Sometimes,
reality is too complex
for oral communication.
But legend embodies it
in a form
which enables it to spread
all over the world.
It was 24:17, Oceanic Time
when I approached
the suburbs of Alphaville.
Silence. Logic.
Security. Prudence.
My paper reserved
a room for me:
- You are?
- Ivan Johnson.
- Which paper?
- Figaro-Pravda.
Room 344. Have you registered
at Residents Control?
You must, even if you're
a Festival visitor.
Your bag, sir.
- Please, sir.
- Nothing. Get lost.
This way, sir.
You're tired, sir?
You wish to sleep, sir?
It's this way, sir.
If you're tired,
you can rest, sir.
Here it is, sir.
The bedroom's here, sir.
- What are you looking for now?
- I'm checking if the Bible's here.
- Everyone has one.
- Do you believe that?
Yes, of course.
I'll leave you the tranquillizers
in the bathroom.
I'm very well.
Thank you so very much.
- Are you going to take a bath, sir?
- Yes, I must reflect.
I'll help you, sir.
And your tie, sir.
- Now what? - I'll take a bath
with you, sir, if you like.
Listen, doll, I'm a big boy.
I can find dames all alone.
Now get lost.
Be polite to the ladies,
Mr. Johnson.
Shit. Now what?
This kid doesn't please you?
And your sister, sir?
- I'm getting out of shape.
- What sir?
What's going on here?
Are you on drugs or what?
No, it's normal, sir.
All things weird are normal
in this whore of cities.
Sit in that chair.
Her name was Beatrice.
She said she was a seductress,
third class.
I was struck by the sadness
and durability of her face.
Something's not in orbit
in the capital of this Galaxy.
Hold this up.
Not bad for a veteran
of Guadalcanal.
Just what I was thinking
about you.
Go play your games
with someone else.
I've heard it before.
Yes? Mr. Johnson.
Miss Natasha Vonbraun
calls for you.
Just a moment, please.
Leonard Von Braun, inventor
of the death ray
bring back alive, or liquidate.
Tell her to wait,
I'll be down in 5 minutes.
She's on her way up.
Henry Dickson, Agent X21,
12, Enrico Fermi, Alphaville.
Got a light?
I've traveled 9,000 kilometers
to give it to you.
- I'm Natasha Vonbraun.
- Yes, I know.
How do you know?
You are Miss Vonbraun.
Yes, I'm very well,
thank you so very much.
You come from the Outlands,
Mr. Johnson?
- Everything to your satisfaction?
- Yes.
I've been ordered to stay
in your service
during your stay in Alphaville.
Who ordered you?
The authorities, of course.
You came for the festival,
Mr. Johnson?
Which festival?
The big one; that's why people
from the Outlands come.
- In my opinion, it's silly
you did not. - Why?
The festival's nearly over;
No more until next year.
You don't say.
Yes, Mr. Johnson.
But this evening,
there's a gala reception.
Very big.
At a ministry. I'm going;
come if you like.
OK.
What time? I must attend
to something else first.
You must go to
Residents Control registration?
No. What's that?
You mustn't forget to go there,
Mr. Johnson. We can meet afterwards.
No, I'll go there tomorrow.
First I must meet a friend.
Me too, I've work to do.
I'll give you the address
where I'll be.
Call for me
and we'll go together.
OK. In an hour or two.
All right, see you later,
Mr. Johnson.
I'll go down with you, miss.
Mr. Johnson, what's it like
in the Outlands?
You've never been?
No, but my father told me about
them when I was little.
Now it's forbidden to think
about them.
Are you often ordered
to stay with strangers?
- Yes, it's my job.
- Sometimes, it must be nice.
- Why?
- You never have love affairs?
- What? - Has no one ever fallen
in love with you?
In love? What's that?
There's one thing I'd like
to know, miss.
- Yes, Mr. Johnson.
- You've finished taking me
- for an ass, or are you beginning?
- Let go of me.
But answer me.
I don't understand,
what are you talking about?
Realize, Princess. I don't know
what you're talking about either.
It's always like that.
You never understand anything.
Yes, it's always like that.
You never understand anything.
And one night,
you end it in death.
- Which way are you going?
- 12, Enrico Fermi.
That's after Heisenberg Boulevard,
not far from Mathematical Park.
I have a car, I can give you
a lift, if you wish. - OK.
I'll get the keys.
- You don't want me to court you?
- What?
You really don't know
what it means?
Her smile and her small,
pointed teeth
reminded me of the old
vampire films,
the sort they used to show
at cinerama museums.
I'm a programmer, second class.
Natasha's a name from the past.
Yes, but in life, one can
only know the present.
No one's lived in the past,
or will live in the future.
Thanks for the lift, anyway.
It's a pleasure to do my job,
Mr. Johnson.
It's much farther?
You know we must cross
the North Zone, Miss.
What's the population
of Alphaville?
Don't forget, you must go
to Residents Control.
Yes.
What exactly do you do
for a living?
I work
for a newspaper.
Professor Vonbraun is
your father?
It's vital that I write about him;
Could you arrange a meeting?
I don't know. I've never seen him.
I'll ask.
Finally, I leave you.
- Here?
- I've changed my mind.
You have the address?
Yes. Tell him to stop.
Telecommunication.
I'd like to telecommunicate.
- Galaxy or local call?
- Local.
Cabin 2.
Miss, do you know that man?
Of course I know him.
Don't be stupid.
At the end of Galata Bridge
one finds the Red Star.
My place.
You can't compare it
to our splendid
galactic corridors
all a-glitter with
luxury and light.
It's only a vast labyrinth,
tall, cramped.
Is this the Red Star Hotel?
Yes, it is, thank you.
- Is Mr. Dickson in?
- He's out.
Fine, I'll wait.
You have money, sir?
You can have a seat, sir,
if you're tired.
I wanted to see it again,
the tomb of
the Duc de Montpensier.
The reclining statue
of the Prince
is the work of Pradier.
The Prince wears
the costume of...
Henry, it's me!
We've got plenty to talk about.
- Where's my key?
- Where's my money, Mr. Dickson?
- My key.
- His key.
And a beer.
And me?
Why don't you hurry up
and commit suicide?
We need the room for our cousin
from the south.
You come from the Outlands?
Why did he ask
if you'd commit suicide?
There's quite a few...
There's quite a few who do.
One can't adapt to this place.
It's the method
the Chinese invented
about thirty years ago
in Pekingville.
Dissuasion is their strong point.
What about those who won't adapt,
or commit suicide?
- Those... they're executed.
- Yes, the authorities.
But one can hide, you know.
There aren't many left.
Dick Tracy, is he dead?
And Guy Leclair?
Why didn't we hear from them,
or from you, Henry?
I'm sorry.
These things happen.
And what's Alpha 60?
A giant computer, like they used
to have in big business.
Nueva York... IBM...
Olivetti... General Electric...
Tokyorama...
Alpha 60 is one hundred and fifty
light years more powerful.
I see. People have become slaves
of probabilities.
Their ideal here, in Alphaville
is a technocracy, like that
of termites and ants.
I don't understand.
Probably one hundred and fifty
light years ago.
One hundred and fifty,
two hundred
there were artists
in the ant society.
Artists, novelists,
musicians, painters.
Today, no more.
Nothing. Like here.
Has Professor Vonbraun
organized it all?
He obeys logical orders.
Then why didn't you kill him?
"Why"... what does that word mean?
I forgot...
You know his daughter, Natasha?
Who is she really?
It was him they sent
to Los Alamos.
His name wasn't that then.
Answer! That wasn't his name
in those days.
Listen, Henry.
We'll get out together; you'll
be OK. But first you must...
It's a terrible secret, but...
Come in, Madame la Marquise.
My coat, Madame Rcamier.
Thank you, Madame Pompadour.
Madame Bovary, Marie Antoinette.
Madame Lafayette.
Madame, it's love.
I'll say it in Russian.
So young and me.
Lemmy... conscience...
Alpha 60... make...
self destruct...
Tenderness...
Save those who weep.
Yes, yes, that's it.
The Capital of Pain.
14, Light Radiation.
Institute of General Semantics.
You know where it is?
You prefer I pass through
the North Zone or the South?
What's the difference?
There's snow in the North
and sun in the South.
Anyway, it's my journey
to the end of the night.
So, it doesn't matter.
It was my first night
in Alphaville
but it seemed to me that
centuries had passed.
I'm very well, thank you
so very much.
Miss Natasha Vonbraun.
- Which section?
- Programming and memory.
The Central Memory...
...is thus named...
...because of
the primordial role...
...that it plays...
...in the logic-organization
within Alpha 60.
But no one has lived
in the past...
...and no one will live
in the future.
The present is the form
of all life.
This quality...
...cannot be changed by any means.
Time is like a circle...
...which turns endlessly.
The descending arc is the past.
The arc that climbs
is the future.
Everything has been said...
...provided words do not change
their meanings...
...and meanings their words.
Is it not obvious that someone...
...who customarily lives...
...in a state of suffering...
...requires a different sort
of religion...
...from a person habitually
in a state of well-being?
Before us, nothing existed here.
No one.
We are totally alone here.
We are unique,
dreadfully unique.
The meaning of words...
...and of expressions,
is no longer grasped.
An isolated word, or a detail
of a design...
...can be understood.
But the meaning
of the whole escapes.
Once we know the number one...
...we believe that we know
the number two...
...because one plus one
equals two.
We forget that first...
...we must know
the meaning of plus.
I'm going.
The acts of men...
...carried over...
...from past centuries...
...will gradually...
...destroy them...
...logically...
I, Alpha 60...
...am merely the logical means
of this destruction.
Good night, Comrade.
I thought I'd never
see you again.
- Shall we go?
- I'll get the keys.
I left because I couldn't
understand a word he was saying.
But it's very simple.
We learnt this evening
that death and life
are found within
the same circle.
- Are you afraid of death?
- Of course not. Why?
We took the tangent
to the center districts.
Traffic bulletins on the radio...
...as Natasha spoke to me
in her pretty sphinx voice.
Pretty sphinx...
Foreign ambassadors
usually attend
or delegations
from the districts.
Why does everyone
look so sad, somber?
You ask too many questions.
Because they lack electricity.
The essence...
...of the so-called
capitalist world...
...or the communist world...
...is not an evil volition...
...to subject their people
by the power of indoctrination...
...or the power of finance...
...but simply...
...the natural ambition...
...of any organization...
...to plan all its actions.
In a word, to minimize
unknown quantities.
This dump of yours isn't
Alphaville, it's Zeroville.
- What are we going to see?
- I don't know, light and sound.
- Where is everyone?
- I believe; it's already begun.
Hurry. We're late.
It's already begun.
Don't they electrocute them
any more?
Darling, you know the provisions
of 17th Plan took a plunge.
You see, I told you so.
Stay here.
- Introduce me.
- I told you to stay there,
we're with very important people.
- Can I take a photo?
- I'll ask.
Yes.
- What have they done?
- They've been condemned.
Only men?
There's usually a ratio of
fifty men executed to one woman.
But what have they done?
They behaved illogically.
Isn't that a crime
in the Outlands?
Say, I know him.
He wept when his wife died.
He was condemned for that?
Evidently.
We must advance to live.
Aim straight for those you love.
Listen to me, normals.
We see the truth
you no longer see.
The truth is that the essence
of man is love and faith,
courage, tenderness,
generosity and sacrifice.
The rest is the obstacle created
by the progress
of your blind ignorance.
One day...
One day...
Sorry, Professor,
but I must speak with you.
I never speak to journalists.
I'm not a journalist
Can't we talk somewhere quieter?
- Goodbye, sir.
- Mr. Nosferatu.
That man no longer exists.
Are you crying?
No, because it's forbidden.
Occupied.
Occupied.
Free.
Sit there and answer when
you're spoken to.
I haven't done anything.
Newcomers must be interrogated.
Alpha 5.
What is your name?
Where were you born?
Nueva York.
How old are you?
I don't know... 45.
What make is your car?
What do you love above all?
Gold and women.
What are you doing in Alphaville?
An article for Figaro-Pravda.
You seem afraid.
I'm not afraid...
not the way you think.
Anyway, you wouldn't understand.
Rest assured that my decisions...
...always have in view...
...the ultimate good.
I shall now...
...ask you some test questions...
...as a security measure.
No, go ahead.
You have come from the Outlands.
What were your feelings...
...when you passed through
galactic space?
The silence of infinite space
appalled me.
What is the privilege
of the dead?
To die no more.
Do you know what illuminates
the night?
Poetry.
What is your religion?
I believe in the inspirations
of conscience.
Do you make any distinction...
...between the mysterious
principles...
...of knowledge...
...and those of love?
In my opinion, in love
there is no mystery.
You are not telling the truth.
I don't understand.
You are hiding certain things.
I admit I might have
reasons to lie
but how can you differentiate
between lies and truth?
You are hiding certain things...
...but I do not know yet
what they are.
For the time being, you are free.
I should like you to visit...
...the Control Complex.
Come with me, Mr. Johnson.
- Where are we going?
- To the Chief Engineer.
Ah, the day breaks.
Sit down, Mr. Johnson.
A momentous occasion.
Yes, we spent three years looking
for Grand Omega Minus.
Well, Mr. Johnson...
How do you find Alphaville?
Not bad, if I knew where I was.
You are in the center of
Alphaville, inside Alpha 60.
The task of Alpha 60
is to calculate and project
the results which Alphaville
will subsequently enjoy.
Why?
No one ever says "why";
one says "because".
In the life of individuals,
as in the life of nations
all is linked,
all is consequence.
That's the famous theory of
Professor Leonard Nosferatu.
Leonard Nosferatu no longer
exists, Mr. Johnson.
The Outlands expelled him in 1964.
Today there is only
Professor Vonbraun.
I remember. He was sent
to a village in the desert
to perfect his invention.
He was exiled, you mean.
Now the Outlands wring their hands,
wishing him back.
They flood us with spies. Perhaps
you are a spy, Mr. Johnson.
You know I'm only a free man.
A meaningless reply.
We know nothing.
We record, calculate,
draw conclusions.
An hour ago,
one of Alpha 60's.
1.4 billion nerve centres
questioned you.
Your replies were difficult and
sometimes impossible to codify.
We deduce an above-average
intelligence.
We are sometimes in mortal need
of superior intelligences.
At other times we have a no less
mortal distrust of them.
So what will you do with me?
For the moment, we're ordered
to show you Alpha 60.
Who ordered you?
Professor Vonbraun?
Absolutely not.
An order is a logical conclusion.
One must not be afraid of logic.
Simply that. Period.
The circuit elements...
of 183 Omega Minus... malfunction.
Calculating or memory elements?
Memory.
Professors Eckel and Jeckel.
I'm very well, thank you,
pleased to meet you.
Me too.
I'd like to know what
Grand Omega Minus is.
Our 17th electricity plan
is inadequate.
Sooner or later, the Outlands
will declare war on us.
Therefore, we decided
to invade them.
Directed by Professor Vonbraun,
Omega Minus will be
victorious over anti-matter.
I see, it's ideal.
We can perhaps use men like you
to tell us the weak points
of the Outlands.
Your tendency to dwell
in the past...
...could be useful to us.
We send those properly brain-washed
to provoke the other galaxies,
the strikes, revolutions,
family rows, student revolts.
That's us: Grand Omega Minus.
- Where now?
- The invisible part of Alpha 60.
You think more
of what has been...
...than of what will be.
It's old, your camera.
The technical...
I don't believe in it.
Yes, of course.
Jeckel asked why I shot
the individual in my bathroom...
...when the whole thing
was just a psycho-test.
I replied, because I'm too old
to argue. So I shoot.
It's my only weapon
against fatality.
- What's this?
- Central Interrogation Station.
Here Alpha 60 sets itself problems.
The forms and references used
by Alpha 60
are too complex
for human understanding.
What sort of problems?
Train and airplane departures...
movement of people and goods...
electricity distribution...
crime suppression... war operations.
Element Seven, Malfunction.
What's happening?
It's war with the Outlands.
A simple instruction...
...is usually insufficient...
...to put into...
...execution...
...a task set by Alpha 60.
Do not think...
...that it is I...
...who initiate
this destruction...
...nor the scientists...
...who have accepted my plan.
Ordinary men...
...are unworthy...
...of the positions they hold...
...in the world.
Analysis of their past...
...automatically leads one...
...to this conclusion.
Therefore...
...they must be destroyed.
That is to say: transformed.
I don't need anyone
to draw it for me.
During these years,
under the direction...
...of Vonbraun
and his assistants...
...Alphaville had developed
by leaps and bounds...
...guided by electronic brains
that developed themselves...
...by conceiving problems...
...that the human imagination
couldn't grasp.
Foreigners were gradually
assimilated...
...especially the Swedes,
Germans and Americans.
The others, the unassimilatables
were purely and simply killed.
I walked through the threaten
of executions.
Usually, we would seat them
in a room...
...and electrocute them in their
chairs as they watched a show.
Then we'd dump them into
huge rubbish bins...
...and the theater was ready
for the next batch.
If an individual showed hope
of reclamation...
...he was sent to a chronic
illness hospital where...
...mechanical and propagandistic
treatments soon cured him.
I felt that my existence here...
...was becoming a distorted,
twilight memory...
...and without a doubt,
a terrible destiny.
I was left only one solution.
It would not be logical...
...to prevent...
...superior beings...
...from attacking...
...the other galaxies.
Put in one token.
Thank you.
Going up, sir?
- No, I'll shine my shoes.
- Please, sir.
- This man has the key.
- This way, sir.
You're tired, sir?
You'd like to sleep, sir?
Yes, to sleep:
perchance to dream.
What are you exactly?
I'm a seductress, third class.
Has your colleague gone?
Who? Beatrice?
I don't know;
a blonde with long legs.
She's working
in the peripheral flats.
We're only replacements.
Ever heard of the Outlands?
Never.
- Get out of here!
- Why?
If anyone asks,
say you don't know.
I'm very well,
thank you so very much.
If it isn't the little princess.
I was forbidden to come,
but I wanted to see you again.
Not me!
Since you're here,
order breakfast for me.
Yes, sir.
Pardon, I'm very well,
thank you so very much.
Me too.
Bow your head.
What is it?
Nothing. Just a thought.
What about my breakfast?
I want to tele-order breakfast.
What is your number?
You have a number?
They didn't give me one
at Alpha 60.
Not your control number,
your room number.
Ever heard of this book?
"The Capital of Pain".
Some words are underlined.
We live in the void
of metamorphoses.
But the echo that runs
throughout the day...
...that echo beyond time,
anguish or caress...
Are we near to our conscience,
or far from it?
These are words
I don't understand.
Conscience...
And this:
death in conversation.
And this?
Your eyes have returned
from a despotic land...
...where no one has known
the meaning of a glance.
You've really no idea
what this is?
It reminds me of something.
I don't know what.
Naked truth.
I know it well.
Despair has no wings,
nor does love.
No face, they don't speak.
I don't look at them,
I don't speak to them.
But I am as alive
as my love and despair...
And this:
Dying is not dying.
And this:
The beguiler beguiler.
This:
Men who change.
Never heard of secret messages,
Miss Vonbraun?
A secret message?
Don't you know what a secret is?
Yes. Secrets of planning,
atomic secrets, secrets of memory.
Now what are you looking for?
This town is driving me nuts!
I'm looking for a Bible,
to see if it's in it.
Are you a complete idiot? The word
I'm looking for, obviously...
Where is it? There's always
one for every room.
I'm becoming afraid.
Since you've come, I no longer
understand what is happening.
Me, I think I'm beginning
to understand.
Here it is.
"Conscience"... it's not in it.
I'm very well, thank you.
It's no longer there.
So no one here
knows the meaning of the word
conscience any more.
Too bad.
1 sugar or 2?
That's not a Bible,
it's a dictionary.
Isn't it the same
in the Outlands, Mr. Johnson?
Answer me now, what's it for?
Nearly every day words disappear,
because they are forbidden.
They are replaced by new words
expressing new ideas.
In the last two
or three months,
some words I was
very fond of disappeared.
Which words? I'm interested.
Redbreast, weeping,
autumn light,
tenderness too.
When I'm with you I'm afraid.
They ordered me
not to see you again.
Who? The Alpha 60 engineers?
- Yes.
- What are you afraid of?
I'm afraid because
I know that word
without ever having seen it
or read it.
- Which word?
- Le conscience.
La conscience.
- You've never been to the Outlands?
- No.
Are you sure?
Yes.
You're lying.
Why are you cross with me?
I believe you mustn't say
"why" but "because".
I said "why"?
And if enemy ears are listening,
they heard you, too.
Well, then, I was careless,
because it's forbidden.
Perhaps it's all right for you
to use it.
When did I say "why"?
Another question first:
where were you born?
Here in Alphaville.
Another lie. Perhaps
you don't know, but you're lying.
I must know the truth:
where were you born?
Here. I told you.
No, in Tokyorama,
the Land of the Rising Sun.
Go on, say it.
In Tokyorama,
in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Or in Florence,
perhaps... where
try to remember it
for yourself, Natasha. Where?
Where? I don't know.
Where the sky's as blue as
the South Seas.
Florence, where the sky's
as blue as the South Seas.
Or in Nueva York.
Where the winter... Broadway
glitters in the snow
like a fur coat.
You see, you do know
the Outlands.
Your father was chased
from Nueva York in '64.
He brought you here, so you
are not from here.
I know what this book is.
A man who came with us from
Nueva York, he wrote these books.
I don't know what became of him.
They live in the forbidden
quarters here; they commit suicide.
I know that Alpha 60
uses them sometimes.
It controls them.
How come?
Because they write
incomprehensible things.
Now I know:
it used to be called poetry.
It's believed to be secrets,
but really it's nothing.
When Control has an hour or so free
it codifies such stuff.
Like everything else,
one never knows.
It can always prove useful.
Absolutely.
We're highly organized.
I'd like to leave with you
for the Outlands.
But I'm afraid.
Now that I've seen you
I'm no longer normal.
When did I say "why"?
Why?
Because... you know very well,
Mr. Johnson.
No, I don't.
At which moment?
Tell me.
Quite often. Last night
in the corridor, for instance.
This time you're lying.
When I said I was
falling in love with you.
In love? What's that?
This.
No, I know what that is:
it's sensuality.
No, sensuality is a consequence.
It cannot exist without love.
So what is love, then?
Your voice, your eyes...
...your hands, your lips...
Our silences, our words...
Light that goes...
...light that returns.
A single smile between us.
In quest of knowledge,
I watched night create day...
...while we seemed unchanged.
O beloved of all,
beloved of one alone...
...your mouth silently promised
to be happy.
Away, away, says hate;
Closer, closer, says love.
A caress leads us from
our infancy.
Increasingly I see
the human form...
...as a lovers' dialogue.
The heart has but one mouth.
Everything by chance.
All words without thought.
Sentiments adrift.
Men roam the city.
A glance, a word.
Because I love you.
Everything moves.
We must advance to live.
Aim straight ahead
toward those you love.
I went toward you,
endlessly toward the light.
If you smile, it enfolds me
all the better.
The rays of your arms
pierce the mist.
Capital of Sorrow.
I must know how the chief engineer
will use me.
As an inter-galaxy double agent,
I think.
- So it's true what Eckel said.
- What?
You send spies to sabotage
the rest of the world.
Of course, you learn that
in school.
Are you going to betray me?
You can't talk
or don't you want to.
Can I communicate with
the Outlands from this hotel?
Just ask for Galaxy Service.
You want me to do it?
The Outlands...
I want to telecommunicate.
...telecommunications are
suspended for some days.
- What were you going to say?
- An atomic attack on Alphaville.
I'll explain later, Princess,
but now let's get out of here.
We must find the Professor...
where does he live?
- Come with us!
- Where?
- Residents Control.
- No kidding.
When he doubles up, get him.
Story 842, Miss.
One day a tiny man entered
a North Zone caf
and said, "I want a cup
of very hot, sweet coffee..."
adding: "I shan't pay,
because I fear no one".
He drank his coffee.
He left.
He drank his coffee
and didn't pay.
The caf owner said nothing,
he was afraid of a scandal.
But when the tiny man repeated
the trick a few times,
the caf owner said:
"I've had it, I'll get a tough guy
to beat up this tiny man
if he comes back".
So, on the fourth day
when the tiny man said, "I want
a cup of very hot, sweet coffee..."
the tough guy goes
to him and says:
"So you're afraid of no one?"
"That's right."
"Well, neither am I."
"Well", says the tiny man,
"Make that two cups of coffee
very hot and sweet."
Meet you outside
Residents Control.
You'll stay here, Miss Vonbraun.
Last night you lied.
You organized Dickson's death.
Why?
Your name may be spelled...
...Ivan Johnson...
...but it is pronounced
Lemmy Caution...
...secret agent...
...number zero zero three...
...of the Outlands.
You are a menace
to the security of Alphaville.
I refuse to become
what you call normal.
Those you call mutants...
...form a race superior...
...to ordinary men...
...whom we have almost eliminated.
Unthinkable.
An entire race cannot
be destroyed.
I shall calculate...
...so that failure...
...is impossible.
I shall fight so that failure
is possible.
Everything that I project
shall be accomplished.
Don't be so sure;
I have a secret, too.
What is your secret?
Tell me, Mr. Caution.
Something which never changes,
day or night.
The past represents its future,
it advances in a straight line,
yet it ends by coming
full circle.
I cannot trace it.
I won't tell you.
Several of my circuits...
...are looking for the solution
to your riddle.
I will find it.
If you find it, you will
destroy yourself simultaneously,
because you will become
my kin, my brother.
Those who are not born,
do not weep...
...and do not regret.
Thus it is logical
to condemn you to death.
Fuck yourself with your logic.
My judgement is just...
...and I am working for the
universal good.
If you plan to drive us from
the other galaxies, you'll fail.
You will not leave;
the exit is blocked.
We'll see.
Professor Vonbraun - do you
know where he lives?
Central Palace, South Zone,
behind Raw Materials Station.
Let's go.
Don't budge.
That way I'm sure you will
keep your word.
Out! Out!
No journalists!
You know "journalist" and "justice"
both begin with the same letter?
Tell your boss.
What can I do for you,
Mister Caution?
News travels fast here.
Because we're very rapidly
entering Light Civilization.
At about 300.000 kilometers
per second.
I'm returning to the Outlands.
Come with me.
Stay with us, Mister Caution.
When the war's over I'll put you
in charge of another galaxy.
You will have gold and women.
We are mastering a science
so fantastic
that the old American and
Russian control of atomic force
will seem pathetic.
I see.
You oppose my moral, even
supernatural, sense of vocation
with a simple physical
and mental existence,
easily controllable
by technicians.
Your ideas are strange,
Mr. Caution.
Some years ago,
in the Age of Ideas
yours would have been called
sublime ideas.
Look at yourself. Men of your type
will soon be extinct.
You'll become something
worse than dead.
You'll become a legend,
Mr. Caution.
Yes, I'm afraid of death
but for a humble secret agent
that's a fact of life, like whisky.
And I've drunk that all my life.
You never want to see
the Outlands again, Professor?
Goodbye, Mister Caution.
Such people will serve as
terrible examples to those...
...who see the world
as theater...
...when technical power
and its triumph...
...is the only act
in their repertoire.
I was running a straight line...
...which, like Dickson's
Greek labyrinth...
...and philosophers were lost,
as a secret agent was too.
In many respects...
...your reactions and your
modes of thought...
...differ...
...from present normality.
The inhabitants of Alphaville
are not normal.
They are the product of mutation.
Do you accept our proposal?
Answer silently...
...with yes or no.
I'll never betray the Outlands.
The present is terrifying...
...because it is irreversible,
and because it is of iron.
Time is the substance of which
I am made.
Time is a river
which carries me along.
But I am time.
It's a tiger, tearing me apart;
but I'm the tiger.
Look at her and me,
there's your answer.
We're happiness, and we're
heading towards it.
It is our misfortune
that the world is reality.
And I...
...it is my misfortune
that I am myself, Alpha 60.
Natasha, quick...
...think of the word love.
Here.
Not all the inhabitants died,
but all were stricken.
Those not asphyxiated
by the absence of light...
...circled crazily, like ants.
It was 23:15, Oceanic Time...
...when Natasha and I left
Alphaville by the peripheral roads.
A night drive across intersidereal
space, and we'd be home.
Don't look back.
- Do you think they're all dead?
- Not yet.
They may recover, and Alphaville
will be happy, like Florence.
Like Angouleme-city,
like Tokyorama.
You can't go back.
- Have I slept for long?
- No, the space of an instant.
Where are we?
In the Outlands?
Not yet.
You're looking at me
with an odd face.
You're waiting for me
to say something.
I don't know what to say.
They're words I don't know.
I wasn't taught them.
Help me.
Impossible, Princess.
You must get there yourself.
Then you'll be saved.
If you don't,
you're as lost
as the dead of Alphaville.
I
you
love.
I love you.