• Shot simultaneously with 1966’s Made in U.S.A. (one by Godard during the morning, one in the evening) this is much more in Godard’s cinematic essay style than Made in U.S.A.’s postmodern take on genre. Godard’s movement away from character-driven stories (though he never cared much for plot) to essay doesn’t have a clean break—but if you did point to one film, at least so far in my study, it would be 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
  • Like all of his previous color films—Godard has these lovely large flashing red, white and blue titles
  • It is really simultaneously both a film about Paris and a film about a woman- Juliette Jeanson (played by the gorgeous Marina Vlady). Godard is constantly (though similarities in the story and editing construction) synching the two and tying them together. Sort of like Resnais with the two cities tied to characters in Hiroshima Mon Amour (the splice editing styles of Resnais and Godard would make for a fascinating study).

The ongoing “progress” or construction of the actual city of Paris (or Godard would probably argue it should be called deconstruction) is a big part of the editing stew. These constant cranes and bulldozers are shot by Godard—ugliness. At the same time Juliette is prostituting herself to purchase things she doesn’t need… synched.

  • The distinct whispering voice-over is from Godard himself
  • “she’s wearing a midnight blue sweater with two yellow stripes”
  • Like Masculin Féminin it is largely the content and the political thesis here that is front and center for Godard. He’s almost hilariously intellectual and charmingly contradictory. However, this results in long (especially for a film under 90 minutes), cinematically quiet stretches. Interviews of non-professionals on the streets, shots of Vlady just doing the dishes.
  • Self-reflexive, Vlady is constantly addressing the camera – interviewing the hairdresser, talking to the woman in the bar – like a local news
  • The cutaways here do not follow the visual color design pattern half as much as Pierrot or Made in U.S.A. – here we’re getting doc footage, magazine cutouts, some of the advertising has the color but it is much a smaller percentage

a stunning composition here

you have to do a double-take but this is NOT Anna Karina — sadly their last feature together was Made in U.S.A. in 1966

  • Self-referential as always- there’s a Vivre Sa Vie poster in the day care shot

It sounds crazy but one of the best sequences in the film is the swirling coffee as a galaxy metaphor close-up shot from 27-30 minutes

Another strong visual is the shot of the two women wearing the blue Pan Am and the Red TWA bags over their heads

  • At the 63-minute mark there is a nice 360-degree shot Vlady in front of the apartments with the blue paneling
  • Recommend/Highly Recommend border