Jean Luc-GodardÆs 1965 film Pierrot le Fou is one of the finest examples of the auteurism theory of the French New Wave, and as such it stretched the medium of film. American film critic Andrew Sarris, defining the auteur theory, wrote that ôfilm should ideally be a medium of personal artistic expression, and the best filmÆs bear their makerÆs 'signatureÆûthe stamp of his individual personality, controlling obsessions and cardinal themesö (Cook 552). This paper will examine the formal aspects of Pierrot le fou including how it expressed the auteur theory, the mise-en-scene, lighting, editing and other elements. The concerns and themes of the film, and how GodardÆs directorial choices contributed to what he is saying about his society, will also be considered.
The basic storyline centers around the journey of Ferdinand/Pierrot (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who impulsively runs away with his childrenÆs babysitter Marianne (Anna Karina, GodardÆs wife at the time). She is being chased by hit-men from Algeria while he is trying to escape his boring, bourgeoise life in Paris. Their drifting, poetic trip is the spine of the film. They are on the run for most of the film which climaxes with their violent end. The film, like most New Wave movies, is not dependent on its storyline. The point of GodardÆs film making is to work without a formal script so that he was not dependent on the writer. The film is a directorÆs film, not a writerÆs film and serves as an example of how Godard manipulates all aspects of the medium without the use of traditional cinematic conventions. As critic Peter Wollen notes, ôGodard disrupts the traditional organisation of mainstream cinema by splitting up the recombining cinematic codes...which ...aim to unify: sound and image, time and space, character and actorö (99). The movie, however, is influenced by the genre of Hollywood gangster films.
Although there is no formal script with daily rewrite...