RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / A Woman Is a Woman
A Woman Is a Woman

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

A Woman Is a Woman (1960)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
86 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

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

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Dec 22, 1998

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for A Woman Is a Woman

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film

The result is brash, defiant, gaudy and infinitely fragile.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

One of the most enjoyable of all the master's works.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/29/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide

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.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/16/03
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
05/16/03
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
07/07/03
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

A playful experiment.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
08/01/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

You can sing and dance your way through life, but you'll have to do it naked, with men leering at you.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
06/18/04
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

A Woman Is a Woman is fluff, but quelle mousse.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
11/07/03
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

It has a certain smugness about it that has always kept me at a distance from enjoying a Godard film.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/14/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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

comment Comment
10/14/04
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser

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.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/14/01
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

No review available.

comment Comment
07/04/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

There's more vitality, more reckless love of the cinema, in any one scene than in a dozen current films.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
07/03/03
Gary Mairs
Gary Mairs
culturevulture.net

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.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
05/15/03
Glenn Lovell
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

comment Comment
07/09/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

As always, Godard is more interested in making a comment on films -- specifically the musical -- than in creating one of his own.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/15/03
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Godard light, but not lite: Its breezy postures front for melancholia.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
05/13/03
Jessica Winter
Jessica Winter
Village Voice

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A charming document of the great filmmaker's fanciful yet serious dreams for cinema.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
11/21/03
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
25% 25% Four Christmases
68% 68% Funny People
95% 95% Star Trek
14% 14% The Ugly Truth

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
86% 86% A Christmas Tale
60% 60% Paper Heart

More New Releases…

RT On Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196

What’s Hot On RT

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman

The Up in the Air director's Five Faves

Friday Harvest

Friday Harvest

This week's best pics, vids, and posters!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Spielberg Hops Away from Harvey Source: Variety
20
  • Tarantino Could Have Directed Green Lantern Source: MTV
24
  • Will Duvall be Gilliam's Don Quixote? Source: Collider.com
26
  • No Hobbit Until 2012? Source: The Wrap
22
  • Don't Hold Your Breath for Hancock 2 Source: HitFix
42
  • Peter Berg Talks Battleship Source: CHUD
2
  • Summit Ponders Twilight Finale Source: Variety
159
  • First Look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Source: USA Today
56
  • Jeremy Renner Talks Hawkeye Possibilities Source: Superhero Hype
14
  • Todd Phillips Talks The Hangover 2 Source: Entertainment Weekly
18
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
69
  • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
47
  • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
47
  • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
45
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Vampires and Football Break Thanksgiving Records
42
  • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
39
  • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
34
  • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
29
  • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
26
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Terminator Salvation and a Smithsonian Battle
22
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
22
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • A Woman Is a Woman at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
History of Disney Animation
History of Disney Animation External Link

MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.

90 Years of Screen Vampires
90 Years of Screen Vampires External Link

TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.

Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones
Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones External Link

Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.

Recent Headlines as TV Movies
Recent Headlines as TV Movies External Link

AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.

The Death of Original Thought
The Death of Original Thought External Link

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill explores how remakes and reboots have warped our thinking.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.