ALPHAVILLE Explained: A Haunting Vision of Dystopia

To evoke emotions in the viewer, there is no need for Hollywood-style fireworks, expensive decorations, or complex effects. All that is needed is a camera, a protagonist, and narration, harmonizing together in one deeply thought-out concept. One of the leading figures of the New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard, went a step further, making it clear to the audience that this rawness also fits the science fiction genre, which had previously been associated with grand spectacles. This is how Alphaville was created, the most avant-garde sci-fi in history.

There is no coincidence in the fact that the real name of Professor von Braun, a key character in the film, is Leonard Nosferatu. The reference to the famous work by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau is made in Alphaville because, as a classc example of noir crime, it directly relates to German expressionism. The style, the darkness, the chiaroscuro. But there is another, much more significant connection between the 1965 film and the German movement. Alphaville is, in fact, the French, New Wave answer to the silent sci-fi classic – Metropolis. The difference between these spectacles, however, lies in the fact that while both deal with cities that act as colossal forces, confronting the individual with technological terror, Alphaville is, first of all, staged completely differently, and second, it carries an entirely different message.

The 1965 film, shot for what today might seem like the ridiculously low sum of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, follows a very typical plot structure of noir crime. Based on it, the protagonist must carry out an investigation, during which he will face various obstacles. The title of the film refers to a city that serves as the center of the galaxy, where a dangerous computer, Alpha 60, rules and divides humanity. It is dangerous because it establishes a new social order, prohibiting feelings, among other things. The main character, Lemmy Caution (brilliantly played by Eddie Constantine), arrives in the city as a special agent pretending to be a journalist, with the task of finding the computer’s creator, Professor von Braun, bringing him back to the old world, or simply eliminating him. He is helped by the beautiful Natasha (Anna Karina), with whom the relationship also serves as a pretext for a forbidden romance.

Where Metropolis is dominated by even today stunningly spectacular opulence, Alphaville is marked mainly by modesty, if not filth, and a striking closeness to the world seen outside the window. Where Fritz Lang, the director of Metropolis, implies that, regardless of the circumstances, there is always a chance that a new civilization will rise from the ruins of revolution, Godard makes it clear, destroying faith in humanity and mocking the idea of utopia. In Alphaville, we are therefore faced with a dystopian vision, as the author does not give humanity a positive verdict. He does not believe in its spirit, he does not believe in its strength. In the burgeoning computerization of the 1960s, he primarily sees a threat, both to individual freedom and to the freedom of human thought. And it is hard not to agree with these early observations, which at the time were openly hyperbolic. Sixty years after its release, artificial intelligence has ceased to be a fantasy of sci-fi writers, and the threats associated with it have long since left the realm of speculation, becoming part of scientific theory.

“Alphaville is a film about the presence of elements of the future in today’s world” – the director allegedly said. This statement takes on additional meaning when considering how the film was shot. Alphaville was filmed in the setting of contemporary Paris, and clearly, following the path of New Wave avant-garde, the filmmakers refrained from building elaborate sets and using various cinematic tricks. Watching the film may thus give the impression of engaging with a more ambitious B-movie and simultaneously provide fully ambivalent feelings to the average fan of the genre, as on one hand, they will not see science fiction in Alphaville at all (despite the use of grandiose and typical sci-fi words like “galaxy” or “supercomputer”, the atmosphere of the story resembles classic detective cinema more than sci-fi). On the other hand, the 1965 film will give the same viewer something invaluable – the awareness that what science fiction should primarily stand for is content. The greatness of the vision should not be measured by the scale of the production or the enormity of the worlds depicted, but by the philosophical reflection on society, culture, and politics in the face of future challenges.

Revived after years, Alphaville is thus, above all, a very instructive viewing experience. This is how I approached it and how I still reflect on it. What strikes me most is that already in the 1960s, when people hadn’t even dreamed of having personal computers, there were thoughts that this computer, instead of helping with everyday life, could become its enemy. How significant and surprising it is that today, in times when we use miniature computers, i.e., smartphones, which constantly monitor our activity online, performing many tasks for us, knowing more about us than we know about ourselves – no one is creating such haunting visions of dystopia anymore. Yet, the threat has not disappeared; it has, in fact, come true.

But Godard would not be himself if he did not also opt for ambiguity in Alphaville. In truth, it is difficult to categorically determine what the creator meant. Did he express his opposition to capitalism through hyperbolic fears of unchecked technological development, or did he metaphorically hide in this story his disdain for the socialist face of totalitarianism? Is the situation in Alphaville serious, or should we look at the events with a wink, treating the whole thing as a harmless, somewhat nonsensical grotesque? Regardless of which way we interpret the 1965 work, one thing is certain – a world without freedom and love is so ordinary, so sad, and so dull that it is impossible to like it. Therefore, Alphaville does not need to be liked. But it certainly deserves to be respected.