A charming document of the great filmmaker's fanciful yet serious dreams for cinema.
A Woman Is a Woman (1960)
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Reviews Counted:10
Fresh:9
Rotten:1
Average Rating:7.7/10
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
A Woman Is a Woman may not have the urgency or the contradictions that made early Godard an icon, but in its new incarnation, it takes us back to a time when he could still provide the makings of a good argument.
The most playful film to come out of the French New Wave, it's also the last time Jean-Luc Godard appeared to have any fun.
Une Femme Est une Femme moves us now because it's so playful and the players are so young.
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.
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 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.
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