A Woman is a Woman (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961): France/Italy

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.

Godard’s enchanting, fun filled homage to the Hollywood musical, A Woman is a Woman, is Godard at his most charming, playful, and accessible. The film is filled with sequences aimed at delighting the audience even if it sacrifices a little in other areas. For those that find Godard a bit heavy handed and difficult to watch this is the Godard for you.

Striptease artist Angela (Anna Karina) decides she wants a baby and tells boyfriend Emile (Jean-Claude Brialy), but he is reluctant to give her one right away which is what she demands. Emile’s friend Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo) complicates things by telling Angela he is in love with her. She is so desperate to get pregnant she is willing to let Alfred do it if Emile refuses.

The film works due in great part to the immense charm of its trio of actors. All three are very likeable, but none more so than Anna Karina. With a wink at the camera from those beautiful almond shaped eyes she has the audience in the palm of her hand. Her funny, vulnerable, and sexy Angela is irresistible. Belmondo and Brialy turn up the charm as well and though their actions are a bit silly at times they do not bore us.

This is also one of Godard’s most original and inspired works. He slow pans between two characters as he reveals through titles the true meaning behind their actions and where they will lead; he has his characters, too mad to speak to each other, argue using book titles which they amend into insults; the entire Charles Aznavour song “You’ve Let Yourself Go” (Tu T’Laisses Aller) plays as Angela and Alfred exchange looks (Godard’s respect for the singer/actor is evident by his not interrupting the song); and there are also a seemingly unending barrage of cinematic references to amuse the cinephiles, a favorite being when Belmondo’s Alfred nonchalantly tells Emile and Angela that he does not want to stay out too late because Breathless is on TV tonight and he does not want to miss it.

More so than other Godard efforts this is one of his more polished films. It does not have the meandering feel of other Godard films giving the impression that this one had a tighter script giving the inventiveness and experimentation within this framework more focus. Raoul Cotard’s widescreen cinematography is brilliant and Godard, this being his first color film, establishes his preference for composing shots with red, white and blue prominently featured. Michel Legrand’s romantic orchestral score is the final ingredient to this pseudo musical, even though Godard frequently interrupts the score. Probably more than any other Godard film this is the one you can simply sit back and enjoy.

DVD Extras: All Boys Are Called Patrick short film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and written by Eric Rohmer; Excerpts from a 1966 French television interview with Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, and Serge Gainsbourg; Publicity for A Woman is a Woman including the threatrical trailer, rare on set photos, stills gallery and poster, and a promotional audio recording for the film.