Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) is a secret agent who has come to Alphaville from “the Outlands” (Earth). Alphaville is a dystopian city in a distant galaxy. Posing as a journalist named Ivan Johnson he claims to work for the Figaro-Pravda news organization. Caution is looking for a rogue agent, Henri Dickson (Akim Tamiroff). Henri had been sent previously but ended up under the control of the city. Caution is also looking for a scientist, von Braun who is believed to have defected and is thought to be running Alphaville.
Caution finds out that von Braun was the creator of Alpha 60, a sentient computer system that runs Alphaville. Caution meets von Braun’s daughter Natacha (Anna Karina). Despite being born on Earth, Natacha has been indoctrinated into the Alphaville ideology to the point where she doesn’t remember being from Earth. Alpha 60 uses mind control to keep the residents of Alphaville in line. Free thought and emotion are not allowed. Words that evoke emotions are removed from use. Those that go against the dictates of Alpha 60 are eliminated.
Caution finds Henri but he dies while having sex with a “Seductress Third Class”. Caution learns that Professor von Braun was actually Leonard Nosferatu, one of the scientists that were assigned to Los Alamos. Before Henri dies, he tells Caution that he needs to make Alpha 60 destroy itself. The way to do that is with tenderness and emotion.
“Alphaville” AKA “Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution” or “Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution” was released in 1965 and was directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It is a French New Wave science fiction neo-noir film.
This is one bizarre movie. It is steeped in noir and looks very 60’s but takes place in a future galaxy. It is very much alternate universe in feel. I found it very hard to understand and had to watch it more than once to figure out a lot of it. Even then I had to read various other plot synopses to fill in some of the blanks. I’m still not totally sure I figured it all out.
I found it slightly ironic that Caution attempts to defeat the computer by the use of emotion and feelings when he himself is very hardboiled, unemotional and deadpan. The film is also filled with symbolism that isn’t really explained. It all culminates into a fascinating, if unconventional thriller. A neo-noir that is also art-noir. If you don’t want to think about your movie, then you may not like it.
The voice of Alpha 60, in the original French version, was done by a cancer survivor who uses an artificial voice box.