Masculin Féminin (1966)

A romance between young Parisians, shown through a series of vignettes.

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writers:

Jean-Luc Godard, Guy de Maupassant (stories)

Stars:

Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Paul - un jeune homme instable
Chantal Goya	...	Madeleine Zimmer - une petite chanteuse
Marlène Jobert	...	Elisabeth Choquet - la copine d'Elisabeth
Michel Debord	...	Robert Packard - un syndicaliste
Catherine-Isabelle Duport	...	Catherine-Isabelle
Evabritt Strandberg	...	Elle (la femme dans le film) (as Eva-Britt Strandberg)
Birger Malmsten	...	Lui (l'homme dans le film)

Storyline

Paul is young, just demobbed from national service in the French Army, and disillusioned with civilian life. As his girlfriend builds herself a career as a pop singer, Paul becomes more isolated from his friends and peers ('the children of Marx and Coca Cola', as the credits announce) and their social and emotional politics.

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Plot Keywords:

singer | friend | french | france | politics | 

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Taglines:

Jean-Luc Godard's Swinging Look at Youth and Love in Paris Today!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Rialto Pictures

Country:

France Sweden

Language:

French Swedish English

Release Date:

22 March 1966 (France)

Also Known As:

Masculin Féminin

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$26,855, 13 February 2005, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$200,087, 4 September 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anouchka Films, Argos Films, Sandrews

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film uses natural-light settings and minimal production crew for the entire movie.

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Quotes

Madeleine Zimmer - une petite chanteuse: Are you looking for work?
Paul: Not exactly, but I just did my military service.
Madeleine Zimmer - une petite chanteuse: Was it fun?
Paul: It's 16 months of your life with no comfort, money, love, or free time. In other words, modern life. 24 a day of submission to unbridled authority, 16 months of struggle a young Frenchman must endure to win relative freedom from authority, when he's had no exposure to culture. It can become a life of submission, because the military and industrial complex coexist well, as the logics of money and order.
Madeleine Zimmer - une petite chanteuse: It ...

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Crazy Credits

Contrary to what Paul and his friend decide in the laundry mat sequence, Godard points out just before the credits that the word "féminin" does in fact contain another word: "fin" [end].

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Connections

Referenced in The Hottest State (2006)

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Soundtracks

Si, tu gagnes au flipper
(uncredited)
Written by Jean-Jacques Debout
Performed by Chantal Goya
Editions de RCA

User Reviews

Masculinity beats Feminism! Yeah!

In 1960s' France, when there is rebellion against every reigning doctrine inside the mind of youth culture; Godard particularizes the downgrading of youth in different cases. Honored with Silver Berlin Bear for his influential leading part, Jean-Pierre Leaud symbolizes French New Wave with playing a captious character by means of critical attitudes. So wisely, Godard doesn't force the story to describe this leading character. Instead he let his leading actor become the viewer. Of every moment at all the scenes Godard puts us in his shoes. When we start laughing at an ironic situation, he became the one who is making fun of the person in the irony. When we start feeling bored of a conversation, he became the one disturbing the talkers. When we start getting confused of the happenings, he came to create his own scene.

Not only leading the script, the story and the other actors; Jean- Pierre Leaud also leads us to be part of his daily life, to realize his ambitions. Step by step he charms Madeleine with asking dead-end questions and helping her finding the impossible answers. Even though Madeleine ideally never liked him, she found herself pregnant and realized he has become the one that will share her fate in a little while. You would be impressed how fabulously, Paul convinces Madeleine and her roommate to share the same house, same room and to sleep in the same bed altogether. If this has been Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" you wouldn't be amazed that much.

Masculin Feminin is a conversation-based movie of philosophy and youth sociology and has the governing idea that even with the feminism women still are under the sway of masculinity. It's centering on masculinity. There is also a hidden analogy here that; as socialism being nothing but a rebellion to the eyes of democracy, so is feminism being nothing but a rebellion to the eyes of a man's self-knowledge. The character profiles are very well sculptured. It inspires confidence over the impossible-to-understand woman characteristics. Yet, for me the best issue is that the story-telling is very confusing, out-of-order; so that it's not really down-to-earth at all.