Full of memorable images and odd flourishes, there's a whole network of gags and cunning cross references and Godard lets the characters move at their own pace, making for a film that's more relaxed and playful than his later work.
A Woman Is a Woman (1960)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:24
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.4/10
Runtime: 88 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: With A WOMAN IS A WOMAN, French director Jean-Luc Godard pays tribute to American musicals in much the same way that his debut feature, the critical and commercial smash hit BREATHLESS, did to... With A WOMAN IS A WOMAN, French director Jean-Luc Godard pays tribute to American musicals in much the same way that his debut feature, the critical and commercial smash hit BREATHLESS, did to American gangster films. The story follows the beautiful Angela (Anna Karina), a strip-tease artist who wants nothing more than to have a baby. Her live-in boyfriend, Emile (Jean-Claude Brialy), doesn't want to refuse and risk sparking major friction between the two. However, fed up with her constant pleading, Emile finally suggests that she shack up with his best friend, Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo), and much to Emile's dismay, she eventually takes his advice. Godard's second feature employs jump cuts and jarring sound mixing--most notably during Karina's strip-tease performances. A WOMAN IS A WOMAN is Godard at his most affectionate and good-natured. He also makes several cinematic in-jokes, including one in which Belmondo's character mentions that he wants to hurry home to watch BREATHLESS, the film that turned Belmondo into a megastar just one year before. Featuring a magnetically cute performance from Karina, who soon after the film became Godard's wife, this loving romantic comedy is a dazzler. [More]
Starring: Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Paul Belmondo
Starring: Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Paul Belmondo
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Composer: Michel Legrand
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Reviews for A Woman Is a Woman
Godard's whimsical celebration of romance, sentiment, musical comedy, color film, the city of Paris and the abundant charms of Ms. Karina herself, who at the time was also Madame Godard.
If Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Paul Belmondo, the recorded voice of Charles Aznavour and a thrilling glimpse of toplessness (circa 1961, at least) in a sleazy strip joint called the Zodiac Club don't turn you on, then tant pis! for you.
A vibrant cinematic romp full of spry, meet-cute banter and teeming with New Wave in-jokes, Godard's 1961 film holds up because it seems far less concerned with the plot proper than the rhythm and spring of its intimate staging.
You can sing and dance your way through life, but you'll have to do it naked, with men leering at you.
It has a certain smugness about it that has always kept me at a distance from enjoying a Godard film.
it is best known as Godard’s ‘tribute to Hollywood musicals,’ because of some offhand references to such films and his sporadic application of music. It is a playful treat, though it has endured because of the strength of the plot and n
Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman is A Woman, along with his great My Life to Live, remains one of the director's more accessible works.
There's more vitality, more reckless love of the cinema, in any one scene than in a dozen current films.
The partially improvised performances, especially that of Karina, who would go on to star in Godard's much darker My Life to Live, are spirited and fun.
Godard remains stubbornly experimental, as in the defiant use of set, the chopped-up bits of Legrand's score looming up throughout; still it somehow charms.
As always, Godard is more interested in making a comment on films -- specifically the musical -- than in creating one of his own.
Godard light, but not lite: Its breezy postures front for melancholia.
It is perhaps most memorable for being a highly personal 'documentary' about Karina and Godard's feelings about her at the time, brimming with odd details and irreverent energies.
A charming document of the great filmmaker's fanciful yet serious dreams for cinema.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
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