Masculin Feminin (1966)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Anthony L

  
  "A mole is blind but burrows in a particular direction". Masculin Feminin, although not really about man and woman, is about a young couple who basically represent the impossible struggle between idealism and consumerism. Although there is always a contradiction waiting… More
  "A mole is blind but burrows in a particular direction". Masculin Feminin, although not really about man and woman, is about a young couple who basically represent the impossible struggle between idealism and consumerism. Although there is always a contradiction waiting around the corner. Chantal Goya is beautiful and so served her purpose, harsh but fair. Godard just doesn't get anything from Jean-Pierre Léaud, certainly not like Truffaut did some ears earlier and I really do think that was down to the direction rather than the acting. Many have parodied Godard's work and it's easy to see why in this film. It's not really about anything other than Godard having another bee in his bonnet, the anti-Vietnam war theme had become more than repetitive by then, not that that stopped him, he was still at it in 2002! It's another miss I'm afraid.

• Jan Marc M

  
  Masculine Feminine is of popular culture, youth, love, and sex from Jean-Luc Godard starring French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud as Paul in a romantic pursuit for Madeleine, eventually involved in a "ménage à quatre." Vigorous narrative and visual style. Seductive.

• Jim H

  
  And so begins my tour of Godard films ... Of the five Godard films I've seen (and am going to see), this is the best, but that's not saying much. Normally, I begin my reviews with a sentence-long plot outline, but Godard is so entrenched in the post-structuralist… More
  And so begins my tour of Godard films ... Of the five Godard films I've seen (and am going to see), this is the best, but that's not saying much. Normally, I begin my reviews with a sentence-long plot outline, but Godard is so entrenched in the post-structuralist disapproval of the typical story arc that it makes it difficult to render the film so simply. Rather, I think I can only report what I experienced while watching the film and hope it makes more sense than the film. I think the film attempts to juxtapose the hedonistic tendency of the sixties against the decade's political turmoil. We see a flighty, apolitical pop song artist pursued by the politically aware but inactive Paul. He prioritizes his libido above his political concerns, but this can only last so long. The film, in typical post-modern fashion, dives away from the plot into political rants that only tangentially connect to the main action. Overall, <i>Masculin Feminin</i> is jumbled and often incoherent but ultimately rewarding.

• Ken S

  
  weird weird movie. Not my favorite Godard...kind of like Life Aquatic...it's quirky for quirky's sake

• danny d

  
  godards commentary on 1960's young people in france is interesting and insightful, while a bit bizarre at the same time. many of the signature godard techniques are here, including a texture quite similar to breathless. the quirky story becomes tragic in a way not coherent with… More
  godards commentary on 1960's young people in france is interesting and insightful, while a bit bizarre at the same time. many of the signature godard techniques are here, including a texture quite similar to breathless. the quirky story becomes tragic in a way not coherent with the direction of the rest of the story, but the film as a whole is very good.

• Elvira B

  
  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… More
  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-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.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic][color=darkorange]I have had problems with other Jean Luc-Godard films in the past - to be specific - Breathless is nothing more than a historic document. Contempt is half a good movie - the sections with Fritz Lang and Jack Palance as the producer from hell are… More
  [font=Century Gothic][color=darkorange]I have had problems with other Jean Luc-Godard films in the past - to be specific - Breathless is nothing more than a historic document. Contempt is half a good movie - the sections with Fritz Lang and Jack Palance as the producer from hell are priceless; the sections with Brigitte Bardot asking for opinions on various parts of her anatomy nearly put me into a coma. I did not really care for Weekend or Alphaville, either.[/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=#ff8c00][/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=#ff8c00]Which brings me to "Masculine-Feminine" which centers on the life of a would be revolutionary who has just gotten out of the army. He goes through a couple of jobs while romancing a would be pop singer. It's not bad but there is not a lot of depth here, either.[/color][/font]

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