A Movie is a Movie, by Darrell Ron Tuffs

A World of Film

Jean-Luc Godard’s A Woman is a Woman (1961) opens like a grand theatre production, as we, the audience, are sat surrounded by darkness, in anticipation for the show to begin. An orchestra is heard warming up, a conductor is heard preparing, and huge blocks of one word text engulf the screen itself, quickly flashing relevant cue words such as “Eastmancolor”, “Musical” or “Sentimental”. Suddenly, the sounds cut, the words vanish, and from the silence, a French voice using American words shouts, “lights, camera, action!” From here on in, we are thrown into the magical world that is Godard’s A Woman is a Woman. The effect of this opening prologue is a startling one; the film feels unprepared, as though the audience caught a rare glimpse of the show before it began, while the curtain was still lowered, and the actors still in their dressing rooms. Godard, in this segment, seems…

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