I have to say that the contributors who have addressed either "factual errors", "technical goofs", or otherwise apparently have little familiarity with the overall work of Jean-Luc Godard. This guy is not the least bit concerned with the standard questions of continuity, factual and contemporaneous representation, plagiarism, or almost any other standard which envelopes Hollywood films - indeed, he has spent his career demolishing these standards. Just a cursory glance at the filmic and literary references throughout the film should make it apparent: Professor Vonbraun, who was originally named "Leonard Nosferatu", Heckell and Jeckell, Dick Tracy! What more do you need to recognize that Godard will steal from anyone and anything, will deliberately obfuscate, will twist anything to his purpose... which is perhaps never entirely clear to anyone, maybe not even the director himself.

Definitively I and Jean-Luc Godard don't get along with each other in what concerns films and filming. I didn't like any of his films I have seen previously and didn't like this one either. What does it mean and what does he want to communicate or say to us in all his films? Is he serious or is he just kidding with crime or science-fi or even love stories? Does he want to pass on any message to us? Which is it? I am not so stupid but if he is considered one of the best movie directors of our times by most responsible critics maybe the fault is mine. This movie takes place in Alphaville, a supposed extraterrestrial town in some exterior galaxy but that looks like any current town or city in this world like New York or Paris for instance, peopled by apparently normal people normally dressed. Some scenes are quite ordinary, some dialogues too but some others show very odd behaviours and incoherent talking. You travel out of the galaxy by car and by road for instance. Which codes and symbols is Godard recurring to? He once said: To make a movie we only need a gun and a woman. Is this the answer maybe?

This review is mainly a getting of things off my chest.Firstly - the voice of the computer, Alpha 60 (and what a hugely imaginative name that is!), made me want to kill somebody. The director, most likely. Then I found out from Sometimesaccurateopedia that apparently the voice was that of a post-cancer surgery victim with a mechanical larynx, and I felt guilty: for attacking this man's disability - I still felt fine about killing Jean-Luc Godard for getting him to do the computer's voice.Secondly - the entire dialogue, which purports to expound the 'plot', is a load of wishy-washy rubbish that can't make up its mind if it wants to be solipsist, romantic or humanist, and finally cops out with a resounding crash and settles on 'The Power Of Love Will Save Us All'.Thirdly - the SF is utter garbage. Concepts that were old and hackneyed even in 1964/5, and so many complete absurdities ('galaxies', using 'light-years' incorrectly...) that any science is pushed off stage-left - it must, then, be Art! Even if Alphaville is supposed to be taken as a spoof, it still proves one thing: those with only Arts qualifications should not, ever, attempt Science Fiction.OK, my chest feels lighter.Reading up on this film I've seen it described in so many different ways by those who praise it - as in, literally a couple of dozen different ways - that I now have to conclude something: it's a mess, and nobody really knows what it means - which means that it means... nothing.So - I hereby dump any attempt to analyse it.Instead I will swap to the positive, and say one last thing:It is, truly, beautiful to look at. It's just one, long, B&W, noir scene-experiment - and that's what kept me watching. That, and the surreality of it being set 'out' of time, in an unknown Paris.As a film, Alphaville is rubbish! As a moving object - with the sound off to get rid of the awful music and Alpha 60's nausitating voice - it's gorgeous! - -- ---

Godard was one of the most brilliant directors to ever make movies. His rebellious attitude and style simply puts some people off, which is unfortunate since Godard's movies are smart, well-crafted and, yes, entertaining.Alphaville is most often compared to movies that came after it, which goes to show how unique and groundbreaking it was (even if perhaps this has been obscured in hindsight). What Godard achieved is seen best at what HASN'T aged. Anytime you show computers and technology in a sci-fi movie it invariably will look dated years later. Yet Godard's stylized approach looks far beyond the superficiality of Alphaville. For example, the first scene with Lemmy Caution in Alpha 60 shows him monitored with microphones manipulated about his head. The jerky motion of the mics (equipment that isn't futuristic is the slightest) portray the mechanical control of Alpha 60 with cunning insight. The microphones are neither left static nor moved with fluid grace (just as another scene with discontinuous shots of a fight). The ominous, intermittent movements suggest the limitations of this computerized state.I like this movie in its correlation to William S. Burroughs' fictional world Interzone. Alphaville's Dr. Nosferatu (which translates into the undead, as in vampires) bears some resemblance to Burroughs' Dr. Benway. Alpha 60, the monstrous human/machine computer running Alphaville, functions much as Burroughs' Nova Mob. Concerns over science dehumanizing society are pervasive. The scene where Alphaville executes the poets using water ballet echoes the fictional dichotomy the state has drawn."Alphaville" is hypnotic. The continuous use of flashing lights impresses this. The ending is what cracks me up. Ending with Natasha VonBraun (Anna Karina) straining to utter "I...love...you." Is this all Lemmy Caution has fought for, some sentimental tripe? Maybe Godard subtly revised Hitchcock's ending to his second "The Man Who Knew Too Little"--Jimmy Stewart delivers the beyond-obvious line, "Sorry I'm late, I just had to go pick up Henry.""Alphaville" throws together a multitude of increasingly aggressive styles. After "Le Mepris" in 1963, this movie (if one ever could) shows a transition to Godard's scathing "Weekend" in 1967. Godard made so many wonderful movies each its own treasure. Not that everybody should make movies like Godard, I do wish everyone could make movies as good as his are.