"Moment" Approach: Godard

A telling moment which reveals Godard's position on the issue of film's meaning, is in the very first scene in his work Masculine, feminine. Throughout film history and up until Godard began work on Masculine, feminine certain norms and conventional approaches to film making had been well established and adhered to. Yet, as any good artist would, there were those like Godard who challenged and questioned the validity of this status quo of film making. For instance in that opening scene of Masculine, feminine Godard does not provide the audience with an establishing shot, thus, slightly disorienting the viewer on where they actually are. Instead the audience is given a super close up of a male character, who Godard offers no real introduction or intimate information on who or why this person sitting directly in front of the audience is writing and reading his work aloud. Seconds later and an establishing shot, or the narrowest definition of one, is provided and it becomes clear that this unknown man in a trench coat is sitting in the middle of a diner and judging by his very thick french accent and the accompanying English text beneath him, the movie must be taking place in France. Many a conventional film maker would point to these subtle departures from the norms of film as irresponsible, disjointed, and entirely confusing. But for Godard it is evident that he strives for something more then just telling the audience where they are, or who is involved, and why his characters are doing what their doing. For Godard what seems essential is that there is a man, he sits alone in a diner in France, and he is working on something that clearly preoccupies his train of thought. Godard is literally documenting this character's life and the brief minutes he spends alone in a diner contemplating whatever he deems important to contemplate. Until of course a woman enters the diner shortly there after and the entire focus of the audience is diverted away from the male character and onto her. Of course the audience can still spot half of the male character on screen and off to the right, this woman takes her seat and occupies the focus of the shot. In this moment it would appear that Godard is physically showing us the male character's attention so easily distracted when a beautiful woman walks into the room and takes a seat next to him. As a whole Masculine, feminine is a piece of film which Godard uses to document the behaviors and actions of men and women in given social situations, whether these are people or characters in a movie is irrelevant to Godard.