And it's simply criminal that it is so unavailable. Turner Classic Movies has the rights to play it and has twice in 2001, but the film has never been available on video, at least not in the US.
Le petit soldat can be very hard to follow at times, and it certainly drags a bit nearer the start, but once it gets going, it escalates into a very powerful dramatic experience. Michel Subor and Anna Karina, in her first collaboration with her soon-to-be husband Godard, are excellent as two people who work for opposite causes who meet and fall in love. The film is very moody, and often very suspenseful. The music, by Maurice Leroux, is a simple but effective piano score, played in a tragic key. The romance is not beautiful, but is also played for tragedy.
Jean-Luc Godard is a name that most film lovers will know. Most of them will have seen or will someday see Breathless (A bout de souffle), his first and most famous film. Many others will find other films like Contempt, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live), and Weekend. But this great auteur, more than almost any other, has so many great forgotten works that it particularly depresses me. Le petit soldat is one of the best (I give it a 9/10). Also valuable and underseen are Une femme est une femme, Les carabiniers, Bande a part (Band of Outsiders), First Name: Carmen, Hail Mary, and his segment from Aria, to name just the ones I have seen. There are many, many more after that.
Le petit soldat can be very hard to follow at times, and it certainly drags a bit nearer the start, but once it gets going, it escalates into a very powerful dramatic experience. Michel Subor and Anna Karina, in her first collaboration with her soon-to-be husband Godard, are excellent as two people who work for opposite causes who meet and fall in love. The film is very moody, and often very suspenseful. The music, by Maurice Leroux, is a simple but effective piano score, played in a tragic key. The romance is not beautiful, but is also played for tragedy.
Jean-Luc Godard is a name that most film lovers will know. Most of them will have seen or will someday see Breathless (A bout de souffle), his first and most famous film. Many others will find other films like Contempt, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live), and Weekend. But this great auteur, more than almost any other, has so many great forgotten works that it particularly depresses me. Le petit soldat is one of the best (I give it a 9/10). Also valuable and underseen are Une femme est une femme, Les carabiniers, Bande a part (Band of Outsiders), First Name: Carmen, Hail Mary, and his segment from Aria, to name just the ones I have seen. There are many, many more after that.