Le petit soldat

Le petit soldat (transl. The Little Soldier) is a French film, written and directed by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard in 1960, but not released until 1963. It was Godard's third film released with Anna Karina, who starred as Véronica Dreyer alongside Michel Subor (as Bruno Forestier).

Le petit soldat
Directed byJean-Luc Godard
Written byJean-Luc Godard
Produced byGeorges de Beauregard
StarringMichel Subor
Anna Karina
Henri-Jacques Huet
CinematographyRaoul Coutard
Edited byAgnès Guillemot
Lila Herman
Nadine Marquand
Music byMaurice Leroux
Release date
1963
Running time
88 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

Plot

During the Algerian War, Bruno Forestier lives in Geneva to escape the enlistment in France. Working for La Main Rouge, he is ordered to kill Palivoda, who is pro-FLN (National Liberation Front of Algeria), to prove he is not a double agent. Refusal and hesitation keep him from carrying out the assassination.

Meanwhile, he meets and falls in love with Véronica Dreyer, who helped the FLN. Bruno plans to leave with her for Brazil, but he is captured and tortured by Algerian revolutionaries.

He escapes and agrees to kill Palivoda for the French in exchange for passage to Brazil for himself and Véronica. However, the French discover Véronica's ties to the FLN and torture her to death.

Cast

Themes

The situation in Algeria and the denunciation of the use of torture by both sides are the main themes of the movie.

The film explores a theme typical of Jean-Luc Godard's later works: the nature of cinema and the image.

Release

The film was banned in France until January 1963 because of its inclusion of torture scenes. This was Godard's second feature film (after À bout de souffle) but was released as his fourth. This is the first of Godard's movies to star Anna Karina, who became his wife soon after filming. She would go on to become the quintessential Godard actress.

Reception

Le petit soldat has received generally positive reviews since release; Rotten Tomatoes reports 80% approval among 15 critics.[1] In a retrospective review, Roger Ebert awarded it four stars.[2]

References
  1. "Le petit soldat (1963) on RT". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  2. "Le Petit Soldat movie review & film summary (1960) | Roger Ebert".
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