Thursday, September 22, 2011

Breathless (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)
Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Genre: Drama
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg
Duration: 87 min.
Rating: 9.2  

Summary:
Michel is a young petty criminal who models himself on the film persona of Humphrey Bogart.  After stealing a car in Marseille, he shoots a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to his American girlfriend Patricia, a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris.



Breathless is a film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, based on a scenario written by François Truffaut.  It was his first full length feature and is recognized today as one of the key influential films from the French New Wave.  A truly groundbreaking example of innovation and style, proving that it is possible to be artistic and entertaining at the same time. 

Admittedly it has a weak shell of a story, Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) a small time criminal on the run from the cops, hiding out with young American journalism student Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg) in Paris.  Essentially the entire film is of them walking about, driving around, and hanging out in her tiny hotel room, but it is the ever so cool way in which Godard presents the images, and the iconic charisma and chemistry of the two leads that raise this to a legendary classic.
Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Part of what makes this film so special is the sheer spontaneity of it.  Here Godard ignored all the established rules of filmmaking, shooting in crowded streets with a hand held camera and no artificial lighting, breaking the fourth wall, writing scenes and dialogue on the fly; and most apparent of all, the frequent use of jump cuts.  A purposely sudden and jerky editing technique that was remarkably conceived as an afterthought in order to keep the runtime down.  Instead of removing whole scenes, Godard chose instead to randomly cut out pieces here and there, giving a frenetic pace and feel to otherwise lengthy scenes.  These can be distracting at first, but are refreshingly fitting for a film depicting life in a busy city.  Also, the jarring effect is reduced by a clever trick, even though the images appear disconnected from having sections excised from the middle of the take, the soundtrack is kept unbroken and continuous.  Subtle enough that an inattentive viewer might not even notice.

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

However, cinematic tricks alone do not make a great film.  For me, the most impressive thing of all are the characters, brought to life by unforgettable performances from young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.  Michel, styling himself after Humphrey Bogart, is a deluded and doomed anti-hero who makes all the wrong decisions, but thanks to Belmondo he exudes coolness, and we are fascinated by his presence, complete with all the excessive chain smoking, and lip rubbing.  Then we have the alluring Patricia, Jean Seberg ever so adorable with her French spoken with a midwest accent, the femme fatale with an aura of both innocence and danger.  Both of them playing their roles to perfection in the long sequence of endless cigarettes, cultural references, and sexual chemistry that takes place in Patricia's rented room.  Talking about nothing yet revealing everything about their characters in a skillfully written scene that would later directly influence Quentin Tarantino's distinctive dialogue style.  Also of note is a memorable cameo role from fellow director Jean-Pierre Melville who plays an author at a press conference that Patricia is assigned to.

With Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard somehow took a run of the mill low budget gangster flick and delivered a revolutionary work of art.  Influential not only for cinema, but on my own self as well.  If it wasn't for Godard, I would never have discovered and fell in love with Jean Seberg the original inspiration for this blog.

Bonjour Tristesse

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

Breathless • À bout de souffle (1960)

22 comments:

d_4 said...

I'm sure it won't be a 9.1 for me, but I'm also pretty sure I'll enjoy it. A bit of candy in movie form.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yes there is a radical change in his style post 1968 that make his later work difficult for me to digest. 

I mean he was always an indulgent director, not that it is always a bad thing, but like Michael says, he became too political and lost the light heartedness that made the early films so lovable.

Michael Parent said...

I understand your point of view Wilde.Dash! His early films have this juvenile freshness. While his later work lost all narratives and became political and heavy in sense. It's almost like if it became another person after the May 68 events. Godard broke up with everything that made him Godard in the 1960's. He is indeed a fascinating character!

Steven Flores said...

This, "Bande a Part", and "Made in U.S.A."

Wilde.Dash said...

I'll open this up to all the other film bloggers out there: does anyone else have a sort of love/hate relationship with Godard?   I find that the films of his I love I really almost adore (Band of Outsiders, Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie, Masculin Feminin, Alphaville).  They're also almost always from the earlier, B&W period.  It's almost as if they derive substance from style whereas once the color clicks on (with the possible exception of Contempt and Week End, though even those get a little dull for me) I find myself losing interest.

I've met others who will flat out admit that Godard reaches a point where he becomes an "indulgent" filmmaker too interested in those 'cinematic tricks' you mentioned and abstractly breaking up narratives...but I'm not a big fan of describing it in that particular way.  When do we stop speaking of a film as a movie and start talking about it as a project, or text?  Ugh...getting too complicated. 

Basically: who else has unresolved early vs. late Godard issues?

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Thanks.  I'll go have a read of your review now.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I will have to disagree about this.  Smoking is one of the many things that I find disgusting in real life but love watching on film.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Well that was one of the reasons for the start of the new wave in the early 60's.  This small group of critics were tired of seeing uncreative old style formulaic films, and instead of being all talk, they actually went out and made movies that revolutionized film making.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yes this film seems to have inspired many film buffs.  What have you seen so far?

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I actually haven't seen SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER yet.  Looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

It was remade in the 80's with Richard Gere, I've never seen that version but by most accounts it was terrible.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I'm glad this is a favorite of yours, and yes that lip rub gesture is unforgettable.

Michael Parent said...

Excellent review! I also reviewed it on my blog http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2010/07/god-as-in-godard-bout-de-souffle.html! It's a film I love with great passion and that is as important as Citizen Kane! À bout de souffle is a revolution in filmmaking and the birth of one of the greatest auteur of all time!

-E- said...

it might just be me, but i didn't find the movie sexy at all. something about being crammed in a tiny french apartment with a girl smoking cigarettes doesn't do it for me. classic film though.

Hoi-Ming Ng said...

Hmm, I didn't know it had to be proved that a film could be artistic AND entertaining. (O.o)

Steven Flores said...

Definitely one of the best films ever made and got me to become a film buff.  I hope to see more of Godard's films in the future.

Tyler said...

This was one of the movies that ignited my passion for the French new Wave, and French cinema in general. BREATHLESS is a masterpiece that I'd love to see again, one of the defining films that made me who I am (though I didn't like it as much as Truffaut's THE 400 BLOWS and SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

That's a pretty good way of describing it.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

That's alright, it's one more thing you have to look forward to.

Hasidic Plubmer said...

Godard had it right. A gun and a girl is all you need. 

The movie remains timeless despite having over 50 years. I loved the aesthetics.
I could imagine a remake of this one. It would probably have Brad Pitt as main character and he would end up doing a fool of himself and i would still watch it, gladly hahahah

Christine said...

One of my favorites!  Love Jean Seberg...and Belmondo with that whole thumb over the lips move:)

Mette said...

This is one of those films I'm ashamed of not having seen yet. ;)

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