As someone who does not watch a lot of movies, the film, A Woman Is A Woman came as a strange and new experience for me. I felt like I was watching a musical play onstage without a lot of the singing because of the way the actors talked and the way the movie was filmed. There were a lot of things I liked and a lot of things that kept me confused and frustrated. The first thing that got me frustrated was the background music. Right from the start of the movie, there were times when the music would just abruptly end. In the beginning it was fine but it continued on and on and it distracted me from enjoying the movie. I felt like the flow of the movie was being broken whenever the music suddenly stops. I could not concentrate on what the characters were saying because there where times when there is a strong background music whenever no one is talking but suddenly stops to let a character speak a few words then raise the volume of the background music again then end again abruptly when someone else speaks. I don’t understand why can’t the movie just end the music just before the dialogue of the characters then start again after all the dialogue or to just lower the volume whenever a character speaks. The next thing I hated was the lack of information about the characters of the movie. We know that Angela works in a striptease club and she desperately wants a baby. Emile, Angela’s boyfriend, rejects Angela whenever she asks for a baby. Then there is Alfred who is in love with Angela. But, why? Why does Emile refuse to give Angela a child? Why is he ok with Angela sleeping with other guys to get impregnated? Why is he ok with Angela working in a striptease club where there are other guys who watch her? These questions kept on bugging me as I continued to watch the movie. I know that the movie is not a serious type of movie but I at least wanted some explanation for their attitudes. It just frustrates me a lot when things keep on happening without explanations.

Of course there were things that I liked in the movie. For example there were some cute/ comedy scenes that I really liked. For example when they were fighting and did not want to talk with each other. They picked books and continued to argue with each other by using the title of the books. It was childish and silly but it was a first for me. Emile just starts to randomly ride a bicycle inside their home. It is just so weird that it made me think about them and got me intrigued. Another would be the weird backgrounds like when the setting is in front of Angela’s house. There is a couple who keeps on hugging each other without showing their faces. Every time the setting was in front of Angela’s house, they were always present and it caught my attention. Why were they there? Was there a purpose? I actually sometimes focused on them instead of the main characters. A Woman Is A Woman does not have a plot that will get viewers hooked or make them start thinking. However it had a lot of weird things that got me intrigued and led me to enjoy the movie.

Jean Luc-Godard’s film entitled, A Woman is a Woman portrays a unique type of love story, which somehow transpired into a love triangle at the latter part of the movie. The story-line mainly focused on the on Angela’s dilemma of wanting a baby with her boyfriend. There was a scene in the film where she placed a pillow inside her clothes to see what she looked like if she was pregnant. However, Emile, her boyfriend kept denying this wish of hers. Each time she asked, it seemed like he was appalled and was really against with the idea. Though, I found it quite unusual how he kept asking other men to do the deed for him including his friend Alfred. As the film progressed, however, it was later on revealed that Alfred actually had feelings for Angela all along and was willing to do anything for her so that she would just choose him instead– this included impregnating her. Things got complicated when Angela slept with Alfred despite committing this infidelity, she still chose to go back to Emile and worked things out with him. At this point, I found it weird how their relationship continued after that incident, it seemed like they compromised. Emile finally agreed and decided to be the father of the Angela’s baby. Overall, their situation and how they handled it quite baffled me because even if they were communicating, both of them seemed to be stubborn about what they want individually, which led them to not really listen to what the other has to say about it.

Apart from the storyline of the film, I think it is important to point out that this is not the typical Hollywood chick-flick film that I thought it would be given the title of the movie. It is very apparent that the film industry already developed and improved throughout the years ever since this movie came out. Given that the it was made in 1961, the effects were not as great as the ones now. I think that this French Film did not have a smooth transition of scenes since the intervals of the background music would abruptly stop each time there was a dialogue being said, which kind of distracted me a bit while watching. However, it seems like this was the attempt of the filmmaker in trying to make it into a musical. It was quite odd since if I were to compare it to contemporary film-musicals, the only song and dance segment done in the film is when Angela performed her striptease performance at the bar. Aside from this, a silent comedy vibe was shown whenever they would not speak to each but still continued to fight and argue each other by way of creating insults through the book titles.

Although, it was able to show the authenticity of life and depicted it through film. It tried to capture and showcase how love and relationships work at that time and in their particular situation.  Thus, it can be said that it was not the typical chick-flick standard storyline, it was something different but seemed to be more real in a sense that it could possibly happen in an actual relationship.

Alright, so before I get into talking about the movie, just a quick disclaimer: I usually don’t watch foreign films, so from the get go I took watching this movie attentively as an academic exercise. To my surprise, and somewhat of a delight, I found myself fairly intrigued with the movie.

I’m going to say it up front, the plot doesn’t really pick up until the 3rd act. I thought that the movie is very slow to progress, maybe that’s just the “style” of the movie, but that’s just my opinion of it. It could have also been due to the fact that the way sound was used in the movie. There would be parts that have no sound at all, and I would often think that “what happened to the audio?”. The use of the sound was purposeful, but I have yet to understand to what ends it affects the movie overall. In the movie, Angela works as an exotic dancer, but the movie seems like there wasn’t any sort of “taboo” behind that line of work. Personally I don’t have anything against it, but I know many people have strong opinions about it. I commend the film for not showing Angela’s choice of profession in a negative light.

Let’s talk about the “unconventional love affair” with the love triangle that came out of nowhere. Quick recap: Angela and Emile are together, but then Alfred professes his love for Angela when she finds out that Emile might be cheating on her. Angela sleeps with Alfred but then runs back to Emile. In my opinion, there wasn’t any setup for the “plot twist”, so it wasn’t very convincing that Alfred loved Angela. Let’s be real, it was no Bella-Edward-Jacob love triangle of Twilight fame, even if the love triangle in A Woman is a Woman came 40 years before it.

In conclusion, it’s hard to feel for the characters because the situations that they’re in, or better yet the situations that they put themselves through seem so far-fetched that we as an audience can’t relate. Although, I may not have liked the movie overall, I am still looking forward to what the other movies have in store!

The very first words that may come to mind while watching Goddard’s A Woman is a Woman: eccentric, different, and inarguably avant-garde. From the execution of the film to the actual premise of the story itself, almost everything about the film seemed to pointedly go against traditional Hollywood cinema.

The very beginnings of the movie lulled me into believing that the story’s premise would semble normalcy,  simply because it reminded me of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (with the quirky, independent female protagonist living in a rather modest apartment, and her apparent string of admirers). However, the parallels end there, especially when the male protagonist comes into the picture. Perhaps I am simply unused to such an untraditional romantic relationship as theirs- maybe relationships like this are considered normal in Europe. Nonetheless, the narrative is merely the beginning of what makes the film so compelling to watch.

If there was one thing that made this film similar to Hollywood, it was that it was entertaining – in mainstream cinema, there is a need to entertain viewers in order to sustain our interest. Through its hilarity, the captivating female lead and to some extent the two male protagonists, the film was (at least in my case) successful in this sense. However, what separates this film from Classical Hollywood is that while it did entertain, it by no means allowed for benevolence nor transparency – a lot of the time I was rather confused, flabbergasted by the ridiculousness of their relationship, and the fact that almost absolutely everything else was portrayed in such a way that demanded viewers to remember that this was a film – from the fourth wall break at the very beginning, to the outright ridiculous scenarios the characters acted on screen (e.g., the ‘We’re Not Talking’ scene). At times, the narrative seemed completely non-sequitur, with some scenes that seemingly don’t contribute at all to the central plot. While there is a singular storyline and conflict, the film seems disjointed and disconnected, broken by several moments that are downright absurd. An example would be the completely random sequence where the police arrive at their apartment announcing that a terrorist threw a bomb – this sequence wherein no significant action takes place, and overall seems superfluous to the unfolding of the story. Another, more direct example of this (re: continuity editing) was the scene wherein the female protagonist threw up an egg, picked up the phone, and went back for the egg, catching it once more in the pan after being away for a significant portion of time.

Furthermore, I liked how the music stopped and started at random intervals. Music in a film is meant to guide and enhance our responses to the story. Here, however, the music seems to be the only thing that makes this film a musical, overlaid over normal conversations amongst the characters. It also provided a semblance of continuity. Thus, while the scenes seemed intransitive, it was not reckless, as every scene was beautifully done regardless, both visually, performance-wise, and otherwise – I wasn’t mad at its disjointedness.

Overall, it was a wake-up call to the fact that the rules normally followed in cinema are not sacrosanct, and that a film can be enjoyable despite its obvious plausibility. Mainstream superhero movies aren’t realistic, too, after all – the only reason this film seemed more implausible was its portrayal of normal people, in a normal setting, portraying their story in a non-normal way – not allowing viewers to be lulled into immersing themselves into the film. The film was charming in its absurdity and ability to make viewers do a double-take, but also laugh at the blatant comedy and haphazard, abject non-realistic scenes on screen. I was confused, but completely entranced all throughout. And at the end of the absurdity, the message of the film A Woman is a Woman was made clear – “Damn you” “No, a dame, me” – one way or another, women ALWAYS get what we want.

Being a science major, I have to admit that this class is my first encounter to any class that is about the arts aside from my EnLit classes. I entered this class being interested in film but not really knowing anything about the technicalities or specific techniques concerned with the art. I was mainly exposed to American films most of my life and watching the film A Woman is a Woman was a great way to start my European film journey.

The film generally revolved around the desire of a stripper named Angela to have a baby. She numerously asked her boyfriend, Emile, to have a baby with her but he would constantly reject her proposition. At a certain point, Emile even asked his own best friend, Alfred, as well as strangers to impregnate Angela because he strongly did not want to have a baby. Later on, Angela had enough and slept with Alfred who also had feelings for her. Eventually, Angela confessed to Emilie about the incident, and that finally made Emile decide to sleep with Angela to have a baby.

Not having any background about European films, I was intrigued as to how Jean-Luc Godard executed the film. Being told that it was movie that was released more than fifty years ago, I was skeptical at first if it would capture my interest, and it did. It was a unique play on romance and comedy, something I have never seen in American films. Compared to modern romance films wherein men show utter respect to women, A Woman is a Woman is quite the opposite. I was shocked to see the scenes in which Emile would literally approach strangers or call his best friend just so he can tell them to impregnate his own girlfriend. Emile was shown to have dominant characteristics, but, at the same time, he was also shown to be childlike with his random immature acts. It was bizarre but Godard was able to use those scenes well for comedic use. On the other had, Godard also portrayed women in a different light. Although Emile was firm on his decision to not have a baby, his stand did not hinder Angela from finding a new path to fulfill her goal. Angela was portrayed as a very determined woman despite her boyfriend being against her and her having an arguably immodest profession. In the end, despite various circumstances, Angela was able to get what she wanted, even if involved cheating with Alfred to make Emile give in.

After seeing this film, I look forward to seeing other films directed by Godard. His unique way of making films may not be for everybody but it surely captured my interest and attention. It is amusing to see other ways people portray and view romanticism throughout different eras. It shows how there is really no cap for creativity. The film effectively shows how being different is not a bad thing. Despite different ways of portraying relationships, at the end of the day, a woman is a woman.

The movie “A woman Is a Woman” is by far the most bizarre movie that I have watched in recent years. Sudden starts and cuts to background music, the dialogue between the characters, and the plot all contributed to the uniqueness of this movie. As bizarre as the movie was however, it sent across several socio-political messages to the audience which were a pleasant surprise amidst the spectrum of colors, and music.

Angela, the female character who works as an exotic dancer at what seems to be a 60’s strip club, desires to bear a child with her lover Emile. Emile however, is not as keen on the idea of being a father as he feels that he isn’t quite ready to take on the responsibilities. Angela is depicted as a character with great conviction and the capabilities to push through with her decisions, which is something quite outstanding given the sociopolitical atmosphere of the 1960s in France. The growing conflict of interest serves as the basis of the plot; at one point they decide to stop communication with one another and instead point to the titles of the books for their means of communication. This was one of the more interesting parts of the film for a couple of reasons. Firstly it reminded me of Chaplin’s silent comedies where he uses various settings and environments to communicate and get across to the audience. The second reason is a little more political, for it sent the message that Knowledge was Power. In the silent argument between the couple, Angela was able to continue communicating her anger across to Emile through the titles of her collection of novels. It not only deepened her character as a witty and clever woman, but also an empowering figure of the feminist movement in the 1960s in France.

The second element that I really enjoyed identifying in the film was Angela’s inquisitive characteristics. She questioned everything around her from the existence of herself to inequality (“why is it always women that suffer?“). This set the broader theme of the movie for me, while the film was labeled as a comedy, it certainly sent across the message of the need to question the status quo of not just regarding one’s individual identity, but also the social injustices and inequalities that were present in those times.

Mischief was the third element which contributed to the weirdness of this film. Unlike the social norms of the 60s in France, Angela was quite the mischievous individual. Her actions were often comedic and motives were at times hard to understand. This element may be connected to her inquisitive characteristics as she decides to defy the norms of society and push the boundaries of what is accepted as normal. As the conflict between Emile intensifies, Angela resorts to an alternative reason to achieve what she desires – to sleep with Emile’s best friend, Alfred. While infidelity is not necessarily an important component in bringing equality within out societies, it showed that women were also capable of pushing through with their convictions. It was truly an interesting turn of events as it
reminded me that not all people’s priorities were aligned and that some people would simply to whatever is required to get something done.

Until this very moment, people relentlessly try to impose conditions/limitations towards love. With the right mindset, none of the implications set by others can truly alter your feelings nor define your relationship. Day in, day out these boundaries set by people prove to be false by the likes of Emile and Angela in Godard’s A Woman is a Woman.

A Woman is a Woman revolves around the comedic, and unusual love story of Angela, and Emile. The central conflict being that Angela wants to have a baby, while Emile doesn’t. The film showed how imperfect their relationship was through many scenes of them arguing over such little things, and constantly insulting each other. Despite all this, the film was able to portray the true feelings of the couple from within.  

Godard’s A Woman is a Woman proved to be a true masterpiece to me as I unthinkingly came to appreciate the unorthodox methods of Godard in many aspects of filmmaking. To name a few, the way he uses musical accompaniment in almost every scene of the film to emphasize parts of the film. Secondly, his very playful methods of cinematography as seen through his transitions between scenes, and the way he immerses his audience as if they were being talked to by the characters in the film. Lastly, the unpredictable, yet rewarding plot. He used music and different sound effects so smoothly that it helped me predict what was to happen in every scene. He used different methods of cinematography to define important happenings in the film, and he froze the frame five times in which a character spoke to the camera as if he/she was talking to the audience which gave the film an even more comedic feeling. The plot of the film followed the usual three plot structure, but the confrontation and the resolution was so odd that I was confused whether an event such as Angela hooking up with Alfred actually happened. I couldn’t put to reality or relate to many parts of the film, and this got me feeling awkward watching it at most times. At the end of it all, as I finally found time to process everything, I realized one thing. I realized that real love has no boundaries.