THE FILM REVIEW
Writing the film review was always going to be about Angéla and Emile, Jean- Luc Godard’s dysfunctional bohemian Parisian couple . Even though I deeply enjoyed all of the films screened at Odeon’s Leicester square cinema, this is the one I fell in love with. The Film’s crudeness and oddly edited scenes made me laugh, cry and ultimately, coming out of the cinema, wanting to make a film.
Une femme est une femme is a 1960’s French new wave film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, staring Anna Karina (his wife), Jean Paul-Belmondo and Jean Claude Brialy. Some thirty years ago filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard told critic Gene Youngblood, “I am trying to change the world” and shook up conventional formulas with boldly innovative approaches.
No wonder this film still appears so modern. This is also largely due to Godard’s filming techniques ; he employs jump cuts and character asides that we frequently find in films today. For example, in Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain , director Jean-Pierre Jeunet constantly uses jump cuts( a film I recently watched as part of my research for the final major project). Both Amelie Poulain and Une femme est une femme are set in Paris and capture it’s bohemian and poetic essence. Both directors depict their characters as naïve, questioning children struggling with complex adult situations. In Godard case he does this by shooting scenes that appear silly and unfounded: Angela and Emile wonder, pause, argue about trivialities and play games. For example, Emile happily cycles around the apartment while Angela burns dinner. The humour lies in the gap between the serious plot and the characters childish and literal behaviour. For example when Emile shouts “drop it!” (speaking about the argument), Angela as a result drops the egg in her hand.
I personally associate this madness to the visual language of collage . By juxtaposing unrelated images to one an other the scene seems completely mad. It’s not surprising that the first poster for Une femme est une femme was a collage.
The film is also very theatrical. The plot itself is a classic theatrical dilemma : Angéla, a beautiful but naïve woman, desperately wants to have a child, however boyfriend Emile is not convinced. On the other hand Alfred, Emile's friend, insists he is in love with Angela and would do anything for her. Angela often confides in her audience, her speeches are unheard by Emile and Alfred, which is typically what happens in a play.
I loved the way the film is just not quite a musical because the music sets the rhythm to the arguments between Angela and Emile but apart from Angela’s occasional singing none of the other characters actually sing.
The music is full of hidden poetry. For example Angela listens to the song “ tu t’laisse aller ” by Charles Aznavour. The lyrics recount the loss of love and Karina’s performance brought tears to my eyes.
I think I fell a little bit in love that day.
