One of the most playful films of the French New Wave, A Woman Is a Woman is both a tribute to and a parody of classic musicals.
Jean-Luc Godard described A Woman Is a Woman as “a neorealist musical—that is a contradiction in terms.” Featuring some of the most iconic superstars of the French New Wave, it is perhaps the warmest and most accessible of the director’s innovative body of work. The film tells the story of an exotic dancer (Anna Karina) as she attempts to have a child with her lover (Jean-Claude Brialy). When he refuses, she becomes torn between him and his best friend (Jean-Paul Belmondo), resulting in a dizzying delight full of color, humor, music, and tributes to cinema itself. Featuring a score by Michel Legrand (best known for his work on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, screening July 6!), the film received the jury prize from the Berlin Film Festival for its “originality, youth, audacity, and impertinence.” In French with English subtitles. (84 mins., 35mm)
