"Experimental, crazy and wild! "A Woman is a Woman" is a unique film!"

Written By: Dennis A. Amith (kndy)

Director Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave) was on fire. Having directed "A bout de souffle" (Breathless) which starred Jean-Paul Belmondo and in 1961 with the controversial "Le Petit Soldat" (The Little Soldier) starring Anna Karina, for this third film "Une femme este une femme" (A Woman is a Woman) brings together both Belmondo and Karina (who Godard married during the filming of the movie) and actor Jean-Claude Brialy. The film is Godard's first film in color and CinemaScope, also a film that is a co-production with French Georges De Beauregard and Italy's Carlo Ponti. Shot in five weeks with no script, "A Woman is a Woman" is Godard's experiment into a film fueled by improvisation.

The film is possibly one of Godard's most interesting and unique film in which it's a musical, but not a musical. Godard calls it an "idea of a musical" or a "neorealist musical". Music has its part in the film, Godard calls it a tribute to the American musical comedy. But unlike the well-known musicals, you get awkward pauses of music, when Anna Karina is about to sing, instead of the music playing through, it stops on her vocals and she sings without any music. In certain scenes, the sound is gone and you get absolute silence and the part that the film is known for, it's improvisation as there was no written dialogue for this film. Godard told his actors what would happen and they would have to make it look convincingly real. Also, you get scenes where Godard is hidden and aims the camera at the public or a hidden camera is attached. And of course, keeping Godard's well known style of jump shots and the talent looking directly at the camera from time to time.

"A Woman is a Woman" revolves around three people. Exotic dancer Angela (played by Anna Karina) and her love of her life Emile (played by Jean-Claude Brialy). The two live a life of enjoying time at home, as she tries to be the good girlfriend and Emile who enjoys his communist newspaper and likes to have fun with his friend Alfred (played by Jean-Paul Belmondo). Alfred who is a Marxist, absolutely loves Angela but knows her heart is with Emile. Although it doesn't seem that Emile knows that his best friend likes his girlfriend.

But things get complicated for Angela and Emile when she tells him that she wants a baby. He has no plans of wanting to have a children but she wants one badly. Each time she brings up the issue, he gets angered. And through the film, we see how the two handle the subject of having a baby. The two seem perfect for each other as he accepts her no matter what and vice versa. When the two fight with each other, instead of arguing, they grab books and use title of the books to do the talking.

At what great lengths will Anna go through, to get pregnant? And what great lengths will Emile to avoid the issue?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"A Woman is a Woman" is featured in color and presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. Although in color, the film is not as vibrant or sharp as what we have seen in Godard's "Pierrot le fou" and at times, some scenes look a bit blurry. According to Criterion, director of photography Raoul Coutard supervised the new high-definition digital transfer which was created on a 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. There are scenes in which you can see the dust but Criterion did a good job in helping to eliminate most of it.

Audio is presented in monaural and features a Dolby Digital 1.0 center channel driven dialogue which is clear. But because of the use of music, I preferred to watch this film with my receiver set with stereo on all channels for a much more immersive sound using my 7.2 system. According to Criterion, the soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the magnetic track and audio restoration tools to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"A Woman is a Woman" contains the following special features:

* Charlotte et Veronique ou Tous les garcons s'appellent Patrick- (19:22) Director Jean-Luc Godard's first short film produced as a professional product from 1957. Also known as "All Boys are Called Patrick" starring Jean-Claude Brialy and written by Eric Rohmer. The film is about a man who tries to get close to two women, not knowing that Charlotte and Veronique are roommates.
* Publicite - Featuring a photo gallery (which you can scroll via your remote control) of photos by Raymond Cauchetier from the set of "A Woman is a Woman", photos of director Jean-Luc Godard during the filming of the movie and international posters of the film. Also, included is an audio promotional recording (34:14) made for the release of "A Woman is a Woman" which was pressed on 10 vinyl records and is presented on the DVD with on-screen English translation. Pretty much select audio from the film between Emile, Angela and Alfred and featured on audio and Godard talking about the film and yes, you get that needle on vinyl sound as well. Also, the Rialto Pictures theatrical trailer (2:32).
* Qui Etes-Vous Anna Karina? - (13:05) A featurette on Anna Karina from April 1966 directed by Colette Djidou and was featured on "Cinema: Qui etes-vous Anna Karina?". The featurette interviews Karina about her career and how she got her first big break (interview those who gave her the chance of modeling) and becoming an actress. Also, you get to see Anna during a time when things between her and Godard were not working out and eventually divorced a year later. Also featuring Jean-Claude Brialy, Serge Gainsbourg and more.
* 24-page booklet - Featuring "A Woman is a Woman" essay by J. Hoberman (film critic for the Village Voice) and "A Movie is a Movie" by Michele Manceaux which are two interviews featured in the French Magazine L'Express back in 1961.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"A Woman is a Woman" is an interesting kind of film. For one, I enjoy it for Godard's technique and what he accomplished during this time of filmmaking. But the question is if the film holds up for those watching it today? I would imagine that "A Woman is a Woman" would be a bit frustrating for some viewers not familiar with Godard's work and may feel a bit too unusual and experimental for their taste.

Godard's feeling at the time was "if you don't like it, then screw you". He made films for himself and I suppose where later films became much more political, "A Woman is a Woman" was a satire of American musicals but at the same time, his way of poking around relationships and doing things his own way. "A Woman is a Woman" has its charming moments and as some cinema fans might feel that those who enjoyed the film are diehard Godardites or fans that are hardcore Anna Karina fans, I suppose that in my case, its one of the reasons why I was a bit patient and even more tolerant of the film.

I found it charming and the characters to be fun, but bare in mind, these characters are not your typical clean cut men and an educated woman. Angela is a stripper, Emile is a man who doesn't make much money and likes to watch women to stripper bars and even have fun with other women while still dating Angela. And Alfred is a Marxist who is in love with his best friend's girl and wouldn't care what his friend thinks. In most cases, characters like these three can easily be hated or reviled but in "A Woman is a Woman", because the film is featured in a musical (or un-musical) type of way, you don't really hate them, you just find them charming in their own kind of way.

There are scenes in the film that just make you smile, may it be references to "Breathless" or "Jules et Jim", Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly or Bob Fosse. Or the scenes in which Angela tries to cook a roast for Emile or an egg for herself. How about their way of arguing through using the titles of books or how the music goes on and then off and then on and then off. I just found that unique and so enjoyable that I can imagine how audiences probably saw this film as so avant-garde back in 1962.

But I see "A Woman is a Woman" more of an experimental film with Godard trying out improvisation and trying to crank out a film in the quickest amount of time possible but still trying to make it enjoyable. It's one of his earlier films but I will admit to enjoying Godard's "Masculin Feminine", "Band of Outsiders" and "Pierrot le fou" much, much more. But yet I still enjoyed this film as it was so un-Hollywood. Almost rebellious filmmaking in a way as Godard deconstructs cinema.

And as Angela would say during the film, "I don't know if it's a comedy or a tragedy, but in any case it's a masterpiece." Is "A Woman is a Woman" a masterpiece? Or is it experimental filmmaking at its best? I'll leave that to the viewer.

"Weasely Characters by a Sensitive Auteur"

Written By: Rivkah Khanin

As with most anything, this film can be viewed and appreciated in different ways for different reasons. I watched it twice. I personally think the plot wasn't anything new, another love triangle, it was fairly predictable. I was completely in love with several scenes however, and the execution of the film was exciting, surprising, and masterful. The second time I watched it, I paid more attention to parts like how the characters interacted with the camera, and the cunning games they play with each other to weasel their way. The film is saturated with charming scenes like Anna Karina's and Jean-Claude Brialy's silent argument via book titles. Godard's attentiveness to detail and humor in the everyday is captured in many moments, and although the plot (taken bluntly) fell a bit short of my expectations, it still depicted fairly accurately the mockery of men to women and the spite of women to men, jealousy between both, and the push and pull of being in love and being stubborn. Well, I have to say that even with an idea that has been toyed with many times, Godard still responded very sensitively to the interactions and sentiments of the characters, and it shows the depth of his decisions. I think that alone deserves respect- taking something relatively ordinary, and presenting it with more layers and substance.

"You've let yourself go, I think not"

Written By: J. Offenbach

Jean-luc Godard's first color film, A WOMAN IS A WOMAN, (Une Femme est une femme) features his then wife Anna Karina, who surprised everyone with her performance. I thought I'd watched every Godard film but came upon this DVD, and watched yesterday. I must first state that I was disheartened by the portrayal of a young woman, her desire to have a baby, her manipulativeness, and her acceptance of demeaning treatment by her boyfriend. Then I remembered that the film was released in 1961 and accepted it as representative of the time, sort of how I accept and love the AMC series, "Mad Men."

From the opening, we know the film was directed by Godard. The music stops and starts. People look into the camera or watch the actors perform. What's a little different is his take on the Hollywood musical and the adorable approach he takes as actors break into song and dance or make comments about previous films. From the start, we see foreshadowing as a young boy follows his mother in her place of employment, a strip club where Angela works in the afternoons. We also expect a sort of menage a trois, with Jean Paul Belmondo (a man whom I adored years ago) entering the scene as a potential paramour of Angela. Communication is enhanced at night by a carrying of the lamp to the books so Jean-Claude Brialy as Emile and Karina's Angela can select the books to create their outre behavior before an otherwise puritanical bedtime.

What put this film over the top for me was the cafe scene where Belmondo selects Charles Aznavour's song, "You've let yourself go" (Tu t'Laisses Aller), a song so preposterous as representative of Angela that it brings the musical comedy to the next level. I enjoyed this film and recommend that you watch it to see the beauty of 1961 in set design, wardrobe, and the reactions of the men on the street when approached, tearing down the wall between filmmaking and reality.

"Style Godard's true talent"

Written By: Marco A. Barajas

no much substence to this movie but there is undeniable style and charisma with the characters and soundtrack

"New wave romantic comedy: cute, playful"

Written By: Dennis Littrell

Godard is beginning to grow on me. Maybe it's because I'm watching his films from the sixties, made when I was a teenager in France, and the nostalgia appeals to me. Maybe it's because his work seems free and easy, uncontrived, almost amateurish compared to some other famous film makers. Or maybe it's just that I like this particular pretty girl he features.

She is pretty, gangly Anna Karina starring as Angela, an exotic dancer who is madly in love and wants to have a baby. Godard has a lot of fun with her, encouraging her to mug for the camera, getting her to do movements that cause her to trip and look not just gangly and very young like a pre-adolescent, but even clumsy--and then to leave the shots in the film, probably telling her, "This is a comedy. You need to be not just beautiful, but funny, warm, vulnerable."

Karina does manage a lot of vulnerability. Her exotic act including her singing is...well, there are usually only a handful of customers in the joint and so her skills are probably appropriately remunerated. Again this is intentional since Godard wants her to be just an ordinary girl without any great talent, someone with whom the girls in the audience can identify. But the irony is that the girl must needs be at least pretty. Karina is more than pretty. She is exquisite with her long shapely limbs and her gorgeous countenance.

One of the compelling nostalgic elements is the way women did their eyes in the sixties: so, so overdone! Although I thought that look was oh so sexy then, today I would like to clean the blue, blue--or is it purple?--eye shadow and the black, black mascara off of Karina's face and see her au naturel!

But it is the sixties in Paris--Gay Paree, Paris in the Spring, the City of Light! Well, 1960 to be exact, which really is more like the fifties than the sixties if you know what I mean. Everything is so innocent, Ike still in the American White House, De Gaulle the triumphant hero of France. Algeria and Vietnam completely offstage of course--this is a romantic comedy. The German occupation, the horrific world war and its aftermath are distant memories for Angela and her friends who were only children then. Life is young, the girls are pretty, the boys are cute, prosperity is upon them. It's Godard's Paris. Life is playful. Life is fun. You tease and you have no real worries. The Cold War is of no concern. The 100,000 or so American troops still stationed in France to support the troops in Germany are not seen. But Godard's love affair with the mass American culture is there in little asides and jokes. Emile or Alfred (I forget which) asks Angela what she would like to hear on the jukebox. "Istsy-bitsy bikini," he offers. No. She wants Charles Aznavour. She wants romance and an adult love that leads to marriage and maternity.

Angela's beloved is Emile played with a studied forbearance by an eternally youthful Jean-Claude Brialy. He doesn't want to father a baby, at least not yet. She pouts, she makes faces, she threatens, she burns the roast and drops the eggs, she crosses her arms, and she gives him the silent treatment. It doesn't work. He prefers to read the Worker's Daily. Ah, but will Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo, who seems intent on out boyish-ing Brialy) pull himself away from TV reruns of "Breathless" to do the job? Will she let him? Is Emile really so indifferent as to allow his friend carnal knowledge of his girlfriend? Is this a kind of threesome, a prelude to a menage a trois?

Watch for a shot of Jeanne Moreau being asked how Truffaut's film Jules et Jim (1962) which she was working on at the time, is coming along, a kind of cinematic insider jest that Godard liked to include in his films. She gives a one word reply, "Moderato."

See this for Anna Karina, and see her also in Godard's Band of Outsiders (1964) in which she looks even more teenager-ish than she does here. She is not a great actress, but she is wondrously directed by Godard who was then her husband.