Une Femme Mariée (1964)

A superifical woman finds conflict choosing between her abusive husband and her vain lover.

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard

Stars:

Bernard Noël, Macha Méril, Philippe Leroy

2 nominations.

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
Margareth Clémenti	...	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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Certificate:

Not Rated

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?

Trivia

Macha Méril did her own make-up in the film

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Quotes

Charlotte: It's odd. Men will allow for themselves which they won't allow for women.

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Connections

References Spellbound (1945)

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Soundtracks

Le jazz et la java
Performed by Claude Nougaro
French version of "Three to Get Ready"
Words by Claude Nougaro
Music by Dave Brubeck

User Reviews

Neglected Godard masterpiece

One of Godard's least seen films of the sixties,yet one of his most interesting and mature works.At first viewing it seems to be a typically Gallic story of adultery as the married woman of the title,Charlotte (Macha Méril)is torn between her airline pilot husband and her lover,an actor.But in contrast to how Truffaut,for example,treats adultery in the contemporaneous "La Peau Douce",Godard uses it as a pretext to explore the consumer culture of the sixties.He investigates the role which the media plays in forming Charlotte's tastes and opinions,focusing on the endless stream of advertisements,record sleeves,films and magazines to which she is exposed every day and which informs her views on every subject from politics to fashion. Her frequently naked body is seen in close-up,fragmented,com modified like all the other fetishistic images seen throughout the film.

As usual with Godard there is a plethora of references to filmic and literary figures who have influenced his work.There are a series of cinéma vérité type interviews with the husband,their son and filmmaker Roger Leenhardt which break up the narrative flow in an acknowledgement to Brecht,who would be a key figure in Godard's development in the next decade,whilst Charlotte indulges in several soliloquies reminiscent of Molly Bloom in "Ulysses",one of his favourite books.Formed by this melding together of disparate elements and techniques,"Une femme marieé" brilliantly expresses what it must have felt for a young woman to be alive in the summer of 1964.