Alphaville

At last available on video again. Alphavillle is compelling viewing to both student ofscience fiction and film noir. Never an easy ride, I challenge anyone to remain ... more >

At last available on video again. Alphavillle is compelling viewing to both student ofscience fiction and film noir. Never an easy ride, I challenge anyone to remain unaffected - this is a love it or hate it experience. Imagine a gallic Sam Spade, call him Lemmy Caution, place him on the rim of the known Universe populated by characters as flat and lacking expression as a Thunderbirds puppet, place a computer with a voice so sonorous as to
make your teeth grind and so powerful as to make Hal 9000 seem like a Casio calculator, add a labyrinthine and not entirely convincing plot, some rather cliched but apposite morals and film in a very low key, angles and edges 60s way with the most sparing of dialogue. That is Alphavillle. Recommended. < less

View all 106 of ’s reviews

Dear reader, let me tell you of a potential problem I have with Jean-Luc - that with so much of his work unavailable on video in the UK, the sense of excitement and lo... more >

Dear reader, let me tell you of a potential problem I have with Jean-Luc - that with so much of his work unavailable on video in the UK, the sense of excitement and longing that comes when awaiting a new release is often so overpowering that one recognises the danger of a reduction in one's critical faculties.
That notwithstanding, Alphavillle is compelling viewing to both student of science fiction and film noir. Never an easy ride, it feels at first like a slightly higher budget version of Russ Meyer schlock and then takes on an unearthly nightmarish quality. I challenge anyone to remain unaffected - this is a love it or hate it experience.
Imagine a gallic Sam Spade, call him Lemmy Caution, place him on the rim of the known Universe populated by characters as flat and lacking expression as a Thunderbirds puppet, place a computer with a voice so sonorous as to make your teeth grind and so powerful as to make Hal 9000 seem like a Casio calculator, add a labyrinthine and not entirely convincing plot, some rather cliched but apposite morals and film in a very low key, angles and edges 60s way with the most sparing of dialogue. That is Alphavillle.
Recommended. < less

View all 2 of P F Holmes’s reviews

Film Details

Cast

Anna Karina, Howard Vernon, Eddie Constantine, Akim Tamiroff

Technical Details