The screening for week 8 was a 1960s French film, Vivre Sa Vie, which was directed by Jean-Luc Godard. I had mixed feelings about this movie. I felt that at times, I really enjoyed it, but at other times, it tended to drag on, and I found myself dozing off. But overall, I’d probably give this it a more positive review than a negative.

Firstly, I have to say that I really liked the cinematography in this film. It was reminiscent of a Scorsese film (or actually, a Scorsese film would be reminiscent of this). Many of the scenes were done with long takes and smooth camera movement, and when the camera does move, it moves with purpose to enhance expression and emotion.

The more important aspect of this film was Godard’s use of sound. Godard used silence as a technique to focus on different parts of the narrative. None of the cuts to silence were smooth. Instead, they were very sudden and seemed to be awkwardly placed. This created a bit more of a jarring effect, that induced a feeling of alienation and distance, (this was known as the Brechtian Distance, an effect invented by playwright Bertolt Brecht). The isolated feel reflected off of Anna Karina’s character’s emotion in regards to the story.

As I said earlier, the film had its exciting moments, and its kind of boring moments, but I guess I can say I enjoyed it in the end.