Combustible Celluloid


New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

movies

50% Off DVD Sale at BarnesandNoble.com! Shop Now.

 
Home | Archive | About | Blog | Lists | Links | E-mail me | Sign up for my weekly newsletter! |  
 



The Innkeepers ***1/2
The Woman in Black ***
The Grey ***
Man on a Ledge ***
Underworld Awakening **
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos ***
Haywire ***
Beauty and the Beast ****
Contraband ***
The Divide *
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
The Devil Inside **
The Iron Lady **
A Separation ***
Pariah ***1/2
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***
The Darkest Hour **
War Horse **1/2
In the Land of Blood and Honey **
The Adventures of Tintin ***1/2
More
 



Adaptation
Dream House
Drive
Frida
The Magnificent Ambersons
Malcolm X
The Mill and the Cross
The Moment of Truth
Outrage
The Piano
The Thing
To Kill a Mockingbird
2011: The Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
More
 

Film Features

2011: The Year's Best Films
Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
Interview: Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender
Interview: Simon Curtis
Interview: Werner Herzog
Interview: John Cho
Interview: Roland Emmerich
Interview: Stephen Bishop on Moneyball
Interview: Nick Swardson
Interview: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Interview: Lone Scherfig
Interview: Jesse Eisenberg & Aziz Ansari
Interview: Wayne Wang
Interview: Andre Ovredal on 'Trollhunter'
Interview: Ewan McGregor & Mike Mills
Interview: Kelly Reichardt (Examiner link)
The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival - 2011 Coverage
Interview: Emma Roberts
Rainn Wilson & James Gunn (Examiner link)
Interview: Tom McCarthy
Interview: Abigail Breslin (Examiner link)
2010: The Year's Best Films
2010: The Year's Best DVDs & Blu-Rays
Interview: Sofia Coppola
Interview: George A. Romero
The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
My Top 100 Films [Updated]
My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
Christmas Movies
Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
Cult Movies
Actress Interview Gallery
More Features and Interviews
 

Film Books

Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
More Books
 



Home
Reviews A-C
Reviews D-F
Reviews G-J
Reviews K-M
Reviews N-Q
Reviews R-T
Reviews U-Z
 

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

 
SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Advanced Search

 
 
© 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid



A Woman Is a Woman (1961)

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)

Pretty 'Woman'

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy A Woman Is a Woman on DVD.

With our new "musical renaissance" at hand, modern audiences may just be about ready to handle Jean-Luc Godard's second feature, A Woman Is a Woman, made in 1961, just after Breathless.

By the same token, it will probably take about 40 years for audiences to be ready for Godard's most recent film, In Praise of Love.

With A Woman Is a Woman Godard pays a rather obvious and loving tribute to musicals by Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. For that purpose, he gave up the low-budget, black-and-white, hand-held look of Breathless, and switched to a giant Cinemascope frame and full color.

The simple, and almost ludicrous plot has Godard's wife/muse Anna Karina playing Angela, a stripper who wants a baby. Her boyfriend Emile (Jean-Claude Brialy) won't give her one. So she turns to Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo), her second choice, to make her wish come true.

No one really sings or dances, and Michel Legrand's amazing score purposely feels at odds with the movie. It just suddenly appears from time to time, as if wrestling with the images, flip-flopping and vying for prominence. It's a strange effect, but somehow the picture still has the overwhelming giddiness of a normal musical.

Godard feels right at home with the new format, using the widescreen to clever dramatic effect -- swinging the camera back and forth to emphasize the distance between Angela and Emile -- or layering Karina across the screen, doubling her with the many mirrors she uses to gaze at herself.

She comes across more playful and less severe than in her other pictures with Godard; she's almost like an Audrey Hepburn gamine, hopping around in pigtails and daring everyone not to find her adorable.

Film-savvy viewers will enjoy Godard's many references, from jabs at his pal Francois Truffaut, to a little number in which Angela announces that she wants to be in a musical with Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly and choreographed by Bob Fosse. Characters often regard and wink directly at the audience, such as when Belmondo complains that he doesn't want to miss Breathless on TV. (Belmondo was the ultra-cool star of that film.)

As always, Godard is more interested in making a comment on the musical than in creating one of his own. The ideas run rampant though A Woman Is a Woman. At one point, one confused character admits that he doesn't know if this is a comedy or a tragedy. "But it's a masterpiece," he says. No question.

Starring: Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Paul Belmondo
Written by: Jean-Luc Godard
Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Language: French with English subtitles
Running Time: 83 minutes
Date: May 13, 2003

Home
New Movies
New DVDs & Blu-Ray
Features
News
Search Reviews
Classic Movies
Film Books
Gallery
Links
About
Contact
All scribblings © 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid