Masculin Féminin (2006)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"Masculin Feminin" is a definitive example of French New Wave filmmaking. It is experimental, comic, risky, wild, and fun, a spectacle that find cinematic magic within even the most subtle and mundane of situations. Although it is often listed as nothing more than a drama, this is also an extremely funny movie, perhaps one of Jean-Luc Godard's very funniest. From the opening moments, bizarre comic mischief is springing left and right. Through unexpected surrealism and occasional violence, Godard masterfully weaves dark humor into this often tragic love story.The performances are also quite exceptional. Jean-Pierre Léaud further stabilizes his spot among the greatest French actors, and Chantal Goya is no less than absolutely charming and delightful. The characters are well developed-often likable, but sometimes despicable, like most human beings. There are times in which you, as an audience member, agree with their actions and beliefs, and there are times in which you must disagree. Through their ups and downs, "Masculin Feminin" explores a youthful couple's relationship in a unique and hysterical way. Fusing satire, sadness, fantasy, and comedy, "Masculin feminin" is very much a Jean-Luc Godard love story, meaning that it is heavily stylized, but also heavily realistic, just not in the conventional sense.

Sometimes movies can make me feel really stupid, simply because I don't feel like I understand them. This is also really the case with this movie. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good watch but at the same time I really don't see or understand what it is exactly trying to do or say.I don't get the movie its symbolism and messages but even despite that the movie remains a good and interesting one to watch. Yet at the same time I'm also still constantly thinking; why are you showing me all of this and what are you trying to tell with your story and certain moments. Not to sound too disrespectful but it's a quite pointless movie, since I got nothing out of it and in my opinion also is a movie you can very easily do without.It's one of those movies that seems to be a random slice of life. I can really like these kind of movies, if they tell an intriguing enough story. And I wouldn't exactly call this movie a very involving one, mainly since it isn't always going anywhere with its story. It's still interesting to see the characters do their things and interacting with each other but I only did wish that sometimes the movie would have a more clear point to all of it. Technically I can't say anything bad about this movie. It's obviously capably directed by Jean-Luc Godard and the movie has good, atmospheric black & white camera-work, like you would expect from a French genre movie of the '60's.If this movie sounds like it's right up your alley, by all means go and watch it but to me most people this movie will still be a bit of a pointless watch. No not bad, just redundant. 7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Compared to his previous works, this is a much more accessible Godard film, that is for the majority of film lovers. Of course, perhaps I am referring to the younger American scene, which I believe is the highest group that goes to the movies statistically. Still, I found this to be a fresh take on the relationship arch that has been done in probably 95% of all movies ever made. Here, the feelings and actions of the characters are very genuine, helped along by the documentary-style shooting that is so the style of Godard.Along the way, we see Godard becoming even more-so political with plenty of references to Vietnam, the American lifestyle and Marxist teachings. However, I applaud Godard for not being overly preachy, but rather simply showing all sides and letting the audience decide from there. The ending is probably the best scene and although some strands of the plot line don't tie up so completely perfect, I think this is a better film than Pierrot le Fou and one that will always be remembered as one of Godard's groundbreaking cinema experiments.

While reading the other comments I learned that Godard is a "love him or hate him" kind of director, and I can see why this is true. If you are a film-school graduate or an aficionado of the bizarre, no doubt you will be in the former category. Almost everyone else is in the latter.However, I will try to be objective and go down the middle.Firstly, the cinematography is excellent. The black and white images are crisp and engrossing. The actors are interesting, not because of the quality of their acting, or what they are saying, but because the camera lingers on their features and makes use of the fact that people-watching is an activity of universal fascination. It certainly doesn't hurt that one of the people we get to watch is the adorable Chantal Goya. I also felt some empathy for the Masculin character. He is such a pathetic twerp, trying to woo Feminin with his silly Marxist drivel, you can't help feeling a little sorry for him. She isn't any more interested in this stuff than we are. I imagine Katie Holmes must feel the same way about Tom Cruise when he drones on and on about Scientology. On the downside are: the inane, pointless and pretentious dialogue, the juvenile sound effects and the disjointedness of the work as a whole. Imagine a feature-length black and white Monty Python film without any humour. Maybe I exaggerate. There is some humour...but it isn't funny. In summary, if you turn off the subtitles and turn down the sound, you will enjoy most of the good parts of the film and avoid most of the bad. Of course, you could say the same about a Britney Spears video.