A Married Woman (1964)

 Jean-Luc Godard's "A Married Woman"

Every time I watch a Jean-Luc Godard film, I feel as though there is always something to engage with. There is always a level of intellectualism and post-modernism that allows for actual contemplation with the film you're watching. His 1964 film, "A Married Woman," is perhaps my least favorite film of his filmography thus far. That being said, it is still an incredibly engaging and interesting watch that forced me to evaluate 'modern life' and all its mechanical and consumerist employs. 

It centers on a married woman (hence the title) who lives in modern Paris. She is married and plays step mother to a young boy. At the same time, she sneaks away to pursue an affair with a theater actor. After finding out she is pregnant, she is torn between the two men.

The story is relatively straight forward, but like all Godard films, the style in which the story is told is utterly unique. Godard has a way of inverting traditional cinema in favor of explorative cinema. Through his editing, his creative choices, and his style of shooting, there is always something unique at play that forces you to reconcile with the images you're seeing. 

These images are constructed around a woman in a modern society obsessed with consumerism. Godard inundates the narrative with magazines, advertising signs, as well as people themselves speaking as salespeople. The protagonist's maid recommends beauty products to her. People speak about philosophy, life, or art in the same way a salesperson would, as its their pitching ideas in the form of a product. 

I find this aspect of the film interesting, given the actual narrative at play involving the woman and her decision between the two men. It is a little confusing as to how this narrative and the themes at play intersect. I suppose the primary way would be how difficult it is to actually live your life in the desired way you would want to, because your desires are so wrapped around preconceived narratives that have been forced upon you. I think a big aspect of this is also in regards to the standards of women. We are constantly shown how advertising, magazines, and even people expect women to behave and look. There are immense beauty standards that our protagonist is inundated with and even she is obsessed with beauty and how she is perceived as an object of beauty. 

All in all, the film still managed to make me think about the modern world and the way in which our notions are completely affected by the consumerist culture that surrounds us. I think a lot of Godard films deal with this, as they all view our modernity through this specific lens of how our individuality has become lost and detached from ourselves in favor of the art, media, and consumerism that surrounds our post-war culture.