Synopsis
“While many argue that
Godard's later films pale in comparison to his seminal work from the 1960s,
First Name: Carmen belies this myth. All the classic
Godard trademarks are here: fatalism, romantic scorn, socialist rhetoric, visual symbolism, tortured narcissism (with
Godard himself playing Carmen's lecherous filmmaker uncle), and a healthy dose of Americanisms. Loosely based on the source of
Bizet's opera, this Carmen has its heroine rob a bank in order to fund a film she wants to make. Weaving
Beethoven's late quartets with the cacophony of Parisian traffic and high tragedy with comic farce, Carmen becomes at once a parody of the director's own work from the 1960s and a prototype for a new cinema for its own time.” – Harvard Film Archive
