Women In Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman As A Woman

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The film industry continues to change and improve its self through technology, new uses of equipment and different styles of film. The classical Hollywood cinema is one of the earlier styles of film production and often obeyed a strict guideline when producing a film. This style of film used a narrative to tell its story and would have a clear beginning, middle, and end; with the ending generally providing a resolution to a problem introduced. With the war that had women involved in the workplace coming to an end, the Classical Hollywood Cinema portrayed its female leads being dependent on a man. On the other hand, Jean-Luc Godard has and brings a different outlook of film to the screen. Considered an Auteur, Godard goes against the Hollywood …show more content…

I pity the American cinema because it has no ideas.” ( Godard)As a prominent film critique who often experimented with new techniques, Godard stood out because he often told the truth his films and they have a sense of realism about them. One of his earlier works, A Woman is a Woman, follows the life of Angela Recamier as she longs for a child. While examining music and colour within, A woman is a Woman, Godard’s neorealist approach can be seen throughout the film while also criticizing Hollywood cinema. The film also addresses ideological concerns such as feminism and gender roles.
The scene starts off in front of a building that appears to be a poorly lit a set, but is the indeed the real streets of Paris in 1961.Godard then cuts to Angela in her apartment which is much different from the real streets of Paris. Angela’s apartment is a set created by Godard and has many strategically placed items to represent Godard’s theme. Her apartment is brightly lit compared to the streets of Paris. The apartment in this sequence represents Angela’s version of utopia with the high key lighting. As Dr. Henderson stated on November 6th 2015, the colours of the French flag are represented in the film and are placed in certain points of the film to emphasize a point that Godard …show more content…

The colors that Emile is wearing adds to the disruption when he enters the scene and disrupts the colour scheme in a beige jacket and hat. Although he has on a blue striped scarf on to which he adds the coat hanger and completes the colour scheme. This shot is contrasts to a previous shot in which Angela adds a white beret to the coat hanger, white meaning equality, which represents her asking for equality and wanting to be treated the same as men. However, Emile simply puts a blue scarf on the hanger which represents that men are already living in a judgment free world. Godard again brings our attention to the coat hanger as it is reframed to the screen and although Angela’s eyesight follows Emile to the bathroom, Godard directs the viewer’s eyesight to the coat hanger in order to draw our attention to the colour scheme. After the audience’s attention is drawn to the colour scheme, Angela chooses to break the unity when she chooses to wear the green apron over the red apron, to which would have continued the color fluidity. The break in the colour scheme is yet another interruption of Angela’s utopic world because Emile then comes in and asks about the game as he takes of his beige jacket to reveal a blue suit under. Emile immediately become frustrated when he finds out that Angela has not tuned into the match, however, Emile quickly changes his tune and becomes

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