A collection of Sixties icons starring in a wild and vibrant musical comedy.
Slipping through the cracks of public consciousness, but certanly deserving of rediscovery and general rooftop shoutiness is 1967 ‘comedie musicale’ Anna, made by Pierre Koralnik for French TV. I mean, look at that cast – headed by New Wave queen and Mrs Jean-Luc Godard Anna Karina, and with a young Marianne Faithfull and Serge Gainsbourg in support!
The first colour film made for French TV, the film is the tale of a fashion photographer obsessed with Anna, a comic strip artist he snapped in a photograph – a lightweight companion piece to Blow Up, perhaps, with vivid, trippy visuals (if you’re doing the first colour production, then I guess you want it to be as colourful as possible) and the knowing sense of frivolity and kitsch that Godard used in Une Femme est une Femme (which also starred Anna co-star Jean Claude Brialy).
Gainsbourg is also responsibe for the soundtrack, which was released on vinyl, and is fantastic – don’t take our word for that, check out the whole thing on YouTube below (incidentally, ignore all links on YouTube claiming to be the full film – they are all scammers).
Depressingly, Anna seems to have slipped off the radar – it’s currently only available on grey-market DVD-R in an English-friendly version, though you can buy it in a French DVD/CD bundle that includes the full soundtrack. If ever a film had undiscovered cult potential and was crying out for a fully restored edition, then this is it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InvdSkjkNEo
