Masculin Féminin · reception & legacy
1966 · Jean-Luc Godard
How Masculin Féminin has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
In 1966 it landed as another dispatch from a hyper-prolific Godard and split critics — some found it slapdash, others prophetic. Now it's widely seen as one of his warmest and sharpest 60s films, the definitive time capsule of pop-and-politics youth.
What's debated
Fans still argue over whether the film critiques its young hero's treatment of women or quietly shares it — and whether it's the best gateway Godard or a lesser one next to Breathless and Vivre sa vie.
Its footprint
It gave the world the endlessly quoted intertitle 'the children of Marx and Coca-Cola' — a phrase that escaped the film entirely and became shorthand for the whole 1960s generation.
Where it stands
A cinephile touchstone and Letterboxd favourite among 60s Godard — often the one recommended to people who 'don't like Godard' because it's his most tender.