Master Rank #584

Vivre Sa Vie

1962

GCML Total8.0040% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

CastAnna Karina · Sady Rebbot

FranceFrenchDrama85 minNot Rated
Sight & SoundNarrative FeatureModerate pace
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Across twelve tableaux, Parisian shop assistant Nana leaves husband and child, pursues acting, and enters sex work.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

Nana, a young Parisian woman separated from husband and child, leaves record-shop work hoping to become an actress. Twelve titled tableaux follow financial pressure, cinema, cafés, street encounters, and her gradual entry into prostitution under pimp Raoul.

Why it belongs

Jean-Luc Godard makes Nana both observed image and thinking subject through tableaux, direct sound, philosophy, and Karina's unguarded face.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Chapter cards, café backs, jukeboxes, Dreyer's Joan of Arc, street sound, dance, interviews, and abrupt editing continually change the terms of looking—Anna Karina's face resists being reduced to sociological example.

Major award wins

No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.

Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20

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