Masculin Féminin (1966)
I watched Masculin Féminin, another French New Wave film by Jean-Luc Godard, for the first time last week.
I watched Masculin Féminin (1966), another French New Wave film by Jean-Luc Godard, for the first time last week. Like in Godard’s Breathless (1960), this features many of the traits this film movement is known for: mainly a plot focused on the mundane and a wandering camera. Most of the movie follows a 21-year-old Paul—played by Jean-Pierre Léaud, who played Antoine in The 400 Blows (1959)—as he tries to court Madeleine, played by Chantal Goya. Much of the plot is based on the conversations between these two characters and their friends Élisabeth, Catherine-Isabelle, and Robert. There are even several times that otherwise noteworthy events are just blips in these conversations: a man gets shot, a man stabs himself, and a man sets himself on fire. The camera wanders away from the main characters often—in one scene, it follows Paul around a billiard room at a cafe, trying to find a spot for him and Madeleine to sit. He takes so long that she has to leave for work, unable to answer his marriage proposal, the main question on his mind in that moment. I guess this was good? Watch Masculin Féminin on HBO Max.