Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot Goes Wild) (Crazy Pete) (1969)
90%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Colorful, subversive, and overall beguiling, Pierrot le Fou is arguably Jean-Luc Godard’s quintessential work.
If you’re looking for a film that’s a little bit of everything, then “Pierrot” is the movie for you. It’s got poetry, politics, and even some comic-book escapades thrown in for good measure. Sure, it might be a bit of a mess, but that’s part of the charm. And let’s not forget about Jean-Paul Belmondo, who manages to make being bored look impossibly cool. So sit back, relax, and let Godard take you on a wild ride through his box of tricks.
Production Company(ies)
Carolco Pictures, Pacific Western Lightstorm Entertainment,
Distributor
Pathé Contemporary Films
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
L’Aygade, Hyères, Var, France
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1969
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 50m
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Language(s):French, English, Italian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 8, 1969 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 19, 2008
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, written by Jean-Luc Godard, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Joe Morgenstern, Renata Adler, David Parkinson, Edward Porter, Kathy Fennessy, produced by Georges de Beauregard, MPAA rating, crime spree, French countryside, love affair, enigmatic babysitter, pursued by foreign thugs, subversive, colorful, beguiling, quintessential work, poetic, introverted, personal, loose picaresque format, postmodern games, scattergun shots, consumerism, cultural imperialism, Vietnam War, Algerian War, self-discovery, self-destruction, French New Wave, intellectual energy, colorful playfulness, pop-intellectual discourse, lost love, Raoul Coutard, striking images, ultimate Godard movie, homage, Chaplin hi-jinks, sweet Anna Karina
Worldwide gross: $136,832
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,246,073
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,546
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 135,886
US/Canada gross: $87,011
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $792,374
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,239
US/Canada opening weekend: $7,254
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $66,059
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,103
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $300,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $2,731,977
Production budget ranking: 1,990
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,471,170
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$2,957,074
ROI to date (est.): -70%
ROI ranking: 1,807
Anna Karina – Marianne Renoir
Dirk Sanders – Fred, le frère de Marianne
Raymond Devos – L’homme du port
Graziella Galvani – La femme de Ferdinand
Jean-Luc Godard – Director
Director(s)
Jean-Luc Godard
Writer(s)
Jean-Luc Godard
Producer(s)
Georges de Beauregard
Film Festivals
Cannes
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (46) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (6)
“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.
July 6, 2022
Joe Morgenstern
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
The film is poetic, quiet, introverted, personal.
January 9, 2018
Renata Adler
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
Godard abandoned the conventions of narrative cinema and adopted a loose picaresque format around which he could arrange subversive generic tropes, poetic digressions, political ideas and comic-book escapades.
July 16, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
At its worst, in some of its improvised rambles, it demonstrates the value of a well-thought-out screenplay. At its exhilarating and poignant best, it proves that a film can play all sorts of postmodern games yet still touch its viewers’ emotions.
May 28, 2009 | Rating: 4/5
Edward Porter
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
A wild-eyed, everything-in-the-pot cross-processing of artistic, cinematic, political and personal concerns, where the story stutters, splinters and infuriates its way to an explosive finale.
May 22, 2009 | Rating: 5/5
David Jenkins
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Godard opens up his box of tricks and tips it all over the screen in a flurry of improvised, postmodernism that takes scattergun shots at consumerism, cultural imperialism and the Vietnam and Algerian wars.
May 22, 2009 | Rating: 4/5
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
It’s [Jean-Luc] Godard in a nutshell–all for the price of one ticket.
September 15, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
Kathy Fennessy
Seattle Film Blog
a uniquely Godardian mess, which means that you can sense the order through the chaos, even if you can’t always put your finger on what, exactly, Godard is after at any given moment
November 5, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
This is Godard in free-floating form.
October 13, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
The film is beauty, whimsy, and magic all wrapped around a sour center.
October 9, 2020 | Rating: 4.5/5
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
It’s a masterpiece, one of the monumental films of our time.
January 27, 2020
Gene Youngblood
Los Angeles Free Press
There’s cool and then there’s Jean-Paul Belmondo. No one ever made being bored look so exciting, and the effortlessly graceful and impossibly hip actor gave the mid-’60s nouvelle vague a needed macho punch.
July 16, 2014 | Rating: A
Corey Hall
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)…
Plot
Uninterested in his stagnant life, Ferdinand falls in love with his enigmatic babysitter and embarks on a crime spree with her through the French countryside in “Crazy Pete.”
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The critic reviews for Crazy Pete describe the film as “colorful, subversive, and overall beguiling” and “a uniquely Godardian mess.”
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