Masculin Féminin

 Year:  1966

Director:  Jean-Luc Godard

Screenplay:  Jean-Luc Godard

Starring:  Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert, Michel Debord, Catherine-Isabelle Duport

Running Time:  104 minutes

Genre:  Drama

Paris, the mid 1960s:  Paul (Léaud), an idealistic political activist, falls for pop singer Madeleine (Goya), and the two start up a complex relationship, which includes Madeleine's two roommates: Catherine (Duport) and Elisabeth (Jobert), against the turbulent backdrop of Parisian politics and youth culture.

Jean-Luc Godard was one of the leading lights of the French nouvelle vague (New Wave) and became something of an art-house darling throughout the 1960s, until his films became increasingly inaccessible, experimental and political.  Masculin Féminin (or, to give it it's full title, Masculin féminin: 15 faits précis which translates as Masculine Feminine: 15 Specific Events) was made at the time when Godard was increasingly interested in making more political films, while still retaining some of the humour and verve of his earlier work.  Jean-Pierre Léaud was quite a star in France having appeared in François Truffaut's long running series of semi-autobiographical films about the character Antoine Doinel, which began with The 400 Blows (1959).  Chantal Goya, who plays singer Madeleine, was a model turned successful yé-yé singer (yé-yé music was a kind of light catchy pop music that was popular in France in the 1960s).  This was Goya's first film and she wasn't an actress, but Godard who had seen her perform on a TV show deliberately wanted someone who was "untrained" and more naturalistic.  As frequently happens in Godard the film uses a lot of unconventional techniques, including interspersing the main action of the film with captions on title cards (including the film's most famous quote: "THE CHILDREN OF MARX AND COCA-COLA"), and almost documentary style footage, including a long and slightly creepy sequence in which a model is brusquely interrogated about politics by an unseen interviewer.  Godard intended the film to reflect the lives of young people in Paris, although he doesn't seem to even the slightest liking or sympathy for them.  The male characters spout off long speeches on Marxist philosophy at any opportunity, although they seem more interested in hitting on girls than a revolution, the female characters only seem to care about music, shopping and their hair.  Godard was angry when the film was ruled unsuitable for anyone under the age of 18 when it was first released, commenting that they are not letting young people see the film because it's "about them".   However, in a sign of the changing times, the film is now rated "12" in the UK (the equivalent of the American "PG-13").  It's not one of Godard's best films, but it is inventive enough and the cast have enough charisma to hold the interest.  

The children of Marx and Coca-Cola: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya and Marlène Jobert in Masculin Féminin