Sure this film is insufferably sexist and misogynistic with Jean Pierre Leaud's Paul character portrayed as poetic, romantic, philosophical, and cute (if a bit of a butthole) while Chantal Goya's Madeleine is presented as shallow, vain, materialistic and ambitious (and also a butthole). And the interview device gets pretty old pretty fast, as well, so that I, for one, found myself fast forwarding through the later ones.
But having stated the above criticisms and admitting that they are pretty major ones, damned if ol Jean Luc hasn't once again worked his perverse (perverted?) magic and a made a film of considerable charm and poignancy. It is not easy for a film director in his or her mid forties to so effortlessly inhabit the bodies and minds of twenty one year olds. Most such efforts are doomed to be overly sympathetic, like a creepy college teacher who is trying to be their students' pal, or to show even creepier, cranky signs of early "Get off my lawn" ism. Godard avoids both traps as he gives a rather clear eyed and, at times, quite funny picture of an uneasy relationship between a guy madly in love and a gal who is alternately attracted and annoyed. To pick just one aspect of this pairing that brilliantly expresses its awkwardness there is Madeleine's use of her two female friends to keep a distance and an actual physical barrier between her and Paul, as if being alone with him is more than she can handle. Don't know about you but this strikes me as a fairly acute observation on Godard's part and it took me back many years to a similar problem I had with an early ex girlfriend.
So yeah, I relate to this film. Both personally and emotionally. And while wishing it was not so tilted to the masculine end of the spectrum I always like to see it again. Give it a B plus.
But having stated the above criticisms and admitting that they are pretty major ones, damned if ol Jean Luc hasn't once again worked his perverse (perverted?) magic and a made a film of considerable charm and poignancy. It is not easy for a film director in his or her mid forties to so effortlessly inhabit the bodies and minds of twenty one year olds. Most such efforts are doomed to be overly sympathetic, like a creepy college teacher who is trying to be their students' pal, or to show even creepier, cranky signs of early "Get off my lawn" ism. Godard avoids both traps as he gives a rather clear eyed and, at times, quite funny picture of an uneasy relationship between a guy madly in love and a gal who is alternately attracted and annoyed. To pick just one aspect of this pairing that brilliantly expresses its awkwardness there is Madeleine's use of her two female friends to keep a distance and an actual physical barrier between her and Paul, as if being alone with him is more than she can handle. Don't know about you but this strikes me as a fairly acute observation on Godard's part and it took me back many years to a similar problem I had with an early ex girlfriend.
So yeah, I relate to this film. Both personally and emotionally. And while wishing it was not so tilted to the masculine end of the spectrum I always like to see it again. Give it a B plus.