A Woman is a Woman (1961)

directed by Jean-Luc Godard

with: Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean Paul Belmondo

Godard directs a very playful, innovative, complex, yet accessible piece of cinema. A Woman is a Woman may be considered a musical, but it is essentially a critique and parody of american musicals and their interpretation of life. He lets the audience know that this is a story out of real life, that cinema is just like a musical, a collage of false realistic events where feelings are manipulated. The actors look at the camera and wink at the viewer, sing and dance, and get transported to different places with the music. This movie has apparent surrealistic elements, but they can be more precisely termed as 'unrealistic'. It is a love story full of contradictions and ironies where Angela, a stripper, wants to have a baby with her husband Emile, who doesn't. At the same time, she is involved with Alfred, his best friend. This story analyzes a woman's role in american musical love stories from different angles that fit the women stereotypes in the US. The music, is most responsible to let us understand the angle, and along with Anna Karina's (Angela) performance, the movie ends up being intelligent and witty, a comedy out of ordinary and unpredictable, like most of Godard's work.

Highly Recommended.

Rating: 8.5/10