Killing Me Softly?: An Examination of the Depiction of Violence in the Early Films of Jean-Luc Godard (1960-1967)

Now including a bonus essay on themes of sentimentality and globalisation in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 film, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain. Jean-Luc Godard's early films - up to the pivotal Weekend (1967) were determined to prove the adage that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun. Whether in crime thrillers like the era-defining A Bout de Souffle (1960) or philosophical science-fiction masterworks like Alphaville (1965), the Nouvelle Vague auteur alternated between romance, philosophy, and action. The violent acts that appear in Godard's early films seem 'muted' in some way, however, prompting this exhaustive study of the director's techniques for depicting violence. Gunshots and car crashes happen off-screen, bottles are smashed silently on victims' skulls, and fistfights are played for comic effect. This book explores three possible explanations for Godard's singular approach to the depiction of violence. Working with close reference to classic films including A Bout de Souffle, Vivre Sa Vie, Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou, Weekend and Le Mépris, Killing me Softly is a challenging academic study of the early work of one of the world's greatest living directors.