Called “one of the few absolutely necessary films in Godard’s canon . . . altogether one of his most pleasing and vivacious films . . . Godard’s purest celebration of both life and movies” (James Monaco) and “one of the most passionate documents about modern anxiety” (Louis Marcorelles), Une Femme est une femme is one part Brecht, one part MGM musical: a combination that is 100%  Godard. Godard joyed in contradiction and called this wild wide-screen spectacle about a stripper (Karina) who wants to have a baby “a neorealist musical.” When her unwilling lover (Jean-Claude Brialy) demurs about her request, she recruits his best friend (Belmondo) to get her pregnant. Karina’s statement late in the film – “It’s hard to tell if this is a comedy or a tragedy, but it’s a masterpiece” – captures the flippant tone of this extravagantly enjoyable Godard. The music, as in Demy’s Lola, is by Michel Legrand. “Employs all the resources of cinema to express the exquisite agony of heterosexual love” (Andrew Sarris).

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