Jean-Luc Godard’s 1966 film Masculine-Feminine consists of fifteen vignettes made up of interactions and interviews among a half-dozen or so Parisian youth (in their late teens or early twenties) dealing mainly with sex and politics. It employs some novel and interesting filming techniques that justify a certain level of interest but ends up saying precious little of any real meaning.

The Story: The story of Masculine-Feminine is little more than a burgeoning relationship between Paul (Jean-Pierre Leaud) and Madeleine (Chantal Goya), from their first meeting to their living together and moving into their own apartment. Although some significant events occur over the course of the film (two murders, two suicides, and an accidental death), all of these events are largely external to the main characters and narrative and serve as no more than punctuation. The bulk of the story consists of conversations and interviews among the characters that explore contemporary attitudes toward such issues as romance, sex, contraception, and politics. In between conversations, Paul works on flipping a cigarette into his mouth and scribbling political graffiti on walls and military vehicles.

Themes: Masculine-Feminine is primarily a film about male/female relationships, as its title suggests. Godard has one of his characters point out that the word “masculine” contains (in French) the words for “mask” (“masque”) and “ass” (“cul”), the point being, I guess, that men are constantly scrounging after “ass”, but mostly thereby end up making asses of themselves. They try (sometimes effectively, sometimes not) to mask their primary interior motivation with respect to women, dressing it up in displays of intelligence and/or sensitivity. Feminine, on the other hand (in Godard’s world), contains no hidden meanings, except, perhaps, “fin”, meaning “the end” in French. I guess Godard’s point is that men are the pursuers but women (usually) hold the power of either permitting or shutting off further contact.

Unfortunately, Godard’s examination of gender relationships is shallow in the extreme and panders to the most simplistic kinds of gender stereotypes. Despite the implicit claim of the film's title of a kind of universality, the observations that can be extracted from Masculine-Feminine are very much restricted by Godard’s sample (since several segments of the film mimic survey techniques, it’s apropos to introduce the issue of the adequacy of the sample). The women in this film are uniformly ignorant about the politics of their day and lack even a basic understanding of such terms as “socialism”, “democracy”, “capitalism”, and so forth. The females embrace consumerism, have mindlessly hitched themselves to the “Pepsi-generation” and pop culture, and spend an inordinate amount of time primping themselves into Barbie-like dolls. The two male leads, on the other hand, are politically involved and generally deeper in their interests (though shallow, perhaps, in being driven by their relentless need for sex). Godard worked in an industry (filmmaking) where beauty is first and foremost for actresses but where most of the behind-the-scene creative roles (directors, writers, cameramen) are occupied by men, each of whom is more likely to be a creative geek than an Adonis. As a result, the gender message in Masculine-Feminine ends up being painfully shallow: something like, women are mindless bimbos and men are asses chasing after their dicks.

Masculine-Feminine was also the first Godard foray into contemporary politics – contemporary, that is, for the time at which the film was made. Again, however, it is a very cursory level of involvement. Mention is made of the Vietnam War, Bob Dylan, lingering resentments in relation to World War II, and socialism vs. capitalism. The mere mention of contemporary issues does not suffice to make a film truly “edgy.” Paul is certainly anti-bourgeois, anti-pop Culture, anti-Vietnam War, and anti-capitalist, but nothing very insightful or intelligent is said about any of these topics by either the characters or Godard. The alternate title for this film, mentioned part way through, is “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.” Paul is with Marx and Madeleine is with Coca-Cola but, interestingly, neither seeks to impose their worldview on the other. Their relationship is built entirely around the eternal dance about sex, and neither Marx or Coca-Cola is invited. Godard went on, in later films, to address political issues repeatedly from his vaguely Marxist point of view.

Production Values: Masculine-Feminine is not Godard at his best, nor is it Godard at his worst. It is strictly middling fare. The strength of Masculine-Feminine is its stylistic novelty. Godard was very interested in the integration of drama with documentary style and successfully accomplished as much in Masculine-Feminine. If Masculine-Feminine can be said to have been influential on future film making, it would be mainly in relation to the “man on the street” kind of interview segments done on late-night talk shows, such as Jay Leno’s Tonight, where Jay poses some seemingly simple question pertaining to life or politics to a number of random pedestrians, most of whom are typically unable to provide any semblance of a cogent answer, thus revealing the woeful ignorance of the general population. Masculine-Feminine displays Godard’s usual acumen for crisp editing so that the film mostly moves along at a lively pace that keeps viewers interested, though not riveted. The general texture of the film is quite original and enough by itself to command some interest. The characters in this film, especially the two principals, are the subject matter of the film rather than their being used as vehicles to advance a narrative.

The weaknesses of the film are all too evident. The narrative is weak and not especially engaging. Worse, Godard seems uncertain as to what, if anything, he intends to communicate. As a result, nothing very important gets said. Godard was going through a difficult period in his personal life, with his relationship to his wife Anna Karina falling apart. To that extent, the floundering in Masculine-Feminine mirrors the instability in Godard’s marriage. The secondary characters in Masculine-Feminine never really acquire much individuality or evident purpose.

The lead actor of the film, Jean-Pierre Leaud, was already well-known to French audiences for his appearance in Truffaut’s seminal New Wave film The 400 Blows (1959). He had also appeared in that same year in Jean Cocteau’s magnificent The Testament of Orpheus and later in Alphaville (1965). He went on to have a distinguished career with a resume that included Weekend (1967), Stolen Kisses (1968), Two English Girls (1971), Last Tango in Paris (1972), The Mother and the Whore (1973), Day for Night (1973), and Irma Vep (1996). Leaud effectively combines some of the principal qualities of youth: naivety, enthusiasm, and an unsuspecting innocence.

Chantel Goya, as Madeleine, plays a young woman beginning a career as a pop singer. Goya was, in fact, a singer and went on to have a career much more as a singer than an actress. With her satin black hair and pleasing form, Goya provides plenty of sex appeal.

Bottom-Line: Masculine-Feminine is a typical New Wave film – low budget, experimental, and technically interesting. It is a light and inconsequential piece by Godard standards, neither excellent nor abysmal. It explores gender relationships and contemporary politics, but ends up with nothing profound to say in either domain. Even so, it does not bore because of the high naturalness that it achieves through its documentary-like technique. It is one of the most accessible New Wave films for those looking for a first entry point. I recommend the film, but not highly. Masculine-Feminine is in French with English subtitles and has a running time of 103 minutes. Masculine-Feminine was given the French equivalent of an "R" rating when it was first released, much to Godard's chagrin. I see no reason why it would not be appropriate for age thirteen and up.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older