NYFF ’68: 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

The “her” of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 masterpiece (presented in NYFF the same year as Weekend) is Paris in the throes of redevelopment. It’s also a Parisian housewife (the glowing Marina Vlady) who moonlights—or, rather, daylights—as a prostitute in order to afford the luxuries of urban living. Less a narrative than a succession of loosely interconnected scenes laced with Godard’s whispered musings on everything from the origins of language to the war in Vietnam, 2 or 3 Things finds one of cinema’s greatest innovators at the height of his playfulness, quoting his earlier films, making astringent observations about the individual’s relationship to the city and flooding the screen with candy-colored wide-screen compositions worthy of a Hollywood musical. To quote the film: “Living in society today is like living in a vast comic strip.”

“The film is an expansion of themes and techniques from Alphaville, Une Femme Mariée and Made in USA; but content and form are so satisfyingly played off one against the other that it represents a climax to his whole career.” —NYFF6 program note

Image courtesy of ARGOS/PARC FILM / THE KOBAL COLLECTION