Masculin Feminin poster & wallpaper

Birger Malmsten, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine-Isabelle Duport

Juxtaposing images of pristine, romantic innocence with ones of mute, meaningless violence, Godard's Masculin-Féminin first lulls with a hypnotic, disjointed story line and then stuns with...( read more  read more... ) scenes of tremendous depth and meaning. This outrageous film follows the somewhat ineffectual courtship of Madeline, an aspiring pop singer, by Paul, an erstwhile journalist and interviewer but mostly groundless searcher. As in most Godard films, plot mechanics are secondary to elements such as dialog (generally marvelous, but sometimes a bit too pointed), lighting (bizarre and oversaturated, but never less than fascinating), shot framing (extraordinarily thoughtful), and performance. Godard allows his camera to linger on single faces, without cutting, for what seems by modern standards to be extremely long segments--perhaps even excruciatingly long--but the remarkably subtle cast members never disappoint, particularly the fantastically adept and frequently hilarious lead actors, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Chantal Goya. The filmmaker has little to add to our collective understanding of the relationship between masculine et feminine writ large; in fact, most of the female characters are uncomfortably stereotypical, framed as either willfully oblivious to the world or subtly (or overtly) deadly. But as an examination of a young generation faced with the prospect of war in Vietnam and the vagaries of French socialism, Masculin-Féminin proves remorselessly and chillingly trenchant. A towering influence, it would seem, on Whit Stillman's similarly themed Barcelona--but while Stillman lacks the conviction to follow his instincts to their logical, violent conclusions, Godard faces his uncompromising story with elegance and courage. In French, with subtitles that are occasionally difficult to read. --Miles Bethany

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88% liked it

5,775 ratings

Unrated, 105 min.

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard

Release Date: January 1, 1966

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DVD Release Date: September 20, 2005

Stats: 311 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (311)

  • ebs90
    December 8, 2008
    ebs90
    The 60s' young Parisian scene is about pop music, bowling alleys, dance clubs, cafés... Paul and Madeleine talk about music, films, sex, and love. Not much seems to have changed.

    Jean Luc Godard introduces us to this environment as to simply show us in detail what the hip up-...( read more)and-coming generation of the 60s thinks, or doesn-t think, what it loves and loathes, what troubles or doesn't trouble it. Paul is a pseudo-intellectual journalist, writer, and activist, who falls for a rising pop star, Madeleine. This is hardly relevant; what truly matters is that by following their relationship we get to listen to their conversations.

    The ride is fascinating because it's easy to relate to it. Amid the troubling scenario of the War in Vietnam, traces of French socialism and the apathy of a great deal of his generation, Paul has to combine both what he feels as his political commitment and his desire to simply be young and have fun, have sex, listen to music, be silly, drink Coca-Cola? The film, Godard says, might as well be named "The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola": a living contradiction, almost a double life. Paul, who is concerned with what happens around him, struggles to combine his need to be opinionated with his inherent position as a part of the superfluous so-called Pepsi generation Madeleine, his girlfriend, is so enthusiastically devoted to. At a certain point, it's unavoidable to see that Paul, who represents a part of Parisian youth, is caught up between two interests, and he's desperate to find some clarity, only he doesn't know it. Madeleine and her friends, on the other hand, are isolated from their political reality, too often combing their hair, talking about boys and giggling.

    I found the story to be a very fascinating character study. Chantal Goya is downright lovely and sporadically annoying to perfection. Jean Pierre Leaud is the best actor to ever play "angry young men" without becoming a cliche, he does it with no self-preservation instincts, risking ridicule with all sorts of antics, spontaneity, a total lack of self-confidence, and humor, only to suddenly become collected, frustrated, angry, or sad. He takes Paul from extreme to extreme of the emotional scale. I loved his performance. My only complaint would be that the girls of the film are too frigid, too shallow, and too foolish. But perhaps this is what the girls of the Pepsi generation appeared to Godard.

    Stylistically, it's an achievement. The photography is very beautiful throughout. The way the film is structured overall could have been very pretentious, but it seems pertinent as I watched. Although Godard's philosophic pauses between chapters may be utterly incomprehensible sometimes, some were pretty clever. What truly stands out, though, is the dialogue: Paul delivers line after line of razor-sharp phrases like a machine gun. Most observations by all the different characters range from the very intelligent, to the stereotypical, to the confusing and the shallow, which is why the script never bores and never wears out.

    Look out for a fantastic parody of 60s European eroticism (allegedly of Ingmar Bergman's The Silence) and what some of the characters think of it. It's a brilliant moment.
  • emerson17
    August 8, 2008
    emerson17
    « Donnez-nous la télévision et le loto, et délivrez-nous de la liberté. »
  • kenstachnik
    August 7, 2007
    kenstachnik
    weird weird movie. Not my favorite Godard...kind of like Life Aquatic...it's quirky for quirky's sake
  • RashHunt
    February 28, 2006
    RashHunt
    Godard not only makes up for the vague approach of Weekend, but delivers an entirely new argument of which he knows everything about. Best of all, this time, the cast does too.
  • smootysveen
    September 7, 2007
    smootysveen
    I would so buy the soundtrack...Is that bad?

    "Kill a man and you're a murderer. Kill thousands and you're a conquerer. Kill them all and you're God."
  • madamadore
    September 20, 2009
    madamadore
    pretty music, pretty clothing, freaking political.
  • cinemikeinfrance
    August 4, 2009
    cinemikeinfrance
    Featuring one of Jean-Pierre Léaud's finest performances and the delightful Catherine Duport, this must count as one of Godard's most enjoyable movies and certainly one of his best.
    Essay format... interviews, philosophical remarks, 'shocking' revelations. Fabulous structure.
  • 5oclockcoffee
    July 11, 2009
    5oclockcoffee
    "Le philosophe et le cinéaste ont en commun une certaine manière d'être, une certaine vue du monde qui est celle d'une génération".



    "This film should be called 'The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola' ".
  • Phonex
    June 30, 2009
    Phonex
    With Masculin féminin, ruthless stylist and iconoclast Jean-Luc Godard introduces the world to ?the children of Marx and Coca-Cola,? through a gang of restless youths engaged in hopeless love affairs with music, revolution, and each other. French new wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud s...( read more)tars as Paul, an idealistic would-be intellectual struggling to forge a relationship with the adorable pop star Madeleine (real-life yé-yé girl Chantal Goya). Through their tempestuous affair, Godard fashions a candid and wildly funny free-form examination of youth culture in throbbing 1960s Paris, mixing satire and tragedy as only Godard can.
  • fernandooo7
    April 26, 2009
    fernandooo7
    One of my favorite films now. Lively, clever, charming, disarming, thoughtful, impressive.

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