Selected for Letterboxd Video Store by guest curator Richard Linklater.

THE SOUND OF A GENERATION THINKING ALOUD.

A group of young Parisians bounce between politics, pop music, love affairs, and idle conversations, searching for meaning in a rapidly changing world. At the center is Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an earnest romantic trying, and often failing, to connect with Madeleine (real-life yé-yé girl Chantal Goya), an emerging pop singer more attuned to fame than ideology.

Part essay film, part romantic comedy, part social document, Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Féminin captures the pulse of 1960s youth culture with wit and fragmentation. Jumping between interviews, slogans, and intimate moments, the film captures the contradictions of a generation caught between revolution and consumerism and shaped how youth culture would be documented on screen.

Languages: French. English subtitles available.