The heroine's search for a personal identity takes the form of striking between oppposites - girl/boy, mother/father, film/reality, country/city, Judaism/Catholicism, conformity/individuality. This is a rites-of-passage as Portrait Of The Filmmaker as a Young Woman, with Hanna taking inspiration (and dangerously, destiny) from Anna, Karina that is, in 'Vivre Sa Vie', while storing up, Wordsworth-like, artistic inspiration from Godard. Pool's conventional filmmaking puts Godard's masterwork in relief, and makes it seem even more miraculous.