Une femme est une femme

In 1960, Jean-Luc Godard’s career took off like a rocket with his unconventional crime drama À bout de souffle, the film widely regarded as the beginning of the highly influential Nouvelle Vague. A year later, he made Le petit soldat, a drama set during the Algerian War, but the French censors didn’t like it at all, so it remained on the shelf for three years. The film that followed, Une femme est une femme, also made in 1961, is now considered his second film. In this color film, he applies his Nouvelle Vague style to another well-known American genre: the musical. Starring Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Jean-Claude Brialy, with music by Michel Legrand.

Striptease dancer Angéla has a deep desire to have a child, but her boyfriend Émile isn’t ready for that yet. To make her wish come true anyway, she turns to her best friend Alfred, who is already in love with her. Will things work out with Émile?