Perhaps the most surprising thing of all is how accessible the film is.  During the 1980s, Godard’s cinema showed a progression towards the bewilderingly complex, defying every convention as far as possible.  Frequently, he dispensed with any notion of the narrative form, relying on photographic imagery and sound trickery to construct – not a story – but an alternative form of expression.  It is this unrelenting striving for originality in film-making that contributed to the director’s increasing ostracism from mainstream cinema.  Prénom Carmen stands out as possibly the one film during this period where Godard was able to appeal to a wider audience. 

This is a film that shines with the director’s wry, cynical humour, and carries more than an echo of the director’s glory days of the 1960s.  Strangely, it is also a very human film.  Joesph’s obsessive love for Carmen is very subtly and convincing portrayed.  Godard even gets to play a warm caricature of himself as Carmen’s burnt out uncle, a touching cameo performance which reveals a great deal of how the director saw himself at the time. 

Perhaps, in some areas, Godard does go a little too far.  Breaking the narrative to show the musicians playing the film’s musical score is a nice touch at first, but when this is repeated over and over again, it does get a little tedious.   Also, violence and full-frontal nudity are both carried a little too far, possibly.  However, these are minor quibbles over what is undoubtedly a solid and entertaining piece of cinema. 

© James Travers 2001