Pierrot le Fou

Play trailer

Pierrot le Fou

1969

1h 45m

Drama

Comedy

Mystery & Thriller

Musical

Romance

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

50 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Uninterested in his wife (Dirk Sanders), Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo) wearies of his stagnant life. But when the couple hires an enigmatic baby-sitter, Marianne Renoir (Anna Karina), Ferdinand falls head over heels in love with her and abandons his family. He soon discovers, however, that his mistress is not who she seems. Pursued by foreign thugs, Ferdinand and Marianne steal a car and embark on a crime spree through the French countryside all the way to the Mediterranean.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Colorful, subversive, and overall beguiling, Pierrot le Fou is arguably Jean-Luc Godard's quintessential work.

Read Critics Reviews

Keith Uhlich

(All (Parentheses)) (Substack)

Represents a high watermark of the art film, and in no small measure due to its despair over the artist’s ambivalent, uncertain role in an era of aesthetic, technological, and political turmoil. —Guest Post by Michael Joshua Rowin

Sep 6, 2022

Full Review

Joe Morgenstern

Newsweek

"Pierrot" is less successfully artistically than several Godard films that followed it: Masculine Feminine, La Chinoise and Weekend. It's much more than historically interesting, though, this funny little fugue for soured sweethearts.

Jul 6, 2022

Full Review

Renata Adler

New York Times

The film is poetic, quiet, introverted, personal.

Jan 9, 2018

Full Review

Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Pierrot Le Fou is quite obviously a film that will reward subsequent viewings.

Feb 23, 2024

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

In beautiful color and modernizing of a calmer France, it would be among the last works in Godard’s first phase where he then shifted to politically charged movies.

Mar 1, 2023

Full Review

Sean Burns

WBUR’s Arts & Culture

The most spectacularly beautiful of Godard’s films, and not just for the closeups of Karina.

Oct 10, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Sarfaraz A

Jean-Luc Godard wrote and directed this French New Wave road crime thriller. Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo co-star. The film is based on Lionel White's 1962 novel, "Obsession". Jean is a married guy with a young daughter who one day steals a car with his daughter's babysitter, Anna, and goes on a crime spree, while being pursued by the Mafia. I enjoyed cinematic photography, nostalgic sights of streets and buildings in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, both at night and in daytime. The leads are irritant but with fathomable performances. I couldn't comprehend how Anna could knock down a healthy and haughty working man at a gas station by punching him in the chest and he never got up. This type of film's frivolity drove away my interest in it. Jean-Luc Godard is recognized as one of the best filmmakers whose work has never received an Oscar, which is most likely why Western film critics wish to repay him by giving his films excellent reviews.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/09/25

Full Review

Dušan A

Such beautiful imagery, evoking all kinds of emotions, although yet again as Dragan Nikolic would say "It's Godard, there is no plot"

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/13/24

Full Review

Camero W

Not for the faint of mind

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/06/24

Full Review

Yellowfur D

The only shortcoming of this movie is that the female characters are still passive and ignorant. The story, colors, editing, etc. can't be faulted.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/21/23

Full Review

Dani G

Typical Godard surrealism and lack of sense. That's his line of work and I respect it

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is the movie I most quickly wished to turn it off. I have spent little more than 10 minutes.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Jean-Luc Godard

Director

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Ferdinand Griffon, dit "Pierrot"

Anna Karina

Marianne Renoir

Graziella Galvani

Maria

Dirk Sanders

Fred

Jimmy Karoubi

Le nain chef des gangsters

The Fortune Cookie

96%

80%

The Fortune Cookie

Watchlist

No Way to Treat a Lady

89%

74%

No Way to Treat a Lady

Watchlist

Day for Night

98%

91%

Day for Night

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Uninterested in his wife (Dirk Sanders), Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo) wearies of his stagnant life. But when the couple hires an enigmatic baby-sitter, Marianne Renoir (Anna Karina), Ferdinand falls head over heels in love with her and abandons his family. He soon discovers, however, that his mistress is not who she seems. Pursued by foreign thugs, Ferdinand and Marianne steal a car and embark on a crime spree through the French countryside all the way to the Mediterranean.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Producer: Georges de Beauregard
Screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard, Remo Forlani, Lionel White
Distributor: Pathé Contemporary Films
Production Co: Les Productions Georges de Beauregard, Rome Paris Films, Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie, Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Mystery & Thriller, Musical, Romance
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 8, 1969, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Dec 18, 2015
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $22.7K
Runtime: 1h 45m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Most Popular at Home Now