Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Screenplay: Jean-Luc Godard and Marcel Sacotte
Starring: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, Andre S. Labarthe, Guylaine Schlumberger, Gerard Hoffman
Running Time: 83 minutes
Genre: Drama
This French film tells the story of Nana (Karina), a young Parisian woman, dreams of becoming an actress, but is stuck working as a sales assistant in a record store. Struggling financially, she decides to start working as a prostitute.
Released as My Life to Live in North America and It's My Life in Britain, this is one of the greatest and most accessible works of prolific director Jean-Luc Godard, one of the founding members of the French New Wave. The film is constructed as twelve very short episodes in Nana's life (each preceded by a title card). It uses point of view shots, captions, experiments with sound and narration, and a semi-documentary feel. The depiction of sex work is not glamorised or celebrated, but neither is it explicitly judged. Despite some very bleak subject matter the film is lively, and always exciting. There can be seen to be some criticism of the consumerism of 1960s Paris, where everything can be bought and sold, including human beings. However, the film really works due to the luminous performance of Anna Karina, who was married to Godard at the time. Appearing in nearly every scene of the film, frequently staring directly at the camera, she gives a startling performance that you will remember for a very long time.
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