|
By PAUL BRENNER
Finally Jean-Luc Godard's
1961 "neorealist musical" has been rescued from
Fox Lorber with a beautiful new transfer by
Criterion.
The film is the height of Godardian impudence, at
the same time savoring and biting the hand of
classical Hollywood musical influences; the
Hollywood musical retrofitted through Godard's
cinematically aware gaze.
You know where the film is going even before the
first image appears when an off-screen voice is
heard over black declaring,
"Lights...Camera...Action!" After which appears
the one-of-a-kind Godard opening titles in
Cinemascope and color (this being Godard's first
color and scope film).
The slight and larky story concerns Angela (a
luminous Anna Karina), a part-time stripper who
badgers her grouchy boyfriend Emile (Jean-Claude
Braily) into having a baby. Right now. Instantly.
But Emile doesn't want to do anything that will
interfere with his bicycle race so Angela asks his
more than willing friend Alfred Lubitsch (!)
(Jean-Paul Belmondo) if he would like to have a
child with her. Emile calls Alfred from his
balcony and Alfred, hanging around six stories
below on the sidewalk, immediately hears Emile's
call and comes right up. But in fact Angela really
wants to "...be in a musical comedy starring Cyd
Charisse and Gene Kelly...choreography by Bob
Fosse."
Godard is the merry prankster, deconstructing the
musical form like an afterthought. Michel Legrand
provides the sprightly musical score but Legrand
had much more conventional luck later on with
Jacques Demy. Here with Godard the most banal
dialogue exchanges between characters result in
elaborate musical cues for songs that don't go
anywhere. Or else, Karina sings the verse to a
song with orchestral backup only to have the
musical stop abruptly when she hits the refrain
and she ends up singing acapella.
Godard slyly acknowledges filmic and extra filmic
sources with Karina, Belmondo, and Braily winking
or talking to the camera and references to
everything from Truffaut to Burt Lancaster being
the pal of Belmondo.
"A Woman Is a Woman" is Godard at his mort playful
and zippy. The smile-inducing joyousness of "A
Woman Is a Woman" is an attitude Godard will
rapidly lose (perhaps it was Godard's joy in
falling in love with Karina that turned the
sardonic director into Father Christmas -- it's
quite possible because we fell in love with Karina
too).
As typical with Criterion, there is an excellent
assortment of special features including a photo
gallery, a poster gallery, and a 1966 interview
with Karina. Of particular interest however is
Godard's first short film (1957's "Charlotte and
Veronique") and a wonder promotional audio
recording of "A Woman Is a Woman" from 1961 with
Godard himself telling the story interspersed with
Legrand's score (here Karina actually sings with
musical accompaniment). Just like those French. In
1961, French kids could listen to a storyboard LP
recording of "A Woman Is a Woman" as told by
Jean-Luc Godard. Here in the U.S.A. kiddoes had to
settle for Charlie Ruggles reciting the story of
"The Wonderful World of The Brothers Grimm" on LP.
We get George Pal; the French get Jean-Luc Godard.
Go figure. |
