Making waves. It's something we hear about during times of conflict or change, when the still waters of old become turbulent with tides of new beginnings. In art we see this when something big occurs, changing how other artists approach their craft. In cinema there was one movement that did this like no other in history, which would in effect cause other smaller movements to take shape. Within its existence it ushered in new voices, brought about new methods and outlooks, and produced some of the finest work in cinematic history. Today's subject is among these products. A film from a true auteur and a true classic amongst some of the finest work of French cinema.
So if you’re like me and you enjoy film and the impact and emotion they convey then grab a glass of your preferred liquid and join me for the next little while. For me that’s a mug of warm chamomile honey tea. So sit back, relax, and let's talk about the love of film. Welcome to Glazed Cinema.
Our subject for this episode comes from a master of cinema and one of the heavy-hitters of possibly the greatest film movement of all time. Now if that name sounds familiar that's a good thing. That either means you've seen something from that movement in cinema before or you're a fan of the show and you've heard it come up in previous episodes. If it's the latter, well then I am flattered and thankful.
Today is the second episode of our inaugural mini-series French Phenoms. A series that highlights three films with both literal and non-literal connective tissue. Our last episode feature Carl Theodor Dreyer's poignant silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. If you haven't listened to that episode or seen the film I highly recommend it. Today though we're highlighting the second film in the French Phenom series; and one that was made nearly forty years after Dreyer’s Joan.
From the very start of the film, we can tell we’re in for something different. We begin with the side profile of a woman. With the camera zoomed in we gaze at the left side of her hair, face, and neck. Shortly there after the white text reading "Vivre Sa Vie Film en douze tableaux" or 12 chapters flash on the screen. After the words go away we’re then greeted with credits of the players within the film we are about to bare witness to. As the roles and names appear we shift views of the woman. We see her face forward and from her right side, each view zoomed in as it was on the left side. Eventually the screen fades to black and more French text appears, which translate to, "A café, Nana wants to give up. Paul, the pinball machine". Now we see the same woman, except from a new vantage point, from behind. As she speaks to a man at the bar of the café our story begins to unfurl. This is Nana, a woman with dreams of becoming an actress in the movies.
Vivre Sa Vie translates to "My Life to Live" and in this film, that life is a double entendre, which we'll get more into a bit later on. The story follows the life of a young Parisian woman named Nana, played by Anna Karina. Nana is a married woman, working in a record store. In an unhappy marriage dreaming of becoming an actress her dreams falter, she wrestles with poverty, and falls to prostitution. Nana is reserved, private, and impassive. She is our protagonist and we will follow her as she navigates her life choices for the next ninety minutes.
Vivre Sa Vie was directed by the legendary director and one of the founders of the infamous New Wave, Jean Luc-Godard. If those two things sound familiar there’s good reason for that. Godard is a true master of cinema and one of the most influential directors of all time. The New Wave is equally as legendary and revered and a movement that’s been mentioned in some of our previous episodes, but never highlighted. That my friend all changes today.
This is one the best products of the French New Wave and arrives around the middle of the New Wave timeline. Now before we get back to our subject today, we should make a pitstop and discuss this film movement, what made it so great, and where our subject today fits into it.
The French New Wave was a film movement that had humble beginnings, but made large enough shockwaves that would forever change cinema. The movement began with a group of film critics, employed by a Parisian magazine called "Cahiers du Cinema", which translates to Cinema Notebooks. They wrote reviews of the day’s movie releases and put their true feelings to ink and paper. For them cinema had become sterile and boring, thanks in large part to what we would today call Old Hollywood. Movies, like today's Hollywood, made for a wider audience, produced and packaged using a conventional formula and geared toward entertainment. For them, these movies were two-dimensional and void of any risks, artistry, or humanity. The group of writers and critics would turn in their pens and paper for lights and cameras. The new filmmakers set out to make pictures to rebel against the big film studios who controlled the creative process. As an outlet, they began making films on their own with full creative control, otherwise known as auteur theory. Of these critics turned filmmakers were Francois Truffaut, Agnes Varda, ,Jean-Pierre Melville, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Taking inspiration from predecessors like Hitchcock and Welles they set to make films their way. They did this through a fresh way of thinking, led by three main points that would define the movement. One of them was the aforementioned no studio involvement. This of course meant lower budgets, budgeted equipment, and no set control. However, this also meant total freedom and not only provided, but encouraged innovation. Directors acted on their creative ideas, daring to try new things and in almost every facet of production.
The second point was challenging the ideas of traditional storytelling. For decades big studios, especially those in Hollywood really catered to immersive and entertaining narratives. Movies that had a linear plot, an easy story to follow, and used tried and true techniques. No better example of this can be seen than the western genre, a favorite of Hollywood up to the time of the French New Wave and for most westerns the plot, techniques, camera angles were churned out like a factory. The New Wave however wanted to rid themselves of this thought process. For them this meant breaking themselves, but more importantly their audience out of these norms. They dared to edit differently, favored improvisation, and placed the actors in positions in front of the camera never seen before.
The third point was to break away from making films simply to entertain, but instead challenge the viewer. Their goal was to insert more complex narratives and make their audience think both during and after the film. Their goal was to show difficult, emotional, provoking narratives based on realism to make their audience digest what they had just seen and why it made them feel the way it did. This directly counteracted Old Hollywood’s goal of entertainment and letting the audience off the hook at the end.
I mention these three points because Vivre Sa Vie embodies each of them and showcases them quite wonderfully. This, like all New Wave films was an independent venture on a tight budget. This was one of the reasons why so many New Wave films are in black and white. While there may have been stylistic choices behind this decision, ultimately processing color film costs more money than processing black and white film. The second point of challenging traditional storytelling are evident from the very start with different camera angles, positioning, and approaches to dialogue and script. The third part is highlighted by Nana's life story as she navigates her life's obstacles and wrestles with complex and multi-layered themes.
The star of Vivre Sa Vie is the camera. Godard had a unique view on the camera and its association to film. He thought of the camera not as a device, but a looking glass. In his own words, "The film was made by sort of a second presence. The camera is not just a recording device but a looking device, that by its movements makes us aware that it sees her, wonders about her, glances first here and then there, exploring the space she occupies, speculating." Prior to the New Wave, especially in Old Hollywood the camera was usually affixed, framing the shot, which usually didn't move except to pan from left to right. Here, the camera follows, it revolves, it witnesses, and in some cases it looks away.
The most unique thing about Vivre Sa Vie is the way it works and makes it work so well and that is Nana. As mentioned before, this film title translates to "My Life to Live" and this film follows Nana to show her life in every scene. In every shot Nana is not only present, but is the focal point. We sympathize and empathize with her while simultaneously wondering about her as she herself reveals little about herself to those around her and by association, us.
Nana is played by Jean-Luv Godard’s muse Anna Karina, who appeared in so many of the director's films throughout their careers, a lot of them classics. Whether it was Pierrot le Fou, Band of Outsiders, or our subject today Anna Karina steals the frame in each picture. She is alluring and plays her parts with honestly and vulnerability, which has connected with generations of filmgoers. She especially stands out in our subject today not only because the camera follows her character of Nana, but because she delivers such a terrific performance.
Now, earlier on I mentioned that this film has connective tissue to the first episode of our Film Phenoms series, The Passion of Joan of Arc. One of those connections is the leading actress herself. Anna Karina, like Dreyer was originally from Denmark. Born as a Dane, she moved to France at eighteen years old to pursue her dreams of becoming a model. She made her way to Paris and quickly found work in the industry, working for top names including Coco Chanel. It was shortly after that she met Jean-Luc Godard, who offered her a cameo in his upcoming film Breathless, which she refused. After a short time they were married in 1961 and afterward Anna would take the lead role in Godard’s next project.
Another connection is quite literal and is one of my favorite scenes within Vivre Sa Vie. At one point after she loses her home, Nana goes to the movies by herself. In a dark movie theater she sits among a thin crowd as The Passion of Joan of Arc plays on the big screen in front of her. As she witnesses the trial and tribulations of Joan, judged by men in Dreyer's classic she cries with and for Joan.
The movement unleashed artists, breaking new ground on cinema, sending shockwaves around the international creative community, and inspiring future generations to follow on their footsteps.
This film holds a very special place in my heart as like The Passion of Joan of Arc is one of the handful of movies that really affected me. Vivre Sa Vie was the fifth movie I ever wrote down as possible episodes I wanted to cover while planning Glazed Cinema four years ago. I'll never forget the first time I ever saw this movie. I was living with my parents at the time and I was probably twenty-three years old. They had gone away on a week's vacation and I had the house to myself. So one day I went shopping for what movie I would watch and I stumbled upon the cover of Vivre Sa Vie. It attracted me in its simplicity as it was a close up side shot of Nana and bold big letters of the film's title above and below the image. Back home, later that night I pressed play on the film on my parent's sixty inch TV and surround sound. Very quickly I got pulled into the picture and became hypnotized by it as time seemed to slow down. By the time the ending title of "Fin" appeared on screen I was quite literally taken aback. My arms were stretched out in disbelief, my jaw was to the jersey, and I sat in silence for what felt like five minutes. I couldn't believe what I just bore witness to and needed to digest it in silence. If you've seen it you'll likely understand this reaction. If you haven't well, you'll have to tune in to find out for yourself.
Vivre Sa Vie holds a special place in my heart and mind as the first time I had ever had a reaction like that to a film where I was completely lost for words and in awe of a film. In my mind this movie is the encapsulation of the French New Wave. It lives the mindset, techniques, and beauty that was the French New Wave. The movement went on to inspire countless others including New Hollywood, which kickstarted a whole new era of American filmmaking. That to me is one of the testaments to the French New Wave. It looked at Old Hollywood and how big studios controlled movie making and creativity and not only flipped it on its head with their movies, but in doing so tore down Hollywood on itself to breed a new mentality. It also effectively inspired the voiceless others around the world, especially in Europe, sparking the Czech and Polish New Wave and inspired aspiring filmmakers to pick up a camera and film their stories.
Vivre Sa Vie is one of the best movies I've ever seen and among the best of a legendary movement. If you haven't seen it I highly encourage you press play on the French Phenom.
If you’d like to watch Vivre Sa Vie for yourself, you can find it on a variety of streaming services. At the time of this recording you can find it on Max. Max is a streaming service from HBO features a wide range of offerings both from under and beyond the HBO umbrella. Pricing options include $9.99 per month with ads, $15.99 pee month ad-free, and $19.99 per month ultimate ad-free.
You can also find it on The Criterion Channel. The Criterion Channel is a streaming service from our friends at the Criterion Collection. The Criterion Channel offers a diverse catalog for seasoned and bourgeoning film fans alike with pricing options of $10.99 per month or $99 per year, which is what I chose to do.
You can also find it on Kanopy. Kanopy is a tremendous streaming service supported by the public library system. You’ll find a ton of options ranging from TV shows, movies, documentaries, and things for kids including educational and entertainment. The best part is, it’s totally free. All you need is a library card from your local public library.
Lastly, you can also find Vivre sa Vie on Apple TV+. Apple TV+ is a streaming service from Apple and offers original and non-original content within its subscription. Pricing options include $9.99 per month or $99 per year.
If you like this podcast, tell your friends and follow us in Instagram and Facebook. Each week there will be new content including hints about episodes before they air. If you’d like to learn more about the podcast, visit our website at glazedcinema.com. There you’ll find more info about the show and a place to submit ideas for future episodes. For film fans who are hearing impaired the blog page on our website features each episode in written form as well. As always, thanks for listening and I hope to see you next tome with another beverage and another fine film in Glazed Cinema.