Contextual Studies Part 2

FILM REVIEW ON UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME

Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960‘s neo-realist romantic comedic musical ‘Une Femme Est Une Femme (A Woman is a Woman) was one of my favorites of the films shown during the contextual studies film program.  Emma Simmonds (http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/

blog/cult-film-club-–-une-femme-est-une-femme-13799) described it as being “both as stylish and non conformist as you’d expect” from Godard.  What I thought made this improvisational picture so compelling was its simplistic plot line paralleled with its unusual editing and the use of expressive music throughout to punctuate dialogue and often disrespectfully to undermine the seriousness of sequences.  Left Field Cinema describes the use of music as bringing “energy and life to a pointless love triangle”, although I agree that it does bring energy and life I disagree that it is a pointless love triangle, peculiar yes but not pointless.

Parallels can be drawn between Jean-Luc Godard’s Une Femme Est Une Femme and Blake Edwards’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  Both pictures were created in 1961 and even though one is set in Paris, France while the other is in New York, America they have a similar feel about them, for example the characters and their costumes and makeup.

Both leading ladies are beautiful brunettes in an ira when it was all about blondes for instance Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe.  They added something different to the films they appeared in and helped to create the impression of ‘the modern woman’ through characters who were individual and spirited women.  The characters of Angela and Holly Golightly are both women who obtain money from men; Holly is basically a call girl and Angela is a stripper,  however in the film not much is seen of this side of her as the central theme is love and relationships.  The focus of the narratives in both about the woman’s want of something, in ‘breakfast at tiffany’s’ Holly is after money and the the chance to get into the ‘big leagues’ and in ‘a women is a women’ Angela is in desperate need of a baby a better life.  When writing about the central character Christopher Null says “you can't help but love the fluttering eyelids of Karina and her earnest desire for a better life.”(http://www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1961/a-woman-is-a-woman/)

One of the most interesting aspects of A Woman is a Women is its documentation of the sheer otherness of all women, this concept is reflected in art especially since the late 1960s, when the feminist art movement can be said to have emerged.  Artist such as Barbara Kruger have been particularly interested in what makes females different from males.  When talking about her work she said “I think I developed language skills to deal with threat. It's the girl thing to do-you know, instead of pulling out a gun."

In conclusion this film is a rather hopeful movie, for a movement that rejects classical cinematic forms (New Wave) and what appealed to me is the blurred line between everyday life and cinematic entertainment that it held, with an undertow of feminism and the power of women:  “Tu est infame! Sweetly she corrects him: “Non, je suis une femme” A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.