Scarecrow-88 Review of A Woman Is a Woman

A Woman Is a Woman (1961)

Une femme est une femme (A Woman is a Woman)

[7/10 · 19 September 2015]

Charmer from Jean-Luc Godard stars a very appealing Anna Karina as an exotic dancer, Angela, wanting a child from her store owner boyfriend, Émile Récamier (Jean-Claude Brialy). Émile, however, isn't particularly interested in a child or marriage, but just keeping their relationship as it is currently. Angela begins to ponder moving on from Émile in favor of her ne'er-do-well friend, Alfred Lubitsch (French New Wave icon, Jean-Paul Belmondo). A ditsy love triangle develops but it never rises to anything all that melodramatic as Godard keeps the tone light and fluffy. Still, Godard incorporates intertitles, editing techniques, camera pans (two such instances has the camera doing a complete turn to the right and left inside the little apartment Angela and Émile share), ebbs and flows in the musical scoring (to emphasize the playful banter and antics that poke fun at each other that exists between Angela and Émile) in order to give his film a sense of unpredictable and off-the-cuff style that isn't what you normally see in a romantic comedy. There's even a bit of a sing-songy method in how Angela addresses Émile at times when they do this back-and-forth « sizing each other up » flirty (and purposely antagonistic in a less imposing as much as mischievous way) dialogue in regards to topics that range from the aforementioned child talk to « what's for supper ». It fits neatly into the French New Wave era with its use of Parisian locations (Godard even « goes crazy » by shooting actual people just trafficking through while Angela convinces a discarded Communist to join a exotic dancing establishment). Jeanne Moreau even cameos for Godard in a conversation with Belmondo about her film, Jules et Jim ! Another scene has Angela talking with a friend about Shoot the Piano Player, done in a type of kidding form of charades. Respect like that is often added to films of Godard's for Truffaut. The « presentation in Eastman color » and the « use of Cinemascope » seems to indicate that Godard, along with several of his contemporaries working at that time, was reaching a significance as a filmmaker…a prominence. But Karina's enchanting presence and bewitching beauty is so captivating, his techniques are only enhanced because she is in his film. Belmondo has one of those archetypes that worms his way out of paying debts, a hanger-on slacker who just so happens to have enough charisma, clever wit, and sense of humor to get by. Karina knows he's not for her, but even considering him as a suitor (he tells her he loves her) is an indication that Brialy is failing her. Of course emerging with « I want a baby » out of the blue does kind of serve as a surprise. The couple have a way of provoking each other. A particularly memorable couple of scenes has them using the titles from books on their shelves to communicate how they feel using a lamp light to guide their way through the apartment and a source to emanate the exact words meant to provoke reaction. I think A Woman is a Woman is a showcase for Karina's lighter side and the whole film is presented in a manner that doesn't attempt to cause us to look much deeper than the surface ; except perhaps once scene where Karina, when listening to a jukebox song chosen by Belmondo, attentively understands what Braily means to her, and another that has Belmondo mentioning a newspaper article regarding a love triangle and two letters sent to two lovers by a woman. I think after you watch enough Godard, if you don't like "dialogue movies" then perhaps he isn't for you. The camera, as always did, adores Karina. Photogenic doesn't even begin to describe how she lights up a screen. To kind of give you an idea of where the couple is in their relationship, Braily refers to Karina affectionately "pet".