Breathless from Linda Ween's blog

Breathless (1960) is a story of a young criminal Michel Poiccard and his American girlfriend. The film is an illustrious example of French New Wave cinema, which contains a wide range of innovative methods and techniques of filmmaking. The fact is that Breathless leaves a profound print in the memory, which makes it worth to be discussed even more than 50 years after it was shown for the first time.

To point out, Jean-Luc Godard directed the film in an untypical for those times manner. He used hand-held cameras and natural lighting that made the film more realistic. As a matter of fact, the director wanted to retain most of the movie footage; that is why he used such method of editing as the jump cut, which means the dialogues and scenes do not always match. Due to the all-time moving camera, the film produces an impression of the dynamism of the events and emphasizes the feeling of negligence and composition. The movie is full of street scenes that show the beauty of Paris of the 50s, its picturesque avenues, hotels, caf?s, and the lights of the night city. The cars like Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles reflect American culture. The majority of details like talking posters and sounds of car horns create the atmosphere of constant pursuit. Newspapers are an inalienable attribute of almost every scene of the film. In fact, the characters buy the papers, use them to watch others’ imperceptibly, and even clean their shoes with them.

Breathlessis full of open and hidden quotes from classic films noir, books, and broadly discussed articles of those times. Louis Aragon and Dylan Thomas are among the writers cited in the movie. Besides, the main characters discussed the book The Wild Palmswritten by William Faulkner. The film also has references to art, for example, among the decorations, there are paintings of Renoir and Picasso. The music by Mozart perfectly complements the film’s cultural heritage.

The principal characters of the film are Michel and Patricia. Michel is a young hoodlum who does not have home, car, and never stays for long in one place. He lacks the traditional limits, lives for the moment, and makes a living by stealing cars. Michel is a handsome man who wears a hat over his eye and never lets a cigarette from his mouth. He always avoids threats and manages to stay one step ahead the police. Michel's way of life makes the viewers think about the conflict with society and the role of chance. The character of Patricia, a young American in Paris, is rather controversial. It seems that she shares Michel's plans and cares about him. However, later she confesses that she does not love him and lets the police catch him. After Michel's death, Patricia turns her head directly to the camera like trying to show her thoughts and feelings. However, Godard left the viewers the freedom to interpret her emotions on their own. Despite all his pranks, the character of Michel evokes sympathy and even understanding. He changes during the film; however, the new Michel did not receive an opportunity to start his life over. On the contrary, Patricia's behavior gives the feeling of disappointment and incomprehensibility.

The most striking thing about the film is absurdity and illogicality of the characters’ behavior. It is obscure why Patricia betrayed Michel. The way how she explained that was not persuasive. Without any doubts, final scene is among the most impressing moments in the movie. The film starts with Michel rubbing his lips with his finger. In the end, after his death, Patricia reviewed this stunt, which is symbolic.

More than 50 years after its debut, the film Breathless still gives the feeling of excitement and discovery.Godart successfully used the evolutionary methods in the filmmaking, which further greatly influenced different cinematographers, starting from Quentin Tarantino and ending with the numerous advertisement reels, which copied his fancy features.

To summarize, Breathlesscan be called innovative and probably one of the best films of those times. Owing to implied tricks and vivid dialogues, Jean-Luc Godard managed to make the movie fresh, dynamic, and realistic.