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At any rate, its a masterpiece.
The director, who at the time had released just one feature, was being characteristically cheeky.
Later in that same interview, he admitted that the movie was an uneasy mix of influences.
It has music but almost never when anyones singing.
The director had completed two features beforeA Woman Is a Woman.
In truth, things were just getting started.A Woman Is a Womanwould establish Karina as a star.
She won a Best Actress award at that years Berlin Film Festival.
Her colorful costumes and playful delivery convey effervescence, and yet theres a deep sadness within.
Hes in love with her imperfections, and so are we.
But what an incredibly tough position to be in as a performer.
It has the rhythms, gestures, and mood of a musical, often without the actual music.
A song might start right before cutting out completely in the next shot.
Direct sound clashes with expressionistic (and sometimes just plain nutty) audio choices.
Loud, cartoonish sound effects punctuate each line in a lovers squabble.
An ostensibly serious scene starts with the actors curtseying to the audience.
But beneath all this color and artifice and levity runs something deeper and more personal.
Its not just Karinas performance that conveys a subdued, counterintuitive melancholy.
Their marriage continued in increasingly chaotic fashion.
In deconstructing cinema, the movies seek to deconstruct life itself.
(For Godard, I doubt there was much of a difference between the two.
Its a fantasy, a comedy, a musical, and a tragedy all at once.
