Every Man for Himself (1980)

After heading up the French New Wave movement with Breathless (1960) and Masculin Féminin (1966), famed filmmaker Jean-Lue Godard lent his indie talents to the mainstream movie Every Man for Himself (1980). Also known as Sauve qui peut (la vie), this skinternational flick features dialogue in French and action in the universal language of lust! The critically-acclaimed romantic dramedy is broken into three sections. The first one is “The Imaginary” which follows a young woman named Denise Rimbaud (César Award winner Nathalie Baye) as she moves on from her ex-boyfriend Paul Godard (Jacques Dutronc). In the second part, entitled “Fear”, the newly-single Paul shows he’s scared to be alone. As such, he hooks up with a prostitute named Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert). “Commerce” is the third part of the film wherein Isabelle focuses on making money. Ironically, this pursuit leads her to Denise. Since Every Man for Himself is part of the Criterion collection, there are a lot of visually breathtaking shots and strange developments that may perplex home viewers. Nevertheless, it’s worth a watch since this foreign flick treats us to some full frontal nudity from Fred Personne. About an hour into the pic, the nude dude bares his hairy chest, fluffy muff, balls and uncut peen when he gets out of bed. Granted, the flesh flash is fast but that’s what freeze frame is for. In other words, keep one hand on the remote. What you do with your other hand is up to you. Just remember to say “Merci beaucoup!”