Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Writer: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert
Runtime: 103 min
Rating: R
Coca Cola, Yé-yé music, socialism, film, and love are just a few of the many elements that compose Masculin Féminin. An essay on consumption, the film examines the lives of young men and women, and the reflections the audience can make based on their choices and behaviors.
Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a young man who has recently finished his military service. After leaving the army, he finds that the mundane lifestyle of the city holds no rewards for him, and, along with his communist friend, he pursues a life of militancy and political mischief. Despite all this, he falls in love with Madeleine, a simple girl with commercial dreams. The film follows Paul as he tries to adapt to a lifestyle that angers him, while trying to keep his relationship together, and seeks to lay out characteristics of gender, as well as offering an analysis of capitalism and materialism.
Paul, Léaud’s first credited character with Godard, is also quite possibly one of the most annoying roles I have ever witnessed. He is, of course, a reflection of a young Frenchman, which is definitely worrisome. His relationship with Goya’s character Madeleine is quite sickening, and one wonders why the latter even bothered with him in the first place. The spectator soon realizes that this is one of the points of the film, and that Paul has to be endured in order to really understand Godard’s intent with this piece. Men in the film are generally quite unappealing, but I suppose that depends on who you ask. If this is Godard’s essay about gender and their impending differences, then men are not offering much. Although it was Godard’s intent to portray Madeleine as shallow and plain, she is endearing, and Goya does a great job with the softness of her character.
It is quite amusing, however, to see Godard utilizing Madeleine as a way to look into Paul’s confusion after returning from the army. Although he claims to be a militant socialist who is quite displeased with the system, he is helplessly in love with a woman whose dream is to be a pop star and who doesn’t really care about Paul’s political affairs. Despite this fact enraging Paul, he stays with Madeleine, and this duality gives the film a great dynamism. Masculin Féminin is a film that maintains Godard’s critical style, but becomes quite playful. Madeleine’s innocence and quietness offers the perfect balance to Paul’s rashness and abruptness. The situations in the film verge on the comical, and it is interesting to gain an outlook into what Godard considers to be masculine, and what he considers to be feminine. Also, be weary of Madelaine’s song “Tu M’as Trop Menti,” as it is quite infectious, and despite being laughable in the film – Goya doesn’t sound very good – it remains in one’s head longer than the film itself.
Masculin Féminin is one of those pieces that provides insight into the evolution of perspectives of gender through time. While some elements of culture remain the same, it is the perfect opportunity for the contemporary spectator to create a comparison between their own lives and those in the film. Sadly, some aspects of the man/woman dynamic have not changed at all, but others seem laughable in the eyes of societies and cultures of today. It could be said that Masculin Féminin is another audience-friendly Godard film, especially because it addresses a topic that interests many, and can be understood by nearly anyone who decides to watch.
