Anna Karina takes the title role in what is billed as a musical comedy, although it could be better described as a bittersweet musical oddity. Joining her in their fifth cinematic collaboration is Jean-Claude Brialy; both actors previously starred in the wonderful ‘Une femme est une femme’ and made brief appearances in ‘Cléo de 5 à 7’. This film by Pierre Koralnik however, is simply not in the same league as that of Godard or Varda and you’d be sorely disappointed to expect anything remotely approaching that. The plot is rather simplistic, not in a sophisticated minimalist way, just simple whereby you have to suspend disbelief a little in order to enjoy it.

Anna, newly arrived in Paris, is photographed by chance amidst a bustle of models/performance artists being shot by an ad agency. The film is later developed by Jean-Claude Brialy’s Serge, who becomes captivated by the image of Anna’s beautiful face. Serge then sets about trying to find this mystery girl and to make her his. He enlists his staff of young men to trawl through Paris scouring the streets for young attractive women in an attempt to find the one matching the image. Anna meanwhile, oblivious to the impression she’s made, starts a job as a colourist at the very same ad agency. With her hair tied back and her eyes unconvincingly obscured behind a pair of heavily rimmed spectacles she goes unrecognised as the snap shot girl. The film plays out, interspersed with a series of musical sequences, charting Serge’s growing obsession with finding the girl in the photograph and Anna’s loneliness as her affection for the distracted Serge goes unreciprocated. The star turn amongst the supporting cast is Serge’s best friend, played by Serge Gainsbourg, who takes delight in taunting his lovelorn friend. Aside from this minor acting role, it is Gainsbourg’s musical contribution that holds the film together; him being credited with writing all of the songs and music. The stand out tracks are those performed by Anna and include ‘Sous le soleil exactement,’ ‘Roller Girl,’ and the frankly bizarre ‘Pistolet Joe’ to which Karina’s low husky tones are perfectly suited. Marianne Faithfull also shows up for a brief appearance sweetly singing her version of ‘Hier ou demain.’

The direction and editing could best be described as unpolished and a bit wonky. Some of the song sequences suffer from imperfect dubbing and the picture quality is not the sharpest, this is possibly down to the DVD being a video transfer from television broadcast. Matters aren’t helped by the subtitles being slightly out of sync with the film and the translation is a little muddled from what I can decipher, even slipping back into French for a very brief section. For me though, all these flaws are not too much of a distraction and the film as a whole works.

This film may well be odd and absurd, but it’s still a great opportunity to see three great French (well, technically Danish in Anna’s case) talents basically messing about singing through the streets of 1960s Paris in some vibrant and colourfully shot scenes. I do have to confess to being a massive fan of Anna Karina’s work, particularly of her partnership with Godard, and my opinion here is more than likely to be biased. Nonetheless, this film is still fascinating as a bizarre spectacle alone. It’s worth a look purely for the many quirky random moments scattered throughout the film, for instance: Anna’s insane raucous laugh and her talking to herself; Serge (JC Brialy) shoving the palm of his hand into people’s faces and chasing around after a baby lamb; and just Serge Gainsbourg more or less playing himself, not to mention the surreal dream sequences and arty performances. The least you can say about this film is that it’s not boring; personally I find it quite endearing.

The DVD is available from modcinema.com but you can check out a clip first below.