Overview
A thrilling escape from the confines of bourgeois life leads to unexpected love and danger.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- irreverent
- dreamy
- arthouse film night
- cinephile viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a landmark of formally inventive French New Wave cinema and one of Jean-Luc Godard's most accomplished works.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Ferdinand and Marianne's journey repeatedly collides with painted intertitles, literary quotations, direct address, and conspicuously artificial storytelling.
The film's striking reds, blues, and yellows turn cars, landscapes, interiors, and bodies into bold painterly compositions.
Ferdinand and Marianne abandon bourgeois domestic life for a road journey shaped by smuggling, pursuit, desire, and aimlessness.
Ferdinand's marriage, unemployment, and influential in-laws are rejected in favor of Marianne's dangerous underworld and their improvised escape.
Films like Pierrot le Fou, and why
À bout de souffle
shares French New Wave experimentation, fugitive lovers, pop-art color, and a playful crime-romance structure
Bonnie and Clyde
shares doomed lovers on the run, stylized crime conventions, and volatile romantic chemistry
Weekend
shares radical editing, self-conscious cinema, romantic alienation, and formally adventurous storytelling
The Passenger
shares an art-inflected road movie form, bohemian drift, and melancholy romantic escape
Movie Details
- Director
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Release Date
- 1965-11-05
- Runtime
- 110 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (969)
Cast
- Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Anna Karina
- Graziella Galvani
- Aicha Abadir
- Henri Attal
- Pascal Aubier
- Maurice Auzel
- Raymond Devos
- Roger Dutoit
- Samuel Fuller
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Pierrot le Fou about?
- A married television executive and his former lover abandon bourgeois Paris for a vivid, anarchic flight through crime, desire, and cinematic fantasy.
- What is Pierrot le Fou like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Pierrot le Fou as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Pierrot le Fou violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Pierrot le Fou as mild.
- What did critics think of Pierrot le Fou?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a landmark of formally inventive French New Wave cinema and one of Jean-Luc Godard's most accomplished works.
- Which films are like Pierrot le Fou?
- Films with a similar feel include À bout de souffle, Bonnie and Clyde, Weekend, and The Passenger.
- How long is Pierrot le Fou?
- Pierrot le Fou runs 110 minutes.
- Where can I watch Pierrot le Fou?
- In United States, Pierrot le Fou streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max.
