Masculin féminin: 15 Faits Précis
(Masculine-Feminine)
1966
Watching Masculine-Feminine, I was once again reminded of Truffaut. May be because of the very presence of Jean-Pierre Léaud , or may be because of the tongue-tied and ambivalent Paul he plays. The scene at the mall where Paul records everything that he honestly thinks about Madeline on a disc and perhaps intends to present to her was an instant portal for me to the scene in Truffaut’s Stolen Kisses (1968) where Antoine, incidentally the same Jean-Pierre Léaud, repeats his name and those of Fabienne and Christine in front of a mirror to come to sanity. And may be it is because of all these warm moments, the film works well also as an ode to the joy of youth.
If Godard captured what men and women expect from each other in Contempt (1963), he extracts how exactly their younger counterparts view each other and how their actions are subconsciously manipulated to concur with that perception. Another similarity between the films would be the misattributed Bazin quote (“The cinema,’ substitutes for our gaze a world that corresponds to our desires“) that Godard rephrases in the scene at the theater. Being as naughty as ever, Godard dubs the film as “Children of Marx and Coca Cola“. And it probably sums up the entire film. It is so amusing to see Léaud trying desperately to become a revolutionary leftist and helplessly embracing the western way of life. And silently from this honesty arises Godard’s viewpoints on involvement of the student and the youth community in revolution.
Though not as experimental as Godard’s other films of the period, he does develop some style points that he would extrapolate in his later films – the regular interruption of key conversations with unexpected noise, the flashy titles with word plays et al. Godard utilizes a lot of off-screen sounds and events equiping the audience enough for them to figure out what is happening on and off the screen. And perhaps because of its non-alienating and mostly non-experimenting nature, Masculine-Feminine may be one of the few Godard films that many will love without hostility.
December 11, 2008 at 9:23 pm
This is indeed a very offbeat film – the kind of movies that attract cinephiles. Godard’s opinions on topics ranging from pop culture to politics are fun yet subtly thought provoking. And yes, who can ever forget the alternate title of the film “Children of Marx and Coca Cola”. Touche.
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December 11, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Yes, a very charming film, if I can call that.
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December 12, 2008 at 11:02 am
Hi Shrikant (trust your name’s been spelt aptly)
I really liked your blog, fabulous collection of films at one glance. Need to spend more time with ur blog on a regular basis, not even blinking about my work for a moment :)
I loved Masculin féminin, it’s almost like a study of youth then in a world being seized by the free-mindedness n Americana!
as I wrote in my post, this film captures, very beautifully, the tussle between “the spirit of freedom and spontaneity as brought in by youthful energy” and “the ever-increasing need to participate in certain political developments, ideologies around the world”, through conversations exchanged between youngsters hanging around in Parisian cafes.
great! loved ur blog, would love to read n know about the films I STILL have not familiarised self with
Jyo
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December 12, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hi Jyothsnay,
Thanks for reading. You seem to have a well established blog at your place. Great going.
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December 13, 2008 at 12:41 am
My favorite passage from the film:-
“We often went to the movies. The screen lit up and we trembled…But more often than not Madeleine and I were disappointed. The pictures were dated, they flickered. And Marilyn Monroe had aged terribly. It made us sad. This wasn’t the film we’d dreamed of. This wasn’t the total film that each of us had carried within himself…the film we wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we wanted to live.”
Paul, in Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin féminin
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December 13, 2008 at 7:43 am
Ya, sums up the entire spirit of the film and the generation.
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December 14, 2008 at 6:50 pm
[…] film remains about the involvement of the student community in revolution – an issue he grazed in Masculine-Feminine (1966) employing the same Jean-Pierre Léaud. Through this issue and use of a classroom-like […]
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