80 years or rather 20 years and four times rather than one!
The eternal youth displayed by Chantal Goya is a unique phenomenon in the history of the music hall.
It makes you forget that before becoming Marie Rose on stage, she was Madeleine Zimmer on screen, in
Masculin Féminin
by Jean-Luc Godard.
On the occasion of this change of decade, Madelen offers to see or re-watch this film made in 1966.
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Masculine Feminine
by Jean-Luc Godard with Chantal Goya
The presence of this young singer regularly present on the cover of
Mademoiselle Age Tendre
does not fail to surprise moviegoers.
The main interested party replies that she was the first surprised when the director called her one evening, at dinner time.
He saw her sing the ritornello on television,
C'est bien Bernard, the luckiest of the gang
, and he offered her an appointment the next day, at 3 p.m. sharp, at the Bar des Théâtres, avenue Montaigne.
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The following afternoon, at the appointed time, the young woman settles on the terrace and waits.
No one on the horizon!
About twenty minutes later, she realizes that a man is watching her attentively.
He looks dark, and the matching gabardine.
Suddenly, he gets up, walks towards her and says to her: “
Are you really Chantal Goya?
»
At the sound of this slow voice with a slight Swiss accent, she understands that it is Jean-Luc Godard.
She hadn't recognized him!
It becomes peony red.
"
I've been watching you for quite a while,
" he adds
.
You are the character I am looking for.
We're shooting in two days.
Give me your address.
My assistant will pick you up the day after tomorrow at 9 am
”.
" Oh !
But do you realize there is Brigitte Bardot!
»
Chantal Goya
This is how 48 hours later, she finds herself on board a 2CV driven by the director's third assistant: a beginner named Claude Miller.
She does not hide her concern;
she didn't read a line from the script.
Her interlocutor reassures her.
Godard writes day by day, depending on events and circumstances.
She will know, when the time comes, what she will have to do.
This is how, in the middle of December, she finds herself in the Pré-Saint-Gervais, in a café, where she learns that this film will be called
Masculin Féminin
.
He is introduced to the one who, that day, will give him the reply, a young actress, also a beginner, Marlène Jobert.
Godard explains to his two actresses that someone is going to come in, and that he is simply going to film their reaction.
We hear “
motor!
» the door opens and Brigitte Bardot appears!
Spontaneously, Chantal launches to Marlène, “
Oh!
But do you realize there is Brigitte Bardot!
".
End clap… Godard thanks them.
In his eyes, the catch is excellent.
He congratulates Chantal for her naturalness.
She will keep it when one afternoon, he asks her to get on the platform of a bus, and look at Paris.
He adds: “
At some point, you will see what will happen.
She complies.
She suddenly sees a car in which a passenger fires a shot through the window.
She jumps.
This is the image Godard needed.
Another morning, he tells her that the day will be devoted to filming a daring scene.
He asks her to stand, with Marlene, completely naked behind glass, in a bathroom setting, facing the camera.
Chantal is petrified.
Modest by nature, she is incapable of doing that.
She talks about it to her partner who agrees to take her place, and to pass twice in front of the camera.
Everything is going well until Godard enters the room and discovers his young actress hiding between the pipes.
Mad with anger, he yells: “
You will never be an actress!
Not supporting this form of humiliation, Chantal answers him in the same tone.
The tension will fortunately fall and the two parties are reconciled the same evening.
They hope that the film will reach a wide audience.
Everyone ignores that it will become a cult.
Male Female
by Jean-Luc Godard, released in 1966, with Chantal Goya, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Brigitte Bardot, Marlène Jobert...
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