Jean-Luc Godard didn't care if you liked his movies. In 1961, he released his third feature, and honestly, it felt like a deliberate prank on the audience. A Woman is a Woman (originally Une femme est une femme) isn't just a movie; it’s a colorful, chaotic, fourth-wall-breaking experiment that feels more like a fever dream than a romantic comedy.
People often mistake it for a straightforward story. It isn't.
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If you’ve ever watched a movie where the actors suddenly stop talking and just point at book titles to communicate, you’ve seen the DNA of this film. It’s weird. It’s loud. It’s Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina at the absolute peak of their French New Wave coolness. But beneath the primary colors and the jazzy Michel Legrand score, there is a very specific type of cinematic rebellion happening.
What Actually Happens in A Woman is a Woman?
The plot is deceptively simple, which is kind of the point. Angela, played by the luminous Anna Karina, is a stripper—though Godard calls her an "exotic dancer" to keep it classy—who desperately wants a baby. Like, right now. Her boyfriend, Émile, played by Jean-Claude Brialy, isn't into the idea. At all.
So, Angela does what any rational person in a Godard film does: she threatens to have a baby with their friend Alfred (Belmondo) instead.
It sounds like a soap opera. It plays out like a cartoon.
What makes A Woman is a Woman stand out in film history is that it was Godard’s first time using 35mm Cinemascope and color. He had a bigger budget than he did for Breathless, and he spent it making everything look like a box of Crayola markers exploded on screen. You see bright reds, deep blues, and crisp whites everywhere. It’s a visual feast that hides the fact that the characters are basically just bickering for eighty minutes.
The film is famous for its "neo-realist musical" vibe. That sounds like a contradiction, right? It is. Godard wanted to make a musical where people don't actually sing and dance in the traditional sense. Instead, the music stops and starts abruptly. It’s jarring. One second you’re hearing a sweeping orchestral swell, and the next, dead silence.
Breaking the Rules of Cinema
Godard was obsessed with reminding you that you’re watching a movie. In A Woman is a Woman, the characters look directly at the camera. They bow to the audience. They acknowledge the artifice.
This was radical in 1961.
Most directors wanted you to get lost in the story. Godard wanted you to stay awake and think about the medium itself. He used jump cuts, odd framing, and title cards to disrupt the flow. Honestly, it can be frustrating if you’re looking for a cozy night in. But if you’re looking for the moment when modern cinema was born, this is it.
The Chemistry of Karina and Belmondo
You can’t talk about this film without talking about the relationship between Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina. They were married during the production. You can feel the camera’s infatuation with her. Every close-up of Karina feels like a love letter, even when her character is being difficult or irrational.
Then there’s Belmondo.
Fresh off the success of Breathless, he brings this incredible, relaxed energy to the screen. He’s the "other man," but he’s so charming you almost root for him. The way he wears a hat, the way he smokes—it’s the definition of cool.
The dialogue is fast. It’s snappy. It’s full of puns and wordplay that honestly don't always translate perfectly from French to English. But the energy translates. There’s a scene where Angela and Émile are so mad at each other they won’t speak, so they pull books off a shelf and use the titles to insult one another. It’s brilliant. It’s the kind of thing you’d see in a TikTok trend today, yet Godard did it sixty years ago.
The Backlash and the Legacy
Critics weren't all on board at first. Some felt it was too light. Too flashy. Too obsessed with its own cleverness.
But over time, A Woman is a Woman has been reclaimed as a masterpiece of style. It’s a transition piece. It bridges the gap between the gritty black-and-white realism of early French New Wave and the more political, abstract work Godard would do later in the sixties.
It’s also surprisingly influential on directors like Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson. You can see the DNA of Angela’s apartment—with its specific color palettes and quirky layouts—in almost every Wes Anderson film. Tarantino even named his production company, A Band Apart, after another Godard film, but the playful, pop-culture-obsessed spirit of his work owes a huge debt to this 1961 romp.
Why Should You Care About It Now?
We live in an era of "content." Everything is polished. Everything is focus-grouped to death.
A Woman is a Woman is the opposite of that. It’s messy. It’s experimental. It’s a director trying things just to see if they work. Sometimes they don't! But when they do, it’s magic.
Watching it today feels like a breath of fresh air. It reminds us that movies don't have to follow a three-act structure or have "likable" characters to be engaging. They just have to be alive.
Angela’s desire for motherhood isn't portrayed with heavy-handed sentimentality. Instead, it’s a catalyst for a series of comedic misunderstandings and stylistic flourishes. It’s "femininity" through the lens of a male director who was clearly baffled and mesmerized by the women in his life.
Technical Brilliance in a "Silly" Movie
The sound design in this film is actually revolutionary.
Most movies at the time recorded sound on set and then cleaned it up. Godard used direct sound, capturing the ambient noise of Paris. But then he would cut the sound out entirely for several seconds.
Why?
Because he could. He wanted to emphasize the rhythm of the images.
If you watch closely, the editing follows the beat of the music—when there is music. It’s a precursor to the music video. You see Angela walking through the streets of Paris, and the city itself becomes a character. It’s not the postcard Paris of Emily in Paris. It’s a living, breathing, slightly grimy city filled with neon lights and crowded cafes.
Addressing the Common Misconceptions
There’s a common critique that the film is sexist. Angela is, after all, a woman whose entire plot revolves around her biological clock and her relationship with two men.
Is it dated? Sure.
But Karina brings a level of agency to the role that defies the script. She’s the one driving the action. She’s the one making the demands. The men are mostly just reacting to her. In the final scene, there’s a famous bit of wordplay regarding the word "infamous" (infâme) and "woman" (une femme). It’s a wink to the audience that suggests Angela knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s playing a role, and she knows it.
How to Watch It Today
If you’re going to dive into A Woman is a Woman, don’t expect a standard rom-com.
- Watch it on a big screen if possible. The colors are meant to be immersive.
- Don’t worry about the plot. Seriously. Just let the visuals and the music wash over you.
- Pay attention to the background. There are posters, street signs, and cameos (look for Jeanne Moreau!) that provide a meta-commentary on the film industry at the time.
It’s currently available on various prestige streaming services like The Criterion Channel or MUBI. It’s the kind of film that rewards a second viewing because you’ll catch all the jokes you missed the first time while you were busy trying to figure out what was happening.
Actionable Steps for Film Enthusiasts
If this film sounds like your kind of chaos, here is how to dive deeper into the world of Godard and the French New Wave:
- Pair it with Breathless (1960) and Vivre sa vie (1962). This gives you a "Karina/Godard" trilogy of sorts that shows the evolution of their style and relationship.
- Look up the Michel Legrand score. It’s one of the best in cinema history. Even without the visuals, the music tells a story of its own.
- Study the "Fourth Wall." Use this film as a case study. Notice exactly when the characters look at you. What is happening in the story at that moment? It’s usually a moment of vulnerability or extreme artifice.
- Analyze the color theory. Take a few screenshots of Angela’s apartment. Notice the balance of red, white, and blue (the French flag). Godard was using color to signal national identity and pop-art aesthetics long before it was cool.
A Woman is a Woman remains a polarizing piece of art. It’s loud, it’s colorful, and it refuses to behave. But that’s exactly why we’re still talking about it over sixty years later. It’s a reminder that cinema can be anything we want it to be, as long as we have the guts to break a few rules.