Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)

 Jean-Luc Godard's "Two or Three Things I Know About Her"


As with many other Jean-Luc Godard films, "Two or Three Things I Know About Her" packs lots of ideas into a single, short viewing experience. What's unique about it is the seemingly open metatextual format of the film. Meaning, Godard includes the viewer in on the process and ruminations on the arbitrary choices made in the film. Released in 1967, "Two or Three Things I Know About Her" acts more like an essay film, one that critiques modern consumerism and capitalism.

The plot of the film centers on 24 hours in the sophisticated, but empty life of Juliette: a wife, a mother, and a prostitute. After dropping her children off with a man who watches prostitutes' children, she goes shopping for dresses, drink coffee in a cafe, has appointment with clients, and visits a beauty salon. All the while, Godard's metatextuality bleeds through with interspersed shots of construction work in the city, fourth wall breaking, and whispered narration by Godard speaking about politics, reality, and meaning.

The main takeaway from the film is Godard's views on capitalism, consumerism, and America's cultural colonialism. For example, the high-rises Juliette lives in the banlieues (suburbs) of Paris, though meant to provide housing to families working in the growing capital during the prosperous post-war years, are seen by Godard as infrastructure promoting consumerism, a term he equated with prostitution. 

Throughout Juliette's adventures throughout the day, she is constantly bombarded with consumerist imagery: advertising, magazines, promotions, etc. The mechanisms of this capitalist structure demand consumers to look a certain way, to sound certain ways, and to think in certain ways. On top of this, the 'daily grind' of the consumerist society, like a workforce living in regimented time and space and forced to work jobs they don't like, is considered by Godard to be 'a prostitution of the mind.' 

Godard infuses this imagery of prostitution in every facet of the picture: with Juliette's profession, in the buildings she lives, in the advertising she sees, in the companies surrounding her, etc. However, all of this consumerist culture doesn't make Juliette happy. At the end of the film, she is drained by it all and empty inside. She constantly attempts to find meaning in prostituting herself all day, both literally and figuratively. However, she cannot find it externally through the constant stream of consumerist media, vivid updates on the violence of the Vietnam War, and frivolity of modern life. 





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