Une femme mariée, Jean-Luc Godard (France, 1964)

(A Married Woman). A young married woman splits her time between her aviator husband and an actor/lover in Godard’s surprisingly racy critique of the artificiality of modern sexuality, “an update of Madame Bovary in the age of Roland Barthes” (James Quandt). Considered a key link between playful early Godard and his more challenging future interrogations, the film jumps from one fragment to another—an interview, a montage of fashion covers, a sex scene, etc.—to capture how women are constantly told how to act, look, and feel. It was “recommended for banning” by the French Censure Commission.

• Written by Godard. Photographed by Raoul Coutard. With Macha Meril, Bernard Noël, Philippe Leroy, Roger Leenhardt. (94 mins, In French with English electronic titling, B&W, 16mm, BAM/PFA Collection, permission Gaumont)