Masculin féminin: 15 faits précis (1966)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writers:

Jean-Luc Godard (writer)
Guy de Maupassant (stories)

Release Date:

22 March 1966 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Paul is young, just demobbed from national service in the French Army, and dishillusioned with civilian life...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Singer | Anti War | Pregnancy | Vietnam War

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Paul - un jeune homme instable
Chantal Goya	...	Madeleine Zimmer - une petite chanteuse
Marlène Jobert	...	Elisabeth Choquet - la copine d'Elisabeth
Michel Debord	...	Robert Packard - un syndicaliste
Catherine-Isabelle Duport	...	Catherine-Isabelle
Eva-Britt Strandberg	...	Elle (la femme dans le film)
Birger Malmsten	...	Lui (l'homme dans le film)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yves Afonso	...	L'homme qui se suicide (uncredited)
Henri Attal	...	L'autre lecteur du bouquin porno (uncredited)
Brigitte Bardot	...	Elle-même (uncredited)
Antoine Bourseiller	...	Le partenaire de Brigitte Bardot (uncredited)
Chantal Darget	...	La femme dans le métro (uncredited)
Françoise Hardy	...	La compagne de l'officier américain (uncredited)
Med Hondo	...	L'homme dans le métro (uncredited)
Elsa Leroy	...	Mlle 19 ans de 'Mademoiselle Age Tendre' (uncredited)
Dominique Zardi	...	Le lecteur du bouquin porno (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Guy de Maupassant		stories La Femme de Paul and Le Signe
Jean-Luc Godard		writer

Produced by
Anatole Dauman	....	producer

Original Music by
Jean-Jacques Debout

Cinematography by
Willy Kurant

Film Editing by
Agnès Guillemot
Marguerite Renoir		(uncredited)

Production Management
Philippe Dussart	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jacques Barratier	....	assistant director
Bernard Toublanc-Michel	....	assistant director

Sound Department
René Levert	....	sound

Other crew
Christine Brierre	....	press attache
Marlène Jobert	....	body double: Chantal Goya (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Anouchka Films
• Argos Films
• Sandrews
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Distributors

• Columbia Films (1966) (France) (theatrical)
• Royal Films International (1966) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Neue Filmkunst Walter Kirchner (1967) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Rialto Pictures (2004) (USA) (theatrical)
• New Yorker Video (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Art Free (2005) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Ripley's Home Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• KinoVista (2007) (Russia) (TV)
• NEF Diffusion (????) (France) (theatrical) (new rights)
• Silver Screen Collection (2008) (Brazil) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Masculin, féminin (France) (short title)
Masculine, Feminine: In 15 Acts (International: English title) (complete title)
Masculine-Feminine
Maskulinum - femininum (Sweden)
Arseniko - thilyko (Greece) [el]
Il maschio e la femmina (Italy) [it]
Masculin - Feminin oder: Die Kinder von Coca Cola (West Germany) [de]
Masculino Feminino (Portugal) [pt]
Masculino, femenino (Spain) [es]
Masculino-Feminino (Brazil) [pt]
Masculino-femenino (Argentina) [es]
Maskuliini feminiini (Finland) [fi]
Meski, zenski (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

110 min | Argentina:103 min | Sweden:104 min | USA:103 min

Country:

France | Sweden

Language:

French | Swedish | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Iceland:L | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 (w) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Anouchka Films

Trivia:

First film of Yves Afonso.

Quotes:

Paul: Kill a man and you're a murderer. Kill thousands and you're a conqueror. Kill everyone and you're a god.
Elisabeth: I don't think God exists.
Paul: We shall see.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 2 Days in Paris (2007)

Soundtrack:

Sois gentil

Not so much a film about women and men than a film about youth rebellion.

Godard's film Masculine Feminine filled with random scenes sounds off like the gun shots that appear at the beginning of each of the fifteen scenes. Although the film briefly explores the differences between women and men, Godard spends more time exploring the social problems of the 1960's and the difference between Capitalism and Communism, not to mention his endorsement against the Vietnam War.

Violence plays a role here, but a detached one. Two suicides, two homicides and an accidental death occur, but the characters act matter a fact about these occurrences. In fact, the characters react more strongly to events in a movie. It's almost as if the filmmaker is saying that people react emotionally to characters in movies, but remain detached at real life events.

On one hand, the pop vocalist character proclaims that she is a member of the Pepsi Generation, but her boyfriend, Paul who is a bit of a revolutionary makes the statement that if a person murders someone it's a crime, but if an army kills 1,000's of people, they're heroes. These two characters get along because they both live in his or her own world and neither tries to pursuade the other to see his or her views. So there is no outer conflict between the two characters.

What's most interesting about Masculine Feminine is the way the director shot his actors in single shots creating a documentary style as the characters interview each other about their views on sex, love and politics. Unfortunately only the men had interesting comments about politics while the women leaned towards Capitalism and materialism. I find this a bit sexist.

This film was part of the French New Wave and so it is respected for it's innovative departure from films that actually tell stories. However, by taking the camera and sound equipment to the streets, interesting ideas are presented here.

I respect Godard for making the films that he wanted to make and for leading the French New Wave Movement, but I wish that I knew the point to this film. I expected a more profound film.