Masculin Féminin
Reviews
CRCulver
In MASCULIN FEMININ, shot in the autumn of 1965, Jean-Luc Godard studies the perennial features of courtship and dating between young men and young women, and the particular way they worked out in the newly permissive and economically booming society of 1960s France. Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is 21 and has just finished his national service. In a café, he strikes up a conversation with Madeleine (Chantal Goya), a friend of a friend, with the pretext that she might help him find work. They start dating, and the film then tracks their rocky relationship, where Paul is frustrated as the sole man among Madeleine and her flatmates/girlfriends Elisabeth (Marlène Jobert) and Catherine-Isabelle (Catherine-Isabelle Duport). He occasionally meets up with his chum Robert (Michel Debord), just as young but already a passionate union activist. But really, this is a lot more than a study in boy meets girl. Godard gives us a whole bucket of 1960s social, political, and cultural themes. Paul and Robert are both passionate members of the French Left, while the girls are more interested in the other side of the ideological divide, namely consumer society (pop music, clothes, cars). Their conversations reveal Godard's own unease at how the world was developing in the 1960s, his fears of political repression, dizzying technological progress, and a working class who had no time to enjoy all the stuff it could now buy. At several points in the film, the main characters overhear conversations in public places that are completely over-the-top in terms of sex and violence, but which reveal some of the tensions in society. In fact, in one of the film's most striking scenes, Godard without warning has Leáud interview a real young woman (Elsa Leroy) who had recently won a fashion magazine's "girl of the year" award, asking her about politics, war, and what she wants from life. In this six-minute scene where only she is visible on camera, clearly put on the spot, she seems totally oblivious to the war in Vietnam and other great issues of the day. Your reviewer is quite a passionate armchair historian about 1960s youth culture in Europe, and like many other books and films, MASCULIN FEMININ shows that many of the issues of the day are still very relevant for us in the new millennium. For this film, Godard's usual cameraman Raoul Coutard was unavailable, so he brought in Willy Kurant. While the two reportedly quarreled during the production, Kurant pulls off some remarkable long takes, again elevating a boy-meets-girl or boy-and-girl-have-rocky-relationship story into a delight for the eye. The use of sound (live sound from the cafés in which they shot, the occasional peal of gunfire) is also distinctive. MASCULIN FEMININ is perhaps less raved about than other Godard films from this time. It can arguably be called a minor effort in its recycling many elements from earlier productions while still searching for a way forward. That recycling isn't a bad thing, however, as the use of formal elements (division into tableau, a brutally abrupt ending) from Vivre sa vie, for instance (not to mention other earlier efforts), works just as well in the context of this story. I was initially baffled by the ending and how the film led up to it, but the more I look back at it, the more I'm impressed.
Movie Recommendation
Dede2017-09-10It's 1992. Young Dina lives in a remote mountain village where life is strictly governed by centuries of tradition. Dina's grandfather has promised her to David, who is returning from the war. But with him comes a comrade-in-arms, the handsome Gegi, and Dina falls in love. Is it possible to defy the firmly established order?More...
Authors Anonymous2014-04-18When a dysfunctional group of unpublished writers accept Hannah into their fold, the last thing they expect is her overnight success. Can these lovable misfits achieve their artistic dreams and avoid killing one another in the process?More...
The Goddess: How I Fell in Love2004-09-30Young police detective Faina tries to experiment with herself in order to meet her dead love.More...
The Room1992-04-22A quiet killer is looking for a room. The real state agent, shy and expressionless, guides him through Tokyo, towards the ruins the decadent economy has left behind, in hopes of finding The Room.More...
Kaija Koo: Tinakenkäkuningatar2023-01-02There is no descriptionMore...
Made in U.S.A1967-01-27Paula Nelson goes to Atlantic City to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, but finds him dead and decides to investigate his death. In her hotel room, she meets Typhus, whom she ends up knocking out. His corpse is later found in the apartment of David Goodis, a writer. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many gangsters.More...
Daguerréotypes1975-07-14An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.More...
Weekend1967-12-29A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.More...
The Gleaners and I2000-07-07Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.More...
Boss Nigger1975-08-17Two black bounty hunters ride into a small town out West in pursuit of an outlaw. They discover that the town has no sheriff, and soon take over that position, much against the will of the mostly white townsfolk.More...
Je T'Aime, Je T'Aime1968-04-24Recovering from an attempted suicide, a man is selected to participate in a time travel experiment that has only been tested on mice. A malfunction in the experiment causes the man to experience moments from his past in a random order.More...
Suburbia1984-04-13When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.More...
More1969-08-04A German student, Stefan, now finished with his studies, hitchhikes to Paris. There he meets a free-spirited American girl, Estelle, who he follows to Ibiza. The two begin a sad and dark path into heroin addiction.More...
The Big City1963-09-27After her husband loses his job, a housewife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a salesperson.More...
Forbidden World1982-05-07In the distant future, a federation marshal arrives at a research lab on a remote planet where a genetic experiment has gotten loose and begins feeding on the dwindling scientific group.More...
Zero for Conduct1933-04-07In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.More...
Warning: Do Not Play2019-08-15A struggling director makes a desperate bid to dig into the urban legend about a film shot by a ghost, at the risk of her own life.More...
A Woman Is a Woman1961-09-06Longing for a baby, a stripper pursues another man in order to make her boyfriend jealous.More...
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her1967-03-17As the city of Paris and the French people grow in consumer culture, a housewife living in a high-rise apartment with her husband and two children takes to prostitution to help pay the bills.More...
Contempt1963-10-29A philistine in the art film business, Jeremy Prokosch is a producer unhappy with the work of his director. Prokosch has hired Fritz Lang to direct an adaptation of "The Odyssey," but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb at the box office, he brings in a screenwriter to energize the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife.More...
Similar Movies
M*A*S*H
1970-02-18The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.On the Waterfront
1954-06-22Terry Malloy is a kindhearted dockworker, and former boxer, who is tricked by his corrupt bosses into leading his friend to death. After falling in love, he tries to leave the waterfront and expose his employers.The Tin Drum
1979-05-02Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.La Jetée
1962-02-16A man confronts his past during an experiment that attempts to find a solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world caused by a world war.Ben-Hur
1959-11-18In 25 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accused by a Roman childhood friend-turned-overlord of trying to kill the Roman governor, he is put into slavery and his mother and sister are taken away as prisoners.Short Cuts
1993-10-01Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.Annie Hall
1977-04-19New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.The Last Emperor
1987-10-04A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.Gentlemen Prefer Blon...
1953-07-14Lorelei Lee is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond, much to the disapproval of Gus' rich father, Esmond Sr., who thinks that Lorelei is just after his money. When Lorelei goes on a cruise accompanied only by her best friend, Dorothy Shaw, Esmond Sr. hires Ernie Malone, a private detective, to follow her and report any questionable behavior that would disqualify her from the marriage.GoodFellas
1990-09-12The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.Dancer in the Dark
2000-09-01Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, escaping life's troubles – even if just for a moment – by dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.Dharmaveer
2022-05-13A biopic on life of a Hindu nationalist leader Anand Dighe, through various incidents narrated by his close aides.Love at Twenty
1962-06-22Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.Chappaquiddick
2018-04-06Ted Kennedy's life and political career become derailed in the aftermath of a fatal car accident in 1969 that claims the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne.Not Here to Be Loved
2005-10-12Jean-Claude Delsart, a 50 years-old bailiff, with his worn-out smile and heart, abandoned a long time ago the idea that life could give him pleasures. Until the day, he dares to push the doors of a tango lesson...Bread and Tulips
2000-03-03An endearing light comedy about a woman who spontaneously becomes a resident of Venice after her family left her behind. While enjoying the wonderful people she meets she achieves a new life and the first time independent of her family.Wag the Dog
1997-12-25During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President's adviser hires a Hollywood producer to help him stage a fake war.The Hours
2002-12-27The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.Full Metal Jacket
1987-06-26A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.Munich
2005-12-23During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.