Masculine Feminine was Jean-Luc Godard's first (but not his last) foray into the burgeoning "Children of the Sixties" generation -- or, as Godard described it, "the children of Marx and Coca-Cola." Impressionable teenager Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud) tries to make sense of the world by working as an interviewer for a research firm. Meanwhile, Paul cohabits with aspiring singer Madeleine (Chantal Goya), with two additional young ladies joining the nocturnal festivities. Paul jumps or is pushed from a window, leaving a pregnant Madeleine to move on to the next aimless youth she meets. While the nominal hero has failed to find fulfillment in personal relations, another male protagonist (Michel Debord), a political activist, is luckier -- an indication that the director favored revolutionary politics over simple emotionalism at this point in his career. Though Godard's free-form style is usually opposed to linear storytelling, Masculine Feminine has solid literary roots, having been inspired by two Guy de Maupassant stories.
Jean-Pierre Léaud | Paul - un jeune homme instable |
Chantal Goya | Madeleine Zimmer - une petite chanteuse |
Marlène Jobert | Elisabeth Choquet - la copine d'Elisabeth |
Michel Debord | Robert Packard - un syndicaliste |
Catherine-Isabelle Duport | Catherine-Isabelle |
Eva-Britt Strandberg | Elle (la femme dans le film) |
Birger Malmsten | Lui (l'homme dans le film) |
Willy Kurant | Cinematographer |
Agnès Guillemot | Editor |
Marguerite Renoir | Editor |
Jean-Jacques Debout | Composer |