Pierrot le Fou

Godard’s stunning, colour widescreen account of the wild journey of ‘the last romantic couple’, Pierrot (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his lover Marianne (Anna Karina).

Inspired by Lionel White’s novel Obsession, and stunningly photographed in colour and ’Scope by Raoul Coutard, Godard’s tale of ‘the last romantic couple’ follows Pierrot (Belmondo) as he abandons the routine of his comfortable Paris existence for adventure on the road with lover Marianne (Karina).

By his tenth feature, Godard’s playful, postmodern style has begun to incorporate some of the more confrontational and political techniques that would categorise his post-'68 work; yet Pierrot remains one of Godard’s most accessible and fun films. With its protagonists’ blasé attitude to violence, pop culture references and restless editing style, Pierrot le Fou established the fugitive-lovers formula further distilled by Quentin Tarantino in his 1990s thrillers True Romance and Natural Born Killers. Ranked joint 84th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll. Contains racist attitudes and language.