Amazon.com Essentials:
Juxtaposing images of pristine, romantic innocence with ones
of mute, meaningless violence, Godard's Masculin-Féminin first
lulls with a hypnotic, disjointed story line and then stuns with
scenes of tremendous depth and meaning. This outrageous film follows
the somewhat ineffectual courtship of Madeline, an aspiring pop
singer, by Paul, an erstwhile journalist and interviewer but mostly
groundless searcher. As in most Godard films, plot mechanics are
secondary to elements such as dialog (generally marvelous, but
sometimes a bit too pointed), lighting (bizarre and oversaturated, but
never less than fascinating), shot framing (extraordinarily
thoughtful), and performance. Godard allows his camera to linger on
single faces, without cutting, for what seems by modern standards to
be extremely long segments--perhaps even excruciatingly long--but the
remarkably subtle cast members never disappoint, particularly the
fantastically adept and frequently hilarious lead actors, Jean-Pierre
Léaud and Chantal Goya. The filmmaker has little to add to our
collective understanding of the relationship between masculine
et feminine writ large; in fact, most of the female characters
are uncomfortably stereotypical, framed as either willfully oblivious
to the world or subtly (or overtly) deadly. But as an examination of a
young generation faced with the prospect of war in Vietnam and the
vagaries of French socialism, Masculin-Féminin proves
remorselessly and chillingly trenchant. A towering influence, it
would seem, on Whit Stillman's similarly themed
Barcelona--but while
Stillman lacks the conviction to follow his instincts to their
logical, violent conclusions, Godard faces his uncompromising story
with elegance and courage. In French, with subtitles that are
occasionally difficult to read. --Miles Bethany
