An unlucky character on Friday the 13^th

“I'd even lose at hopscotch these days.”

– Bob Montagné

Bob gambles, and always wins. But then he starts losing. And not just games.

Student activism to commemorate the March 19 1968 Howard University Protest

“One must confront vague ideas with clear images”

– slogan on a wall

Five Maoist students theorise, then practice a radical overthrow via terrorism.

 

Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's Бѣсы [The Possessed] (1871–72).

“Whoever dies for the country hasn't lived in vain. I, on the contrary, will live for the country because I'm not that stupid.”

– George A. Custer

– Ah, regarde, c'est Tati ! – Tati qui? – Tati, comme Mon Oncle.

“Can we not admit that certain skilled men, gifted with intelligence, talent or even genius, and thus indispensable to society, rather than stagnate, should be free to disobey laws in certain cases?”

– Michel

“Have you seen Mr Tavernier tonight?”

“Yes, I'm afraid of death… but for a humble secret agent that's a fact of life, like whisky. And I've drunk that all my life.”

– Lemmy Caution

Science fiction, of course, doesn't have to be driven by grandes effects, by superstar names and monumental backdrops. It can be cool, dry, colourless even. The hero, in trenchcoat and fedora, traverses a lightless city. There are few others at this time of night. The familiar landmarks of the City of Light become the voice of 𝛼-60, an artificial intelligence that presides over Alphaville.

𝛼-60: “Do you know what illuminates the night?”

Lemmy Caution: “Poetry.”

– 𝛼-60 playing the imitation game with Lemmy Caution

Based on a poem by Paul Éluard, #Godard's Alphaville bears similarities with Jean #Cocteau's Orphée (1950), transported to a mirror world of sorts. It also foreshadows not only our time, but also M. Hulot's, whose #Tativille could be the simulacra of 𝛼-60's simulated, dehumanised world.