Masculin Feminin (1966)
92%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: 3 wins & 4 nominations
A ’60s time capsule stuffed with ideas about politics, pop culture, and the battle of the sexes, Masculine-Feminine is one of Godard’s classic black-and-white films.
Masculin Féminin” is a wild ride through the streets of Paris, with Godard’s signature style of mixing genres and breaking the rules. It’s a film that captures the spirit of the 60s, with its revolutionary ideas and youthful energy. The characters are quirky and charming, and the cinematography is stunning. It’s not a film for everyone, but if you’re looking for something different and daring, “Masculin Féminin” is definitely worth a watch. Plus, who doesn’t love a good Godard quote like “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola”?
Production Company(ies)
Beimo Films, Persistence of Vision Films,
Distributor
Rialto Pictures, Royal Films International
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Scandic Hotel Continental, Norrmalm, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1966
-
Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Mono
-
Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 43m
-
Language(s):French, Swedish, English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 22, 1966 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 20, 2005
Genre(s)
Romance
Keyword(s)
starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert, Michel Debord, Catherine-Isabelle Duport, Evabritt Strandberg, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, written by Guy de Maupassant, Jean-Luc Godard, romance, French (Canada), box office gross $199.9K, reviewed by Pauline Kael, Terry Lawson, Mary Brennan, Chris Vognar, Roger Ebert, Michael Wilmington, David Harris, Michael J Casey, Matt Brunson, MPAA rating, produced by Anatole Dauman
Worldwide gross: $200,380
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,073,717
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,404
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 226,141
US/Canada gross: $200,380
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,073,717
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,023
US/Canada opening weekend: $26,855
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $277,920
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,562
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Jean-Pierre Léaud – Paul
Marlène Jobert – Elisabeth
Michel Debord
Catherine-Isabelle Duport
Evabritt Strandberg
Director(s)
Jean-Luc Godard
Writer(s)
Guy de Maupassant, Jean-Luc Godard
Producer(s)
Anatole Dauman
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 wins & 4 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (45) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (2)
Using neither crime nor the romance of crime but a simple romance for a kind of interwoven story line, Godard has, at last, created the form he needed. It is a combination of essay, journalistic sketches, news and portraiture, love lyric and satire.
August 30, 2012
Pauline Kael
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
May not have aged any better than Godard’s other films of the period, but that doesn’t mean Paul and company don’t continue to ask questions and spout the opinions of the newly enlightened.
October 14, 2005 | Rating: 4/4
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
TOP CRITIC
An odd, scattered, free-form, but thoroughly engaging film.
June 17, 2005
Mary Brennan
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
This is the Godard that fans would like to take to the grave: jaundiced, naughty, immediate, very much alive.
May 5, 2005 | Rating: A-
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
TOP CRITIC
You can appreciate Godard’s vigorous early visual style.
April 14, 2005 | Rating: 3/4
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
One of the quintessential ’60s foreign art films, a bizarre melange of pop music, revolution, sex, movie allusions and poetry.
April 14, 2005 | Rating: 4/4
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Though Léaud is a significant figure as an actor, he also represents something even more important: the portraits of two of the most important cinematic artists as young men.
November 16, 2021
David Harris
Spectrum Culture
‘Masculin féminin’ finds the iconoclastic filmmaker in transitions.
June 4, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
Best known for birthing the phrase “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola,” but similar wit is found in abundance throughout.
May 14, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Indeed, the French capital is almost a character in itself thanks to Willy Kurant’s animated cinematography which captures a generation in a state of flux.
May 13, 2021
Rob Aldam
Backseat Mafia
Godard’s same on a film automatically means that the viewer has in store something “different” not much plot but a lot of style. If at times it confuses or even annoys, it certainly never bores.
April 20, 2021
Sandra Saunders
Philadelphia Daily News
A film both of aesthetic and historic importance.
January 17, 2020
Richard Whitehall
Los Angeles Free Press…
Plot
Paul is young, just demobbed from national service in the French Army, and disillusioned with civilian life. As his girlfriend builds herself a career as a pop singer, Paul becomes more isolated from his friends and peers (‘the children of Marx and Coca Cola’, as the credits announce) and their social and emotional politics.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film stars French New Wave regular Jean-Pierre Léaud and pop singer Chantal Goya.
Jean-Luc-Godard.jpg
