---
product_id: 15082453
title: "Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]"
price: "$4.57"
currency: USD
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reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/15082453-vivre-sa-vie-the-criterion-collection-dvd
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---

# Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

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- **What is this?** Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]
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## Description

Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave were at the height of their power and creativity when Godard released Vivre Sa Vie ( Living Her Life ) in 1962. And watching it again, years later, instantly transports one to the era where an offhand remark, a lazy circle of cigarette smoke, a sidelong glance, a disaffected "I don't care about you" could all communicate deep, conflicted longing, alienation, postwar malaise, and infinite possibility. In fact, watching Vivre Sa Vie , starring Godard's lovely muse, Anna Karina, is at once both enervating--and exhilarating. The film is subtitled Film en Douze Tableaux , and the story shows Karina as Nana in 12 different short films, snapshots of her lonely, seemingly aimless life--in scenes that stay with the viewer for days afterward. In the very first tableau, Nana and a former lover, Paul (André S. Labarthe), are having a sad, disjointed conversation in a café--are they breaking up? Getting back together? The pain and power of the scene lies in its ambiguousness. And Godard and his brilliant cinematographer, Raoul Coutard, shoot this initial scene, of the most intimate conversation between two lovers, entirely from behind them. The sad, longing remarks, barbs, halfhearted entreaties--they are all communicated while the viewer looks just at the back of Karina's sleek black bob and Labarthe's scruffy hair. Only near the end of that scene, as the viewer is practically craning forward to connect to the characters, do we get a glimpse of half of a cheek, one eyebrow. And from this moment, Godard and the cast have the viewer enthralled. In a later tableau, we watch long, uninterrupted scenes of The Passion of Joan of Arc --in itself a treat--and the supposedly disaffected heroine Nana weeping rivers of tears, silently, in the theater. There are many layers to this lovely young woman, and each of the 12 snapshots of her life reveals more. Nana's life becomes a tragedy, as she descends into prostitution--yet along the way, her luminescence is revealed in small ways. In one scene, she recalls a writing exercise from when she was a child. "Birds are creatures with an outside, and an inside," she recites. "When you remove the outside, you see the inside. When you remove the inside, you see the soul." The shattering beauty of Vivre Sa Vie is that Godard and Karina allow us to see the outside, then the inside, and then finally, the soul. The Criterion Collection edition offers true cinema riches, especially in an interview with Karina from 1962, several modern commentaries putting Godard and the film in its historical context, reportage from early-'60s France on the dire situation of prostitutes at the time, a booklet of film criticism, and much more. -- A.T. Hurley Vivre sa vie was a turning point for Jean-Luc Godard and remains one of his most dynamic films, combining brilliant visual design with a tragic character study. The lovely Anna Karina, Godard's greatest muse, plays Nana, a young Parisian who aspires to be an actress but instead ends up a prostitute; her downward spiral is depicted in a series of discrete tableaux of daydreams and dances. Featuring some of Karina and Godard's most iconic moments - from her movie theater vigil with the Passion of Joan of Arc to her seductive pool-hall strut - Vivre sa vie is a landmark of the French New Wave that still surprises at every turn.

Review: people and their bad faith, and driving against the forces that threaten ... - In the character of Nana Anna Karina explores Godard's thoughts and feelings about art, and how open-ended this precious gift is, in terms of articulation, whether through acting (Anna Karina), writing as Poe does, or Plato, or Hegel or Nietzsche. Godard does not define, or create a film as a lesson on life's hazards, filled moral prescriptions , antidotes, hand-me-down phrases that only bring one closer to life, to Nature that is mortal and very destructive. (Witness te close of the film.) Nietzsche says that art is not an imitation of nature at all, but is rather a metaphysical supplement, raised along side Nature only to overcome Nature. I agree. And Godard seems to be on this wavelength, but would never reveal it. Closeness to the world in art is not art for Godard. Distancing, almost barricading the self from the world in order to come towards it with assurance and strength represents the artistic nature overagainst the non-artistic mundane, so-called real world. Nana tries to transcend a Paris that is unkind to her, manipulative, and very dangerous. She does in a way overcome, retreat from the closeness to the world as a prostitute. But this life is too insistent on ignorance, irrationality, sickness, and death to be liberating. Nana hasn't the strength to be the actress she desires to be, could be. She is too close to oblivion, the way art can be threatened by oblivion, as Godard shows as he explores the relation between being driven by matter, things, people and their bad faith, and driving against the forces that threaten to obliterate the mind and its memories. Beautifully acted, Vivre Sa Vie is a major benchmark in the history of cinema..indeed art.
Review: Inspiring though Tragic - The tragic story of a beautiful young French woman who works in a record store near the Arch of Triumph but as in the case of many jobs in Paris-France the job pays next to nothing and she is forced into prostitution. Many cases were like that in Paris at the time. This movie is not really fictional

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Contributor | Andr S. Labarthe, Anna Karina, Brice Parain, Dimitri Dineff, Eric Schlumberger, Grard Hoffman, Guylaine Schlumberger, Henri Attal, Jean-Luc Godard, Marcel Sacotte, Monique Messine, Paul Pavel, Peter Kassovitz, Sady Rebbot Contributor Andr S. Labarthe, Anna Karina, Brice Parain, Dimitri Dineff, Eric Schlumberger, Grard Hoffman, Guylaine Schlumberger, Henri Attal, Jean-Luc Godard, Marcel Sacotte, Monique Messine, Paul Pavel, Peter Kassovitz, Sady Rebbot See more |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 127 Reviews |
| Format | Black & White, Full Screen, Multiple Formats, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled |
| Genre | Drama |
| Language | French |
| Runtime | 1 hour and 25 minutes |

## Images

![Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CIgBWQwFL.jpg)
![Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/617AhpKYJLL.jpg)
![Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71L9YvjN4PL.jpg)
![Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61SyhLPTcKL.jpg)
![Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] - Image 5](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71eCbDaH4BL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ people and their bad faith, and driving against the forces that threaten ...
*by P***L on June 2, 2016*

In the character of Nana Anna Karina explores Godard's thoughts and feelings about art, and how open-ended this precious gift is, in terms of articulation, whether through acting (Anna Karina), writing as Poe does, or Plato, or Hegel or Nietzsche. Godard does not define, or create a film as a lesson on life's hazards, filled moral prescriptions , antidotes, hand-me-down phrases that only bring one closer to life, to Nature that is mortal and very destructive. (Witness te close of the film.) Nietzsche says that art is not an imitation of nature at all, but is rather a metaphysical supplement, raised along side Nature only to overcome Nature. I agree. And Godard seems to be on this wavelength, but would never reveal it. Closeness to the world in art is not art for Godard. Distancing, almost barricading the self from the world in order to come towards it with assurance and strength represents the artistic nature overagainst the non-artistic mundane, so-called real world. Nana tries to transcend a Paris that is unkind to her, manipulative, and very dangerous. She does in a way overcome, retreat from the closeness to the world as a prostitute. But this life is too insistent on ignorance, irrationality, sickness, and death to be liberating. Nana hasn't the strength to be the actress she desires to be, could be. She is too close to oblivion, the way art can be threatened by oblivion, as Godard shows as he explores the relation between being driven by matter, things, people and their bad faith, and driving against the forces that threaten to obliterate the mind and its memories. Beautifully acted, Vivre Sa Vie is a major benchmark in the history of cinema..indeed art.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Inspiring though Tragic
*by W***E on February 3, 2013*

The tragic story of a beautiful young French woman who works in a record store near the Arch of Triumph but as in the case of many jobs in Paris-France the job pays next to nothing and she is forced into prostitution. Many cases were like that in Paris at the time. This movie is not really fictional

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Crude arthouse
*by S***E on July 10, 2025*

In episodic fashion, shows the fall of one woman into poverty and prostitution. To me it felt like a student production, for example in the first scene we see two characters having a conversation, from behind, without being able to see their faces. It's literally just the back of their heads, all hair, not even a little bit of face in profile. It's distracting because I kept wracking my brains trying to see the point in it. Meanwhile, I had no problem seeing the faces of the bartenders as they cleaned coffee mugs or whatever. Even they seemed confused by the situation. Also, it's hard to imagine Anna Karina ending up as a discarded prostitute. Yes, a prostitute can be pretty, but temper it down a bit. They had her flirting with guys who barely even notice. Yeah, I'm sure some guy would just love to play pool by himself, instead of chatting with Anna Karina, who's constantly making eyes at him. Sure! And then he ends up reading novels to her, and trying to take her to the Louvre.

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*Last updated: 2026-07-04*