There were no fewer than three film versions of Carmen during the 1983-84 season. Jean-Luc Godard's First Name: Carmen is, not surprisingly, rather far-removed from both the Merimee novel and the Bizet opera. Godard's heroine, named Carmen X and played by Maruschka Detmers, is a radical filmmaker who robs a bank while pretending to shoot her latest picture. The "brilliant director" engaged to throw the gendarmes off the trail is played by none other than Godard himself. He is depicted as certifiably insane, and we're not prone to disagree. Incredibly, and despite the death of the heroine, the film actually has a happy, hopeful ending! First Name: Carmen won a number of industry awards; your opinion of its value, will be entirely dependent upon your feelings towards Monsieur Godard.