Alphaville (1965)

Alphaville (subtitled Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution, "A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution") is a 1965 French New Wave tech noir film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and starring Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina and Akim Tamiroff. The film combines the genres of dystopian science fiction and film noir. There are no special props or futuristic sets: instead, the film was shot in real locations in Paris, the night-time streets of the capital becoming the streets of Alphaville, while modernist glass and concrete buildings (which in 1965 were new and strange architectural designs) represent the city's interiors. Although the film is set in the future, the technologies used and the corporations and events mentioned in the film place them firmly in the 20th century; for example, Caution describes himself as a Guadalcanal veteran.

Expatriate American actor Eddie Constantine plays Lemmy Caution, a trenchcoat-wearing secret agent. Constantine had already played this or similar roles in dozens of previous films; the character was originally created by British crime novelist Peter Cheyney. However, in Alphaville, director Jean-Luc Godard moves Caution away from his usual twentieth-century setting and places him in a futuristic sci-fi dystopia, the technocratic dictatorship of Alphaville.

The film was released in France on May 5, 1965. It won the Golden Bear award of the 15th Berlin International Film Festival in 1965, and has received critical acclaim since its initial release.