France, 1961
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Producer: Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti
Cast: Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy
Screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Based on an idea by Geneviève Cluny
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Music: Michel Legrand
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Musical
Color
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Franscope)
Language: French with English subtitles
Running Time: 84 minutes
Synopsis:
When Angela (Anna Karina) wants to have a baby, but finds her boyfriend Émile (Jean-Claude Brialy) an unwilling participant, she goes to his friend Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo), proving the lengths to which she'll go to realize her dream. Festooned with enough eccentric musical moments to satisfy the most avant of gardists, including a Charles Aznavour song almost arbitrarily rocketing on and off the soundtrack and Michel Legrand's pre-Umbrellas of Cherbourg score thundering into split-second breaks in dialogue, cinematic in-jokes galore, and plenty of anarchic humor, A Woman is a Woman is a cinephile's dream film.
A jeu d'esprit of the New Wave that won a jury prize from the Berlin Film Festival for its "originality, youth, audacity and impertinence," while the enchanting Karina (in her first major role) was named Best Actress.
Awards and Recognition:
Jury Prize (Berlin Film Festival, 1961)
Best Actress (Berlin Film Festival, 1961)
Restoration:
The restoration was produced from the original 35mm negative and sound negative. Scanned in 4K by Hiventy, then color-graded and digitally cleaned to remove imperfections in the original elements. Supervised by Studiocanal’s Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget. Restored with the support of the CNC.
