(Originally written July 7, 2006)

Masculin Feminin is Jean Luc-Godard’s masterpiece, his best film. It is a brilliant and challenging film that takes a look at popular culture’s effect on the youth of the 60s. Perhaps the film itself offers the best possible description in one of the titles:

“This film could be called The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola. Understand what you will.”

The word “masculine,” which, as one character observes, contains “mask” and “ass,” is investigated as males are shown to be confused people who hide behind big ideas, proclaiming to be followers of the Communist call. They think themselves to be revolutionaries simply because they curse the Republic on bathroom stall walls. What they have is the political ideology of marketed Marx neatly packaged like a soda bottle.

“If you kill a man, you’re a murderer. If you kill millions, you’re a conqueror. If you kill them all, you’re God.”

After his observations on the word “masculine,” the character realizes there is no word to be found in “feminine.” This film shows the female characters to be uncertain and, in the end, not sure of what their place in society is. They listen to Bob Dylan, yet they don’t have any opinions on Vietnam, socialism, or birth control.

The film is brilliantly written with similar conversations between different characters that appear in different parts of the film to show the similarities between youth. It’s a film that defies the likes of “polls” which are only capable of capturing human action of the past. The film is very playful in its form, experimenting with sound and editing. Director Jean-Luc Godard is brilliant because he is able to make a film that is full of so many ideas that they are hard to all grasp at once, yet his films are still thoroughly enjoyable because of the eccentricity and many insights.