IMDb RATING
7.8/10
36K
YOUR RATING
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination
Sady Rebbot
- Raoul
- (as Saddy Rebbot)
André S. Labarthe
- Paul
- (as André Labarthe)
Guylaine Schlumberger
- Yvette
- (as G. Schlumberger)
Peter Kassovitz
- Jeune homme
- (as Peter Kassowitz)
Eric Schlumberger
- Luigi
- (as E. Schlumberger)
Henri Attal
- Arthur
- (as Henri Atal)
Mario Botti
- L'italien
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe whole movie script fit on one page, where the sequence of episodes was recorded. The text was not written in advance, and the actors said what was appropriate for the situation.
- GoofsWhen Raoul and Nana meet for the first time, Raoul leaves his notebook on the cafe table by mistake and Nana opens it. The camera changes to read over her shoulder, but the sound of gunshots startles her into closing the notebook. In the next shot, the notebook is nowhere to be seen, neither in her hands nor on the table.
- ConnectionsEdited into Bande-annonce de 'Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux' (1962)
Featured review
My father had a lot of trouble to explain me what those men were doing, laying against the wall on a busy Sunday street, where there were a number of women in flashy clothes going up and down the street, looking at the men who passed by instead of doing window-shopping like me, and my father. It was 1954, in Lisbon. I came to know the men were pimps, and although I always respected the 'girls who were in the life', the pimp became my pet hate, to this day.
Does Goddard make an outstanding political speech here? I'm not sure. But now I understand why everybody was speaking of his 'Nana' in the Sixties. It's a poignant story, clear and sharp, with no tears but more like a gut punch. Particularly for the (unexpected?) ending. I disagree with those who said that the 12 scenes of the movie are 'unconnected'. They are connected! But the film should be fully appreciated on a second viewing for it, may be. These days, people are not able to cope with this much philosophy in a single film.
It's also a sad world when you discover, in 2001, that this film runs 85 minutes in the USA, 83m in Portugal, and 80m in France (it's so described in "Cinéguide" des Presses de la Cité (ed.1992). France shows the most short of the current versions of this wonderful movie about streetwalkers and pimps, about workers and profiteers; therefore, the most 'cut' or censored version - be it political or commercial censorship. France! the country that represented for me Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, when I was a 6 year-old kid opening his eyes to the beauty of chandeliers in a shop window, the beauty of girls in high-heels and knee-length skirts, and the wrongness of the half part of the world who lived without working, squeezing money of those who worked. Even if the work was - like Nana's - lending her body to other people...
Does Goddard make an outstanding political speech here? I'm not sure. But now I understand why everybody was speaking of his 'Nana' in the Sixties. It's a poignant story, clear and sharp, with no tears but more like a gut punch. Particularly for the (unexpected?) ending. I disagree with those who said that the 12 scenes of the movie are 'unconnected'. They are connected! But the film should be fully appreciated on a second viewing for it, may be. These days, people are not able to cope with this much philosophy in a single film.
It's also a sad world when you discover, in 2001, that this film runs 85 minutes in the USA, 83m in Portugal, and 80m in France (it's so described in "Cinéguide" des Presses de la Cité (ed.1992). France shows the most short of the current versions of this wonderful movie about streetwalkers and pimps, about workers and profiteers; therefore, the most 'cut' or censored version - be it political or commercial censorship. France! the country that represented for me Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, when I was a 6 year-old kid opening his eyes to the beauty of chandeliers in a shop window, the beauty of girls in high-heels and knee-length skirts, and the wrongness of the half part of the world who lived without working, squeezing money of those who worked. Even if the work was - like Nana's - lending her body to other people...
- How long is Vivre sa vie?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $64,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $24,517
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $8,336
- Jun 1, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $63,585
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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