2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

Godard's film is set in the newly built housing estates of Paris. Juliette Janson, played by Marina Vlady, is married with children and works as a prostitute during the day, out of neither passion nor desperation but shopping. The her of the title points at Paris rather than at Juliette, and Godard says so inside the film. He uses his own voice as narrator but speaks in a whisper, which forces the viewer to keep leaning in and turns commentary that might have been didactic into something else. Its most famous passage is a cup of coffee. The camera moves close into the foam, the bubbles turning on the black surface look like a galaxy, and over this Godard talks about consciousness, language and objects. The scene also shows how close a critique of consumer society sits to an advertisement. Who it is for: viewers interested in Godard's experimental sixties and in political cinema. Who it is not for: anyone wanting narrative, since the film is closer to an essay, a set of theses and a list of images.