Masculin Féminin (, , "Masculine Feminine: 15 Specific Events") is a 1966 French New Wave film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. An international co-production between France and Sweden, the film stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert, Catherine-Isabelle Duport, and Michel Debord.
Léaud plays Paul, a romantic young idealist who chases budding pop star Madeleine (played by Goya, a real-life yé-yé girl). Despite markedly different musical tastes and political leanings, the two soon become romantically involved and begin a ménage à quatre with Madeleine's two roommates, Catherine (Duport) and Elisabeth (Jobert). The camera probes the young actors in a series of vérité-style interviews about love, lovemaking, and politics. At times the main story is interrupted by various sequences and sub-plots, including a scene paraphrased from LeRoi Jones' play Dutchman.
Masculin Féminin was intended as a representation of 1960s France and Paris. The film contains references to various pop culture icons and political figures of the time, such as Charles de Gaulle, André Malraux, James Bond, and Bob Dylan. Arguably the most famous quotation from the film is "This film could be called The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola", which is actually an intertitle between chapters.
Plot
Paul, a young idealist who recently fulfilled his military service, is looking for a job. In a café, he meets Madeleine Zimmer, a young singer who wishes to make a record. They witness a woman having an argument with her partner, which culminates in the woman drawing a gun and shooting him. Paul goes to meet with his friend Robert Packard, a journalist who has Paul sign a petition to free a group of artists and writers in Rio de Janeiro accused of voicing their opposition to state policy.
Paul begins working for a magazine. In a bathroom, Paul confronts Madeleine, saying that she promised him that they would go out that night. She asks him if "going out" means "going to bed", and he falls silent. She tells him that her promise was a lie. As the French presidential election of December 1965 approaches, Paul turns 21 years old and becomes romantically involved with Madeleine. Madeleine introduces him to her roommate Elisabeth Choquet. Also present is Catherine-Isabelle, whom Robert likes. Paul helps Robert put up posters around Paris and paint the phrase "Peace in Vietnam" along the side of a U.S. Army car. On a train, Paul and Robert witness a white woman and two black men antagonizing each other, which results in the woman firing a gun.
Madeleine is to have her first single released by RCA. On the day of its release, Paul brings her to the café and attempts to propose to her. Madeleine, anxious to see the release of her record, says they will discuss the matter later. Paul records a message for Madeleine in a coin-operated record booth. He is then approached by a man with a knife, who stabs himself. In a laundromat, Paul recounts to Robert his experience of feeling that he was being followed. Robert, reading a newspaper, tells Paul about Bob Dylan, who Robert says is a "Vietnik" (a portmanteau of "Vietnam" and "beatnik").
Paul starts living with Madeleine, Elisabeth and Catherine. He leaves his job at the magazine to become a pollster for IFOP. He interviews a young woman named Elsa, asking her about subjects such as politics and love. At the café, Paul tells Elisabeth that Madeleine is pregnant, but Elisabeth is skeptical. Madeleine arrives and sees the woman who shot her partner, now a prostitute. They also see a theatre director giving instructions to an actress. Paul, Madeleine, Elisabeth and Catherine go to a cinema to watch a film. During the screening, Madeleine tells Paul that she loves him. He leaves the theatre temporarily to spray-paint a slogan critical of Charles de Gaulle on a wall outside. Later, Robert has a conversation with Catherine, during which he asserts that she is in love with Paul. Godard, through Robert, constructs the idea of worker as a revolutionary and work as revolution.
One day, a man borrows a box of matches from Paul, and uses them to self-immolate, leaving behind a note that says "Peace in Vietnam". Paul and Catherine visit Madeleine in a recording studio, where she is recording a new song. She acts distant towards Paul, and after encountering a reporter, asks Paul to fetch a car for her. Paul calls the war ministry, and impersonating a military general, demands a car. One arrives, and he, Madeleine and Catherine depart the premises in it.