Masculin, Feminin on DVD (1966)

Zamy from London [Highly rated reviewer] , 05/05/2005

The first thing to say is that the Radio Times review is wrong (and probably refers to an earlier Godard film). Anna Karina does not star in this film. The part of Madeline, which is the role she would have played, is taken by Chantal Goya. However, there is a scene where Godard, playing himself, has a foul-mouthed argument with a woman in a cafe, probably his wife (Karina as she was), and he shoots her as they leave the cafe. There is no follow-up to this scene and I was left wondering if this was Godard taking a filmic revenge on his former wife.

Anyway, this is a fascinating film. Using an almost documentary technique Godard exposes the differences between men and women; violence as an everyday fact in our society; and the emotional aloneness of much of our human existance. OK, his men may seem callow and insensitive, his women shallow airheads, but this is hardly the point. The film's construction, montage and the visual and aural textures give this film its own validity. The violent scenes erupt without warning and are unexplained. Again, this is not a criticism, violence is often random and inexplicable. And his characters are often very human in the way they interact with each other, somehow searching for some meaning in their lives. This film now seems a timeless and pertinent comment on the 1960's. It is rooted in its time and yet it has not dated. A fine piece of work by a great director, well served by his collaborators and cast.

  5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

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Tim Branney from England , 29/07/2007

This seems to be the film that divides the Godard oeuvre between pre and post-Maoist ideology. As such, it's a mess. I found it hard to stomach the casual misogyny, the adolescent political posturing and the lack of wit and warmth that characterizes his earliest and best films.

Why are the women in Godard's films always so passive, without thoughts, feelings and opinions of their own? Despite its title the film has a completely masculine structure, with the female characters orbiting around the desires and needs of the men. They are reduced down to body parts or emotional punchbags passively receiving, absorbing, never resisting.

Watching 'Masculin Féminin' I found myself giving thanks to the same generation of feminists who came along and kicked the asses of these chauvinistic 'revolutionaries' who, while busy out on the streets standing up for the 'working man', (sic) also expected their little women to be at home making dinner and warming up the bed for later.

'Masculin Féminin' abandons the playful exuberance of Godard's earlier films and ushers in the formless, inauthentic, radical chic that typifies most of his latter output. For me, 'Masculin Féminin' lacks any sense of critique: the Vietnam War is just an excuse to graffiti; American Imperialism becomes a catchphrase flashed up on the screen like some MTV blipvert; the question of the individual and the mass political act is reduced to two post-adolescants leering at a woman in a launderette. Ghastly.

This is a disappointing film on all fronts. It’s superficial and unlikeable both in its execution and in its characterisation. The thrilling technique and cinematic literacy so evident in Godard's earliest films is not furthered in any way and what results is no more than a politically facile rehash of all his stock tropes, all of which are seen to much better effect in the likes of 'A Bout De Souffle, 'Bande A Part' & 'Une Femme Est Une Femme'.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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A customer from London , 22/06/2005

An excellent film reflecting the French New Wave style of the mid 60's. Changes the objective of film making from simple story telling to more of a reflection of everyday life. Follows the juxtaposition of a guy just out of national service, who is becoming a left wing activist, and his on-off girlfriend who is moving from working on a fashion magazine to becoming a pop singer.

This film moves between moments of beautiful poinacy to what now appears as hilarious self parody, but which at the time was a breath of fresh air compared the formulated films of the era.

  1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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