The Little Soldier (Le Petit Soldat)
Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
1963
****
I much prefer Jean-Luc Godard's early work, Le Petit Soldat being his first political film and as far as I've seen, one of his best. First off, it looks great, La Nouvelle Vague at its best. The romance between the two leads is reminiscent of that in 1960's Breathless (À bout de souffle) and it has all the intrigue of Alphaville but Le Petit Soldat is never quite as accomplished as either film. It feels more like a Louis Malle film to me to be honest but to Godard's credit, the ending is wonderfully bleak and very much his style. I generally like the style of his script rather than what is actually said but the last scene leaves you with very little doubt about what this film is about and it really makes the film. Michel Subor is super cool and a great actor and Anna Karina is a goddess.