Une Femme Mariée (1964)

Charlotte is young and modern, not a hair out of place, superficial, cool; she reads fashion magazines - does she have the perfect bust? She lives in a Paris suburb with her son and her ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard

Stars:

Bernard Noël, Macha Méril, Philippe Leroy

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Bernard Noël	...	Robert, the Lover
Macha Méril	...	Charlotte
Philippe Leroy	...	Pierre, the Husband
Christophe Bourseiller	...	Nicolas (as Chris Tophe)
Roger Leenhardt	...	Himself
Margaret Le Van	...	Girl in Swimming Pool (as Margaret Le-Van)
Véronique Duval	...	Girl in Swimming Pool
Rita Maiden	...	Madame Celine
Georges Liron	...	The Physician

Storyline

Charlotte is young and modern, not a hair out of place, superficial, cool; she reads fashion magazines - does she have the perfect bust? She lives in a Paris suburb with her son and her husband Pierre, a pilot. Her lover is Robert, an actor. Assignations with him, dinner with her husband and a client, consulting a physician: there's tension at home, Pierre had her followed a few months before, their marital play has an edge, Pierre slaps her and apologizes. She quizzes Robert: is he acting when he's with her? Events may force her to choose Robert or Pierre. Close-ups fill the screen; is there more than surface? Her eyes tear up. The horrors of war provide a distant counterpoint.

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Plot Keywords:

magazine | actor | acting | fashion | nouvelle vague | 

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Taglines:

This is the controversial motion picture that has been hailed by critics everywhere...!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

4 December 1964 (France)

Also Known As:

A Married Woman

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$120,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anouchka Films, Orsay Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Spellbound (1945)

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Soundtracks

L'amour c'est comme un jour
Composed by Charles Aznavour
Performed by Macha Méril

User Reviews

A study of an individual, a medium, but moreover commodification in modern society.

'Une femme mariée' records 24 hours in the life of Charlotte, the eponymous married woman, a morning and the morning after with her lover, actor Robert, the evening spent with Pierre, her pilot husband. This structure, of a double life almost, is in line with a theme of distinction or division set up from the opening titles: 'UN FILM […] EN NOIR ET BLANC', and extended filmically by the use of interviews filmed in the documentary style interposed between action, and likewise with detail shots of newspaper headlines edited into the narrative; there is later use of negative. The film is characteristically self-referential: Charlotte comments on her seating position in the car as being 'la position ideal du spectator du cinéma' as the extreme long shot captures on one plane the back of her and her lover's heads, as if they were in the row in front of us in a cinema audience, with a classic Parisian scene in the background. Genre clichés are employed: Charlotte's changing of taxis, and meeting her lover in the back row of the cinema taken from countless detective movies.

This litany (I apologise) amounts to an unconventional film: Godard does not provide his audience with the popular conventions that they rely on: it opens with a blank white screen for a start, and hardly goes on to having any driving narrative. 'Une femme mariée' is rather a study of an individual and a medium.

More than this though, it questions commodification in modern society, as succinctly described in the below post; in this it is wholly successful, and relevant.