Vivre Sa Vie (1962) Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (original title)

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writers:

Marcel Sacotte (book)
Jean-Luc Godard (story)
(more)

Release Date:

20 September 1962 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

Plot Keywords:

Prostitution | Billiards | Eviction | Pool Table | Paris France

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Anna Karina	...	Nana Kleinfrankenheim
Sady Rebbot	...	Raoul (as Saddy Rebbot)
André S. Labarthe	...	Paul
Guylaine Schlumberger	...	Yvette (as G. Schlumberger)
Gérard Hoffman	...	Le chef
Monique Messine	...	Elisabeth
Paul Pavel	...	Journaliste
Dimitri Dineff	...	Dimitri
Peter Kassovitz	...	Le jeune homme
Eric Schlumberger	...	Luigi (as E. Schlumberger)
Brice Parain	...	Le philosophe
Henri Attal	...	Arthur (as Henri Atal)
Gilles Quéant	...	Premier client
Odile Geoffroy	...	La serveuse de café
Marcel Charton	...	L'agent de police
Jack Florency	...	L'homme dans le cinéma
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alfred Adam	...	(uncredited)
Mario Botti	...	L'italien (uncredited)
Jean Ferrat	...	Homme près du Jukebox (uncredited)
Jean-Luc Godard	...	Voix de l'amant lisant Poe (voice) (uncredited)
Gisèle Hauchecorne	...	Concierge (uncredited)
Jean-Paul Savignac	...	Soldat (uncredited)
László Szabó	...	Homme blessé (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard

Writing credits
Marcel Sacotte		(book "Où en est la prostitution")
Jean-Luc Godard		(story)
Jean-Luc Godard
Marcel Sacotte		(additional narrative)

Produced by
Pierre Braunberger	....	producer (as P. Braunberger)

Original Music by
Michel Legrand

Cinematography by
Raoul Coutard

Film Editing by
Jean-Luc Godard
Agnès Guillemot

Costume Design by
Christiane Fageol

Makeup Department
Alexandre	....	hair stylist designer
Simone Knapp	....	hair stylist
Jacky Reynal	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jean F. Adam	....	unit manager
Roger Fleytoux	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean-Paul Savignac	....	second assistant director (as J. Paul Savignac)
Bernard Toublanc-Michel	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Lila Lakshmanan	....	sound editor
Jacques Maumont	....	sound mixer
Jean Philippe	....	boom operator
Guy Villette	....	sound

Special Effects by
Jean Fouchet	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Claude Beausoleil	....	assistant camera
Charles L. Bitsch	....	camera operator (as Charles Bitsch)
Fernand Coquet	....	electrician (as Coquet Frères)
François Coquet	....	electrician (as Coquet Frères)
Pierre Durin	....	dolly grip
Bernard Largemain	....	key grip

Transportation Department
Claude Laporte	....	driver

Other crew
Georges Cravenne	....	unit publicist
Ida Fassio	....	production secretary
Marilù Parolini	....	reportage (as M.L. Parolini)
Suzanne Schiffman	....	script girl
Ursule Monlinaro	....	title designer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Les Films de la Pléiade
• Pathé Consortium Cinéma

Distributors

• Panthéon Distribution (1962) (France) (theatrical)
• Union Film Distributors Inc. (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (1997) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Ripley's Home Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Chrestien Frères  grip equipment

Also Known As:

"Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux" - France (original title)
"My Life to Live" - USA

Runtime:

80 min | Germany:83 min (restored integral version) | Portugal:83 min | UK:83 min | USA:85 min | West Germany:79 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | UK:15 | West Germany:18 (w) (nf) | South Korea:18 | Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:Not Rated | Germany:12 (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Les Films de la Pléiade

Trivia:

The story being read to Nana is "The Oval Portrait" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Quotes:

Nana:Why must one always talk? Often one shouldn't talk, but live in silence.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mauvais sang (1986)

Soundtrack:

Ma môme

It's a sad world, and Godard knew it!

My father had a lot of trouble to explain me what those men were doing, laying against the wall on a busy Sunday street, where there were a number of women in flashy clothes going up and down the street, looking at the men who passed by instead of doing window-shopping like me, and my father. It was 1954, in Lisbon. I came to know the men were pimps, and although I always respected the 'girls who were in the life', the pimp became my pet hate, to this day.

Does Goddard make an outstanding political speech here? I'm not sure. But now I understand why everybody was speaking of his 'Nana' in the Sixties. It's a poignant story, clear and sharp, with no tears but more like a gut punch. Particularly for the (unexpected?) ending. I disagree with those who said that the 12 scenes of the movie are 'unconnected'. They are connected! But the film should be fully appreciated on a second viewing for it, may be. These days, people are not able to cope with this much philosophy in a single film.

It's also a sad world when you discover, in 2001, that this film runs 85 minutes in the USA, 83m in Portugal, and 80m in France (it's so described in "Cinéguide" des Presses de la Cité (ed.1992). France shows the most short of the current versions of this wonderful movie about streetwalkers and pimps, about workers and profiteers; therefore, the most 'cut' or censored version - be it political or commercial censorship. France! the country that represented for me Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, when I was a 6 year-old kid opening his eyes to the beauty of chandeliers in a shop window, the beauty of girls in high-heels and knee-length skirts, and the wrongness of the half part of the world who lived without working, squeezing money of those who worked. Even if the work was - like Nana's - lending her body to other people...