After a resounding 2 months the CCW film review has eventually come to an end. We were shown a huge variety of different films from different eras, nationalities, backgrounds, styles and directors. Each of which differed from the last and gave us a better understanding of many different genres of film that we may never have ventured into before.
The film I have chosen to review is a Godard film which was one of the first foreign language movies to have been shown to us in the programme, A Woman Is A Woman or as it is said in French, Un Femme Est Une Femme. Upon reading the films synopsis shortly before the curtain went up I felt this was going to be a film that I would really enjoy. My usual film selections are often girly and I love films that are musically based. This usually leaves me at the mercy of my friends and families ridicule but non the less I had sat down prepared to be thoroughly entertained! It used a Parisian burlesque dancer under the name of Angela as its man character in which to spin a tale of longing for a child. The realistic tale I thought would soon have a hold of me and the plot mentioned a love triangle and a very musical feel to the movie. The word “ masterpiece” was written at the top of the page of the synopsis we were given. The curtain rose and the movie started. I couldn’t have been more disappointed!
The thin plot line was repeated over and over again. Upon reading many other reviews of the film they all seem to say the same thing, a review in time out magazine said that “It has a thin thread of plot about Karina's desire to get pregnant.”(http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/66564/une-femme-est-une-femme.html) I think by the time I got out of the cinema I knew the words for “I want a baby!” in French fluently! The language barrier here was not the thing that inhibited me from following the film either it was the constant on and off clips of music at random points within scenes. Although I like the use of these clips and admire the director for using them as a clever way of changing the mood, I found it hard to grasp whether the film was a tragedy or a comedy as did many other people!
The troublesome love triangle which aided in grounding the film and giving the plot a further dynamic did add interest to the film, however, the overall conclusion to the film I found ridiculous. I think at the final scene I just about grasped the true nature between the tragedy and comedy when the boyfriend is told that she has cheated on him and he decides that the time is right to have a baby now just incase she could be pregnant by his best friend. I walked out of the theatre more confused than when I went in. With my head in my hands I walked away chuckling and besotted with such a bizarre film which was in essence so close to reality.
Although this film was not my cup of tea it did amuse me for a good few days after thinking about it all and I have come t the resounding conclusion that in its day of 1961, it would have been a masterpiece. It would have had scandal and drama and an epic story but next to today’s films,..maybe it just cant cut it as an old classic
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