Alphaville - 4K Ultra Blu-ray

The story of Alphaville, like all good sci-fi, is strangely prescient. And, like all good sci-fi, is rather ahead of its time. Alphaville was always kindly regarded in its time, taking home the grand prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, but its themes have aged like a fine wine, allowed to ruminate, and grow and find a deeper meaning in the decades that have passed since 1965.

American actor Eddie Constantine plays secret agent Lemmy Caution, under the assumed identity of journalist Ivan Johnson. Constantine is from outside of the titular city of Alphaville, from a world outside of their echo chamber, which is referred to collectively as “the Outlands.” His mission is to either capture (or kill) the creator of Alphaville.

Constantine has a face tailor made for a noir film, with a relaxed face that looks like a scowl. Deep, cavernous lines on his face allow him to communicate entirely through a casual glance. As he makes his way through the futuristic city that has outlawed free thought and individualism, the not-so-distance future of Alphaville feels as though it already exists, which was director Jean-Luc Godard’s entire point with the film. No sets were built for Alphaville, he shot entirely on existing locations in and around Paris. He used the most modern-looking architecture he could find, to present a grounded future reality that not only already exists, but predicts a gleeful return to fascism.

Alphaville was an aesthetic inspiration for other sci-fi films that adopted a film noir styling (Blade Runner, Minority Report, The Terminator, etc., etc.) but its most similar thematic sibling would be Gattaca, another sci-fi film with costume design and set design lifted from the 1960s. Both films celebrate the individualism of humanity and decry a world where individualism would be punished—in Gattaca, people who are not “genetically pure” are relegated to toiling as underlings; in Alphaville, those who cannot conform with a world without words like “love” or “conscience” are executed.

Gattaca is intentionally stylized in a 1960s retro-future world, whereas Alphaville adopts a style that had existed at the time and grounded its future world in the here and now. Alphaville, however, references the film noirs of yore, with its references to WWII (the Battle of Guadalcanal, the letters “SS” appear onscreen in a clear connection to Hitler’s secret police), when many of the originators of the genre were born from the depression and the shadow of the war in the 1940s.

As Agent Caution grows nearer to his objective, he meets Natascha von Braun, the daughter of his target. Natascha is played by Anna Karina, frequent Godard collaborator and then-wife. Natascha represents the hopefulness of someone in a hopeless place. Alphaville is a soulless city, who places arbitrary standards of achievement above all other ideals, and Natascha is the soul of a human who can’t be extinguished.

In a lesser film, the final lines being, “I love you,” would be groan-inducing, but here it’s an earned moment because it’s not a line loaded with cheesy, unearned pathos. It goes beyond the love of a man and a woman, it’s the ability to even understand or comprehend love itself at all. Even if she doesn’t clearly understand, she’s beginning to.

Every film nerd, I believe, goes through a Godard phase. I went through mine in high school, when I was just getting into film theory and, of course, was a big Tarantino fan. Tarantino, in turn, was a big Godard fan and even named his production company “A Band Apart” after Godard’s Bande à part (Band of Outsiders, also starring Anna Karina). Godard is a perfect director for young people looking to study film, because he’s got such a good, strong confidence behind the camera, but he plays with conventions in unexpected ways. In some of his work, he may come off as a cynic, but it’s just that he’s such a thoroughly French director, sarcasm is part of his trademark and craft. For folks who think Godard is a cynic, something like Alphaville shows him in rare form, daring to end his dystopian sci-fi noir with the words, “I love you.”

Vital Disc Stats - The 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Classics’ rerelease of Alphaville, now on 4K, also includes its previous Blu-ray release. Both discs are contained inside a standard case with a removable slipcover. The interior case contains reversible cover art.

I thought that Kino Lorber’s previous release of Alphaville on Blu-ray looked great. Hell, look at other reviews, and the consensus across the board is that it looked great, and Kino’s work was in keeping with their reputation of stellar work. For the purpose of this review, I rewatched key sequences on the 1080p Blu-ray version and the newly released 4K, to gauge differences. Alphaville did, indeed, already look great, so when it comes to these kinds of upgrades, the bottom line question is always this: Is it worth it, to buy it again?

The answer is an unequivocal yes. While Kino Lorber Classics’ previous 1080p Blu-ray release of Alphaville looked great, the 4K upgrade by StudioCanal, from a scan of the original camera negative, is better in almost every conceivable way. Going back and forth between versions of the film, the clarity was immediate and instantly noticeable. I’ve seen a number of films where the 4K release has improvements that are subtle, at best (or, in some rare cases, a misguided disaster), but I’m happy to report that this is not the case here.

Presented in Dolby Vision, the shadowy darkness that comes with any film noir is allowed to envelop large sections of the frame without darkening the entire shot. Or, in a darkened sequence, the sliver of light from a doorway doesn’t cause blown highlights. The lights and the darks in the monochromatic palate are allowed to harmoniously co-exist and the results are nothing short of stellar. Alphaville looks exquisite. This is masterful work.

Alphaville’s 4K release contains the same DTS HD-MA 2.0 stereo release from its previous Blu-ray release, which is fine by me. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I always say. Alphaville isn’t heavy on a lot of ambient effects, other than very blunt beeps and boops from large, 1960s computers, and the score is awfully redundant (dun-dun-DUNNNNN repeated ad nauseam), but KL does the best possible job it can with what was provided. The dialogue is always favored and sharp, clearly audible throughout. It never gets lost in what can, sometimes, be an overpowering musical score, which is through no fault of KL, that’s how a lot of older movies had been mixed at the time and is very clearly a product of its production date.

All special features are contained on Alphaville’s 1080p Blu-ray, although the audio commentary can be found on both discs. Unfortunately, for such a groundbreaking, influential film, the special features are scant. The features that are there are quite good, however. The audio commentary, in particular, from Tim Lucas, helps elaborate on its production history and lasting impact. The introduction by Colin MacCabe helps set the stage for anyone unfamiliar with the film, the way a TCM intro might help the uninitiated for any particular classic. And Anna Karina’s interview is wonderful to see, as she talks about this specific film production and her history of working with Godard.

• Audio Commentary by Novelist and Critic Tim Lucas
• Anna Karina Interview (HD, 4:31)
• Colin McCabe Introduction (HD, 5:26)
• Trailers

Alphaville is a delight for both new purchasers of this release, or for anyone looking to upgrade their existing Blu-ray to 4K. Kino Lorber’s work here is outstanding and the work on this transfer really shows. What was already previously a very nice, collectively-agreed-upon transfer, is now nothing short of pristine. The film itself is classic of so many overlapping genres, and this release absolutely does it justice. Even though it lacks robust features, for its visual presentation alone, Alphaville on 4K from Kino Lorber comes Highly Recommended.