"Perhaps Godard's most sensitive look at women is his portrait of Nana (Anna Karina, then his wife), a woman who becomes a prostitute after leaving her husband and child. Organized into twelve separate tableaux, each introduced by Brechtian headings describing what will follow, the film is political in both structure and content. While the scope ranges from the philosophical (questioning the relationship between thought and action), to the social (documenting the practice of prostitution), its essence is personal, as Nana attempts to take responsibility for her life and actions. Although it looks carefully constructed, Vivre sa vie was shot quickly and was usually written the night before each day's shoot. From this haste and a low budget, invention was born. Godard's bold style borrows from musicals, documentaries, gangster films, and passion plays. But it is ultimately intimate, centered on exchanges Nana has with others (her conversations are shot in every conceivable manner except the conventional shot/reverse shot), as Godard attempts to explore Nana's surface to reach her soul." Kathy Geritz