Rating: 
Summary: Landmark Film
Review: I've enjoyed Godard before, especially "Breathless," but this film is Godard's most powerful. Anna Karina is an out of work Dutch actress in poverty. She slips from shop girl to streetwalker. The world of suave French pimps and sex workers of 1962 in black and white fascinates. Sex, sex for francs always fascinates. Nana is herself, and she is a prostitute. She has chosen this role because it is all the work she has been offered. It is the entertainment business after all. At first, the stranger that wants to kiss her disgusts, but before long she is making money and has a philosophical young pimp to show her the ropes. Nana entertains her John's every whim, as do all the streetwalkers of Paris. The result is a moralistic tragedy, but the telling of the tale in weird, faceless shots with a cold, winter Paris are the antitheses of films like the golden summers of "Gigi." I remember those streets from my travels in the mid-century. There is Goddard style and there is the seamy side of prostitution even if the whore is as young and beautiful as Anna Karina. The prettier, the more successful, in the sex trade.
I must tell the review reader that much of European prostitution, perhaps in America too is slavery - forced sex work. The victims are young East European girls from the old Iron Curtain, and don't kid yourself; they are slaves and many, if not all, have been beaten, gang raped, and disfigured. Many have venereal disease. Am I being over dramatic? I know -- they smile at a John, but don't be naive. Remember there is a man behind the curtain holding a gun. Remember I told you.
Rating:
Summary: Goddard's "Other" Masterpiece
Review: Most New Wave fans know "Breathless." It's the film that started it all. Only the "real" New Wave fans know this movie.But I have to admit, of all the New Wave directors (Truffaut, Chabrol, Malle, Bresson, etc.), Goddard had the fewest triumphs. By 1970, his films had audiences heading for the exits. And today, his video work is almost unwatchable. 1967's "Weekend" was probably his last great film. In any case, "My Live to Live," is Goddard at his very best. It is a masterpiece. It is a slow, fascinating, cutting-edge cinema experience, that certainly had an influence on future directors such as the great Jim Jarmusch or the inferior Quentin Tarratino. This is one of the greatest little art-house films I have ever seen. The camera work is fluid and creative. The acting is subtle and effective. And the division of the film into 12 chapters is brilliant. Before, I could only see 16MM versions of the film in university lecture halls. But now, this remastered version finally allows me and my psudo-intellectual friends to enjoy this classic whenever we want. Goddard, the artist, might be over-hyped, but this film is severely underrated! A must see!
Rating:
Summary: Goddard's "Other" Masterpiece
Review: Most New Wave fans know "Breathless." It's the film that started it all. Only the "real" New Wave fans know this movie. But I have to admit, of all the New Wave directors (Truffaut, Chabrol, Malle, Bresson, etc.), Goddard had the fewest triumphs. By 1970, his films had audiences heading for the exits. And today, his video work is almost unwatchable. 1967's "Weekend" was probably his last great film. In any case, "My Live to Live," is Goddard at his very best. It is a masterpiece. It is a slow, fascinating, cutting-edge cinema experience, that certainly had an influence on future directors such as the great Jim Jarmusch or the inferior Quentin Tarratino. This is one of the greatest little art-house films I have ever seen. The camera work is fluid and creative. The acting is subtle and effective. And the division of the film into 12 chapters is brilliant. Before, I could only see 16MM versions of the film in university lecture halls. But now, this remastered version finally allows me and my psudo-intellectual friends to enjoy this classic whenever we want. Goddard, the artist, might be over-hyped, but this film is severely underrated! A must see!
Rating: 
Summary: the desire to feel special
Review: Nana has a huge desire to feel special. It is unfortunate that it will never happen. Not a big fan of Jean-Luc Godard. Like Quentin Tarantino, his films seem to be about films, existing in their own universe, breaking the rules. This isn't necessarily a good thing.
Rating: 
Summary: desole!
Review: okay, so this movie is unforgettable, beautiful, the world of film is changed because of its existence-- BUT
to not have put it in letterbox is a CRIME! Its like going to
the Louvre and only seeing half the mona lisa. Every
scene of this film is like a painting chopped in half, the scene when shes danicing is especially painful. Why, oh WHY did they do that!!! LETTERBOX ONLY PLEASE!
Rating: 
Summary: LOOKING FOR MR GODARD
Review: Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard is one of the directors who has changed the way we look at movies nowadays. Along with D.W. Griffith, Orson Welles and a few others, he's part of Movie History. With a dozen movies in the sixties, he has dynamited the classic cinematographical grammar. He's a Master. Period. There's still a little problem. Actually, nobody, except perhaps one or two Woody Allen clones in New-York, has the opportunity to watch his work. And there is a terrible rumor about him : he's an intellectual and his movies are 1) boring 2) hard to understand and 3) in french with english subtitles. You can't fight with that and I won't. Just let me say that at least one scene of MY LIFE TO LIVE is a cinematographical pearl, one of these moments during which you feel that cinema is really the seventh art. Anna Karina's juvenile dance around the pools, shot alternatively with a subjective and an objective point of view is a scene to be watched again and again. And there are a lot of arty ideas or effects in MY LIFE TO LIVE that will be stolen from Godard by the new generation of filmmakers. But discover this movie by yourself in this above-average DVD transfer. And don't worry if you don't understand all the subtleties of MY LIFE TO LIVE. I doubt Jean-Luc did. A DVD for the curious ones.
Rating:
Summary: A Highly Recommened DVD Version of this Godard Masterpiece
Review: This is an exceptional edition of an earlier Godard work which is no doubt among the director's most powerful films. This DVD does not suffer from the below average audio and video transfers which plague too many of the Truffaut and Godard films in Fox Lorber's catalogue. My only complaint about this issue is the absence of special features and the very limited scene access. Nevertheless, this DVD is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Magnificent Anna Karina
Review: This is Godard's most austere film. Its also one of his best. Anna Karina is in every shot and you never get tired of looking into those sad, beautiful, hopeful eyes. The most heartwrenching part of the story is that no matter how far she descends into the grim world of prostitution she remains somehow innocent and to be truthful the world of prostitution actually doesn't look all that grim(her clients are polite, they always pay, there are no drugs, or beatings). She survives not by becoming detached but by remaining inquisitive and continuing to find things that interest her. She loves the film Passion of Joan of Arc, and she loves the Poe story her boyfriend reads, and she enjoys the company of anyone with fresh ideas or a different perspective. She might be a prostitute but she never stops being a human being first and she never stops seeing men as individuals and so she never stops liking them, even when they might see her and treat her merely as a type. Though she can sense the tragedy in someone elses life like Joan of Arcs she does not view herself as being tragic. She might be a prostitute but she does not seem ashamed of this, but rather just sees it as a job. You could almost say she is amused by her own situation. Its her intense awareness of life and her own freedom to live as she chooses and think and feel what she wants to that make her such a fascinating creature. In fact its the moment after she has her first client that she seems to really become fully aware of herself as a truly free creature. Karina's sense of freedom contrasts in an interesting way with her occupation and the films structure which sets a decidedly deterministic, even fatalistic, tone and pace. I do agree that the ending seems too easy and abrupt -- many of Godards films end with a kind of suddeness that makes them feel somehow incomplete. The French title of Breathless is Out of Breath and this seems to be Godards ruling principle -- film until you run out of ideas(out of breath) and then kill off your protaganist(this happens in Breathless, My Life To Live, and Pierrot le Fou). But whether you like the ending or not the rest of the film is so perfect that the film and especialy Karina's face, her attitudes and expressions, linger in your thoughts long after the film is over. Usually Jean-Luc Godard's style is the star of a Jean-Luc Godard but this is Anna Karina's movie. Cinematographer Coutard as usual does a tremendous job. I think my favorite Anna Karina film is Jacque Rivette's The Nun (La Religieuse)but this a close second. She is way more interesting than any of the other beauties of the era, and one suspects that she is as creative and original as Godard himself.
Rating:
Summary: The Magnificent Anna Karina
Review: This is Godard's most austere film. Its also one of his best. Anna Karina is in every shot and you never get tired of looking into those sad, beautiful, hopeful eyes. The most heartwrenching part of the story is that no matter how far she descends into the grim world of prostitution she remains somehow innocent and to be truthful the world of prostitution actually doesn't look all that grim(her clients are polite, they always pay, there are no drugs, or beatings). She survives not by becoming detached but by remaining inquisitive and continuing to find things that interest her. She loves the film Passion of Joan of Arc, and she loves the Poe story her boyfriend reads, and she enjoys the company of anyone with fresh ideas or a different perspective. She might be a prostitute but she never stops being a human being first and she never stops seeing men as individuals and so she never stops liking them, even when they might see her and treat her merely as a type. Though she can sense the tragedy in someone elses life like Joan of Arcs she does not view herself as being tragic. She might be a prostitute but she does not seem ashamed of this, but rather just sees it as a job. You could almost say she is amused by her own situation. Its her intense awareness of life and her own freedom to live as she chooses and think and feel what she wants to that make her such a fascinating creature. In fact its the moment after she has her first client that she seems to really become fully aware of herself as a truly free creature. Karina's sense of freedom contrasts in an interesting way with her occupation and the films structure which sets a decidedly deterministic, even fatalistic, tone and pace. I do agree that the ending seems too easy and abrupt -- many of Godards films end with a kind of suddeness that makes them feel somehow incomplete. The French title of Breathless is Out of Breath and this seems to be Godards ruling principle -- film until you run out of ideas(out of breath) and then kill off your protaganist(this happens in Breathless, My Life To Live, and Pierrot le Fou). But whether you like the ending or not the rest of the film is so perfect that the film and especialy Karina's face, her attitudes and expressions, linger in your thoughts long after the film is over. Usually Jean-Luc Godard's style is the star of a Jean-Luc Godard but this is Anna Karina's movie. Cinematographer Coutard as usual does a tremendous job. I think my favorite Anna Karina film is Jacque Rivette's The Nun (La Religieuse)but this a close second. She is way more interesting than any of the other beauties of the era, and one suspects that she is as creative and original as Godard himself.
Rating:
Summary: mortir sa morte
Review: this movie has a lot of life in it. it's my favourite godard but i haven't seen 'em all so it's my favourite godard of the godard that i've seen.
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