Vivre Sa Vie – a must-see for all Jean-Luc Goddard fans

Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

VIVRE SA VIE (BFI). A Jean-Luc Goddard 1962 masterpiece, told in twelve separate chapters with Brechtian inter-titles, is a loving portrait of a 22-year-old Parisienne separated from her husband who wants to get into films, but she has no money and resorts to prostitution. She acquires a pimp.

The lovely Anna Karina, with her black helmet haircut, looks like Louise Brooks. (She was married to Goddard when they were filming and he and the camera adore her.) The filmgoer is bombarded with facts about prostitution.

There are many quotes from famous writers and striking shots of Renee Falconetti in Dryer’s silent film of Joan of Arc with whom she identifies. Goddard’s philosophy tutor talks at length. The film (which is dedicated to B Movies) is also not afraid to have long shots of the backs of heads. It’s a definite must-see for all Goddard fans.

ANGELS ONE FIVE (StudioCanal) gets a timely release for the 75^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” It is all too easy nowadays to guy the British stiff-upper-lip; but George More O’Ferrall’s modest 1954 tribute to the outnumbered pilots in 1940 works precisely because of its modesty and sincerity.

Due to a limited budget there is little aerial combat and the film remains grounded, sticking mainly to the operational control room. Jack Hawkins, Michael Denison, John Gregson and Cyril Raymond, reliable, solid actors, are totally adept with the understatement.

A LITTLE CHAOS (Lionsgate). Louis XIV, having moved his court from the Louvre to Versailles, decides to build the most famous garden in the world on swampland. The script concentrates on the building of an outdoor garden ballroom with fountains and cascading water and the two landscape gardeners responsible for its construction.

One is an historical figure and traditional whilst the other is fictional and radical. They fall in love. The actors wander around in 17^th century costume but talk as if they were in the 21^st century. Kate Winslet remains jarringly modern throughout.

Matthias Schoenaearts is surprisingly dull and the film never really comes to life. Alan Rickman, who directs, also plays the Sun King and his two horticultural scenes with Winslet are easily the most interesting.

THE FALLING (Metrodome). There’s mass hysteria at an all girls’ public school in the 1960s. A glamorous rebel (Florence Pugh) gets pregnant and keeps fainting. She dies. Her best friend (Maisie Williams who has a nervous wink) misses her terribly and starts misbehaving. Soon all the girls are fainting and being hospitalised. What’s happening? Is there a rational explanation?

Are these sick girls just normal teenagers with raging hormones and lesbian and incestuous desires? Anarchic schoolgirls instantly conjure up images of Ronald Searle’s St Trinian’s. Carol Morley’s film is definitely not a horror story; it’s much nearer in tone to Picnic at Hanging Rock.

ESSENTIAL RICHARD MASSINGHAM (BFI). Massingham (1898-1953) was a British eccentric and humourist who directed an acted in a number of little public information comedies which may not be that funny any longer.

However, they are certainly of historical interest since they give a portrait of Britain pre-war, in wartime, and during the post-war austerity years, when Brits were living in a nanny state and needed advice on how to cross a road and how to sneeze in public.

During the war the government had to persuade the nation to bath in no more than five inches of water. Bassingham’s whimsical propaganda piece was evidently a great help in getting the public to do just that.

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