Pierrot Le Fou

This loose adaptation of Lionel White’s pulp-thriller Obsession finds Godard in exhilarating mid-career form, consolidating his earlier aesthetic outrages while looking forward to a politically-inspired future agenda. Karina plays coquettish moll to Belmondo’s gangster-like ad-man as the pair, questioning consumerism and bourgeois values, flee to the South of France to establish a new civilization. Apocalypse via Pop Culture, all served up in one heady brew, and the final defining moment of the nouvelle vague. Highly recommended.