Celebrating ‘Masculin Féminin’: Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking documentation of youth
French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard released Masculin Féminin 56 years ago, yet it remains a timeless depiction of the uncertainty of youth. The director returned to classic black and white after the primary-coloured Pierrot Le Fou, released the year prior. With the help of Francois Truffaut’s favourite, Jean-Pierre Léaud, and Yé-yé singer Chantal Goya, Godard assembled a tale of tragic romance, ambivalent youth, and radical thinking.
Léaud, who rose to prominence after starring as the young Antoine Doinel in The 400 Blows, plays Paul, a drifting ex-soldier who becomes enamoured with wannabe-pop star Madeleine (Goya). Godard was originally considering the name The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola for the film, which suggests that Paul and Madeleine’s generation were caught between the desire for political action and the new wave of consumerist goods and pop culture that was quickly becoming a dominant force. In that respect, Paul seems to represent Marx and Madeleine Coca-Cola.
Whilst the gender roles at play are slightly questionable — of course, it is the male character that is preoccupied with Marxist thought. Whereas the female character is the unbothered pop singer, Godard casts an apprehensive gaze towards both genders, with neither Paul nor Madeleine coming across as the warmest of characters.
Instead, Godard cuts between shards of events that evoke a distinctive feeling rather than tying together a solid narrative. Masculin Féminin opens with the abrupt sounds of gunshots as the film’s title fires onto the screen in a fragmented fashion. Immediately, the audience is shaken into action, and it’s not long before both images and sounds of casual violence become the norm within the film, with both Paul and Madeleine casting an irresolute gaze on it all.
After Paul and Madeleine meet in a cafe during the film’s opening scene, the camera cleverly pans out to reveal a bickering couple. Our protagonists’ conversation is immediately silenced as we receive the husband and wife’s argument instead. The wife follows her husband and child outside before shooting him in the back. In another film, this might be a major moment where we receive the reaction of our protagonists, yet the film suddenly cuts to a static outdoor shot before a scene between Paul and his friend Robert takes place.
Further on in the film, the characters witness more fatal tragedies, yet they brush them off like they never happened. This seems to act as a statement toward the blind eyes turned by countries when international atrocities occur. Just as many countries pretended to ignore the Holocaust, the lack of consideration about acts of violence in Masculin Féminin speaks to the wider political climate of the time. Whilst Paul voices his Marxist ideas and paints anti-war slogans, he does little to stop a black man from being shot on a train by a racist white woman. Instead, he watches on meekly.
Masculin Féminin is a case study in the youth of pre-1968 France, with Godard giving Leaud the freedom to heavily improvise his dialogue in keeping with the characterisation of Paul. This allows the film to feel incredibly natural, almost documentary-like. One of the film’s standout scenes is in a bathroom, where Paul smokes while Madeleine does her hair and makeup. They discuss some general philosophical topics, with Madeleine asking Paul: “What’s the centre of the world for you?”
Shot in a vérité style, Madeleine is not present on screen as the camera lingers on Paul as he ponders over her question. Much thought is given to the way he smokes his cigarette and rubs his face – it’s as though you can see his answers forming behind his eyes. Léaud’s performance is subtle, but these movements truly bring Paul to life.
When shooting these scenes, Godard recalled: “I spoke to them about the characters in the film, they were supposed to reply in a certain way, the way the characters would. But sometimes I spoke to them as themselves . . . Afterward, I mixed the interviews up . . . I simply edited them so people would think they were talking to each other.”
Not only is the film edited into fragments, often concealing moments of tension and action, but the use of sound in Masculin Féminin is revolutionary. Audio abruptly stops for people to speak, and voices drift in and out of earshot – to audiences unfamiliar with Godard’s innovation, the unusual sound editing of the film might be off-putting. But this intentional use of transgressive techniques keeps audiences alert to the film’s political messages and multi-layered depictions of youth.
Masculin–Féminin might not be Godard’s best film from the New Wave period, but it remains an enduring piece of cinema that is fantastically acted and uniquely innovative. The film’s commentary on the tricky place the youth find themselves in as they navigate a landscape ruled by traditionalism yet influenced by both radical thought and the contradictory appeal of new capitalist products speaks as much to the current political and cultural climate as it did in the 1960s.
