First Name: Carmen (1983) Prénom Carmen (original title)

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writers:

Anne-Marie Miéville (scenario)
Anne-Marie Miéville (adaptation)

Release Date:

11 January 1984 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

Carmen is a member of a terrorist gang who falls in love with a young police officer guarding a bank that she and her cohorts try to rob...

Plot Keywords:

Love | String | Police | Terrorist | Nudity

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Maruschka Detmers	...	Carmen X
Jacques Bonnaffé	...	Joseph Bonnaffé
Myriem Roussel	...	Claire
Christophe Odent	...	Le chef
Pierre-Alain Chapuis
Bertrand Liebert	...	Le garde du corps
Alain Bastien-Thiry	...	Le valet du grand hôtel (as Alain Bastien)
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Fred (as Hyppolite Girardot)
Odile Roire
Valérie Dréville	...	La nourrice / Wet nurse
Christine Pignet
Jean-Michel Denis
Jacques Villeret	...	L'homme qui mange des yaourts dans les toilettes de la station-service / Man eating jam
Jacques Prat	...	Violon (as Quatuor Prat)
Laurent Dangalec	...	Violon (as Quatuor Prat)
Bruno Pasquier	...	Alto (as Quatuor Prat)
Michel Strauss	...	Violoncelle (as Quatuor Prat)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eloïse Beaune	...	Eloïse (uncredited)
Sacha Briquet	...	Cameo appearance (uncredited)
Jean-Luc Godard	...	Oncle Jeannot (uncredited)
Jean-Pierre Mocky	...	Le malade qui crie 'Y a-t-il un Français dans la salle?' (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard

Writing credits
Anne-Marie Miéville		(scenario)
Anne-Marie Miéville		(adaptation)

Produced by
Alain Sarde	....	producer

Cinematography by
Raoul Coutard
Jean-Bernard Menoud

Film Editing by
Fabienne Alvarez-Giro		(as Fabienne Alvarez)
Suzanne Lang-Willar

Costume Design by
Renée Renard

Makeup Department
Laurence Azouvy	....	makeup artist
Catherine Crassac	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Bernard Bouix	....	production manager
Eric Dussart	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Debuisne	....	assistant director

Sound Department
François Musy	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Gérard Delayat	....	key grip
Jean Garcenot	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Hélène Robin	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
Adeline Yoyotte	....	assistant editor (as Adeline Yoyotte-Husson)

Other crew
Bruno Affret	....	technician

Production Companies

• Sara Films
• JLG Films
• Films A2

Distributors

• Concorde Filmverleih (1983) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Parafrance Films (1984) (France) (theatrical)
• International Spectrafilm (1984) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Connoisseur Video Collection (1995) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan with subtitles)
• Universal Pictures (2008) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Prénom Carmen" - France (original title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:R(A) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Iceland:14 | Australia:R (2007) | Australia:R | Italy:VM14 | Hong Kong:III | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Le Grand Hotel Inter Continental - 2 Rue Scribe, Paris 9, Paris, France

Company:

Sara Films

Trivia:

During the shoot-out at the Café de la Paix (the luxurious restaurant of the Grand Hotel Intercontinental), an undisturbed man is reading a large book, holding it so that the cover is shown prominently, several times: 'Nouveau Guide des Paradis Fiscaux', published in 1982, and written by a specialist on Swiss banking. Godard's tongue-in-cheek political comment (in a French-Swiss co-production) may escape some viewers, though.

Quotes:

Oncle Jeannot:Young people are crazy! They have great memories, but they forget anything. They're in a black hole.

Movie Connections:

Version of Carmen (1915/I)

Soundtrack:

String Quartet n. 14 op. 131

Idiosyncratic Godard!

Maruschka is taking her kit off in almost every scene, one almost doubts Godard's intentions. The film starts off on a self deprecatory note with Godard playing himself as a film director hospitalized with an unstable mind. A seemingly ordinary storyline takes on strange hues with its disjointed narrative and its treatment of certain scenes. The bank holdup is seen with a cynical eye which lends the whole scene farcical.An oddity in world cinema, best appreciated by film historians and buffs.