Breathless

1960

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Michael - Jean-Paul Belmondo
Patricia - Jean Seberg

From the very beginning we find out that Breathless isn’t your ordinary film. To start out with the picture opens up close-ups on the main character. There is no sound to begin with and even later it is only gradually introduced. In addition the actor talks directly to the camera and throughout the film there are jump-cuts (visibly cut action) at places (during dialogue) when jump cuts are most noticeable. It is a well known unwritten rule that there aren’t supposed to be any discernable jump cuts in a film at all.
All things considered, starting out watching Breathless one might think that this film was put together by a novice. Though this is Godard’s first feature film, it is not a novice act at all in that it was all done very deliberately. In order to break away and revitalize the stagnant French film industry Godard and a group of other French filmmakers took it upon themselves to create films in a whole new way; with improvised dialogue, handheld cameras and deconstructed narratives. This movement was termed The French New Wave or “La Nouvelle Vague” and it gained an audience around the world.
Like many “New Wave” movies Breathless concerns itself with modern life and in particular with the lives of two young parisians: Patricia, a young woman who sells the New York Herald-Tribune and Michael, an opportunistic player and thief running from the law.
They may both be young and (questionably) in love with each other but they are different in important ways. Patricia is attracted to the risky and carefree lifestyle that Michael embodies yet underneath it she has aspirations of her own. Michael doesn’t have any discernable aspirations, besides going to Italy, presumably to run from the Law. He pressures her to join him in a style in which I can only compare to Marlon Brando. This scene takes up a good portion of the movie, and though being a tad overdrawn, it gives us time to see both characters as they truly are.
The questions in the viewers mind are: 1) is Patricia truly in Love with Michael & 2) Will she turn him in? We know that Michael is morally corrupt but it is Patricia’s moral ambiguity that keeps us watching.
I must admit that Breathless has a different feel to it than any other movie I have watched. With its own seemingly happenchance editing it could have been a disastrous movie yet its themes of love and morality keep it afloat. I would recommend Breathless to anyone who wants a “breath” of fresh air; to know that all films don’t have to follow a Hollywood-cookie cutter format and be successful.
3 stars