Ferdinand Griffon (Belmondo) who escapes his every day life and runs off with his mistress Marianne (Karina) to the Mediterranean Sea. Far away from his family, he lives for the moment, reads books and tries to work on a diary. Meanwhile, the police and Algerian killers are chasing Marianne because she has committed a murder.

Godard assembles philosophical texts with shots of posters and screens, sets in musical elements and achieves to encode his film in a very inspiring way. Sometimes the imagery is fair and beautiful (i. e. Belmondo and Karina are running along a silhouette like forest which is photographed in front of a white, flat background), sometimes odious and angry (i. e. Belmondo finds an Algerian murdered with scissors and he keeps on raking in the wound), sometimes stirringly artistic (i. e. Karina takes the murder instrument, the scissors holds it in front of a wide-angle-lens and creates an unbelievably coherent effect of distortion).

Those who take the film with a living mind will experience a fascinating, beautifully filmed love story with two protagonists who do everything within the power of their tremendous acting potential. Concerning the contents, it is a cinematic toying with the duality of the characters (Ferdinand and Pierrot or Ferdinand or Marianne) or rather with schizophrenia. Belmondo plays a mad crackpot who first has a pretty martialistic based life as a husband and father whose world view staggers because of upcoming converse feelings - personated by Karina. She, married with Godard at that time, plays the character Marianne with wit, depth and anarchic charme. Her role is the symbolic enlightenment in Ferdinands being. While he strives melancholically for wisdom and always throbs on the importance of the arts, Marianne is a lackadaisical playgirl and swinger who wants to be instead of having. Belmondo as Ferdinand shows in all of his agility a vulnerability that hides behind the same gruffness of 'Une femme est une femme'.

'Pierrot le fou' is a film that dines from various influences, having some sort of private, economic, cultural or political natures. More than every other 'auteur' Godard manifests himself once more as the chronologist of his time.

Dockelektro 11 June 2001

Perfect movie, which passes its message like no other film ever did. An incredible first part, in Paris, where the people are taken by capitalism and consumist habits, shows us that society is corrupted in an unique way, as Belmondo's Ferdinand drifts by the various colors which reflect only the emotionless. When Marianne gets in his way, he finds an escape and lets go his mad feelings, and they both run away. This story is told by Godard by the means of the fantastic, depicting madness and foolishness as a true art form, making two unlikely characters enjoyable and engaging. This one goes to the podium of the pictures that stand out and will never age, acting also as an influence to everyone who sees it.

duffcon 18 January 2005

The previous commentator criticizes Pierrot Le Fou as a movie that cannot be classified.The fact that a movie cannot be pigeon-holed is surely a plus,as it doesn't conform to a single cliché as Godard achieves a synthesis of many genres :noir,gangster,political thriller,love story and musical to name a few.The film is a history not only of cinema but of art and civilization, what Proust or Joyce attempted with the novel Godard does with the camera.

Another criticism is the use of loud colors,this was intentional as he uses the primary cinematic colors in addition to the recurring theme of red,white and blue- France's national colors as well as those of imperialist Russia,United Kingdom and America.At the time recent history in Europe was one of grainy monotone austerity, death-camps and ration-books, the use of loud colors was a celebration of life and reaction against this.

The next criticism leveled is that it is too personal, indeed this is cinema-auteur at it's best and it is intentional.Just as in Pulp Fiction the Travolta/Jackson dialog about the cultural nuances between America and Europe(Royale with cheese/Didn't go into burger king) is basically Tarantino's travelogue of his time on the other side of the pond.

The film is deeply political and still relevant today.Take Pierrot's explanation of the Man on the the moon's suffering at the expense of Soviet and American expansionism as they vie for control of the heavens(the space-race) "He is trying to escape in a hurry, the Russians tried to stuff his head with the complete works of Lenin so he sought refuge with the Americans but Uncle Sam stuffed a bottle of Coca Cola in his mouth,having forced him to say thank you beforehand." Indeed a parallel could be drawn with the ungrateful Iraqis who don't appreciate their liberation.

Another criticism is the disorientating effect of the voice overs and out of sync sound effects.Pierrot himself refers to this at the party at the start of the film "A machine to see:my eyes, to speak :my mouth, to hear :my ears but instead of having the impression of being a single person I feel like many." Which conveys modern man's fragmentation and dislocation while reminding us of the power of image and sound to disorientate for the purposes of political propaganda.

As for no trace of beauty, my god are you blind? As the entire film is one continuous flirt between the foxy Marianne and the camera.

"Why does Pierrot paint his face blue?" .Well why does Travis Bickle shave himself a Mohican's hair do in Taxidriver? These may seem rather arbitrary at first but then again so are all the other thousand and one clichés in cinema such as the man offering the femme fatal a light for her cigarette,wanna take in a movie? wanna grab a coffee? What in the name of God are they all about?A cliché has too start somewhere, unfortunately the lead man painting his face blue didn't catch on.Mores the pity.

Similar Movies

6.0
Love Hostel

Love Hostel 2022

5.3
Happily

Happily 2021

5.2
Locked Down

Locked Down 2021

4.2
Infamous

Infamous 2020

6.0
Murder Mystery

Murder Mystery 2019

6.9
Jannat: In Search of Heaven...

Jannat: In Search of Heaven... 2008

7.1
Mississippi Mermaid

Mississippi Mermaid 1969

6.2
China Moon

China Moon 1994


Share Post

Direct Link

Markdown Link (reddit comments)

HTML (website / blogs)

BBCode (message boards & forums)

Watch Movies Online | Privacy Policy
Fmovies.guru provides links to other sites on the internet and doesn't host any files itself.