Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou, made at the height of the French New Wave, remains a milestone in French cinema. This volume brings together essays by five prominent scholars of French film who approach the film from the perspectives of image-and-word-play, aesthetics and politics, history, and high and popular culture.



Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou, made at the height of the French New Wave, remains a milestone in French cinema. More accessible than his later films, it represents the diverse facets of Godard's concerns and themes: a bittersweet analysis of male-female relations; an interrogation of the image; personal and international politics; the existential dilemmas of consumer society. This volume, first published in 2000, brings together essays by five prominent scholars of French film. They approach Pierrot le fou from the perspectives of image-and-word-play, aesthetics and politics, history, and high and popular culture, offering thought-provoking insights into the film, while demonstrating its relevance for a new generation of students of film. Also included are a selection of reviews of the film, as well as a complete filmography of Godard's work.