Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman trying to find herself in a world of men. Dreaming of a life as a film actress, she leaves her husband and child. Unable to find anywhere to live, she works for a time in a record store, and then drifts into prostitution. Susan Sontag described Vivre sa vie as “a perfect film” and “one of the most extraordinary, beautiful and original works of art that I know of”.

Vivre sa vie won the Pasinetti Award and the Special Jury Prize at the 1962 Venice Film Festival.

“The effect of the film is astonishing. It is clear, astringent, unsentimental, abrupt. Then it is over. It was her life to live.” Roger Ebert.

“Invigorating, revolutionary, joyfully iconoclastic and spontaneous.” Fran Hortop, Film4