Une femme mariée (1964) - film review

At first sight, Charlotte would appear to be the model wife.  She is happily married to Pierre, an airline pilot, and has a child, Nicolas, whom she adores.  But the long days of separation from her husband have taken their toll and Charlotte has started to have an affair with another man, an actor named Robert.  Charlotte is considering leaving Pierre and starting a new life with Robert, but somehow the bonds of marriage are too strong for her to break.  Then she discovers that she is pregnant and wonders which of the two men is the father...

Originally titled La Femme mariée, this controversial film from one of the leading lights of the French New Wave was banned by the censor for its sexually explicit scenes.  The film was released a few months after its ban, with a few cuts and retitled Une femme mariée, and proved surprisingly successful, no doubt benefiting from the brouhaha caused by the censor.

The film’s director, Jean-Luc Godard, regarded it as a sociological document and it is a daring work for its time, broaching sexual taboos and offering a refreshingly candid portrayal of marital infidelity.  With its chaotic episodic structure and bizarre composition of shots (most of which consist of close-ups of the lead actress), the film exemplifies Godard’s shift from the asthetics of conventional filmmaking towards the more free-format, individualistic approach of his later films.

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?