BREATHLESS

BREATHLESS is a 1960 French New Wave crime drama film written and directed by Jean- Luc Godard about a wandering criminal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his American girlfriends (Jean Seberg). “New Wave filmmakers experimented with form and content in an attempt to renew both film production and product at a time when studio system economics and hierarchies dominated French film practice”. The filmmakers are commended for their works due to empowering a movement in bringing a new perspective to the typical ‘boy meets girl’ films. Jean-Luc Godard challenges these social norms by having the male protagonist take on characteristic of a ‘gangster’, for example, by consistently committing crimes and having a cigarette in his mouth. The French New Wave Movement stays close to the heart of film studies in the American market.

As French explains in his critical reviews of Breathless, Godard was an influential figure in the French New Wave movement. The on-the-go style employed in the production of Breathless affected both the filmmaking process as well as its critical reception. Society’s understanding of cinema was altered as the frequent employment of jump-cuts, critical and oppositional dialogue, direct-cinema tactics of audience alienation, and social commentary. The social effects of Breathless were made possible by its introduction of such unconventional and creative tactics.

Breathless and the Auteur Theory that American film critic, Andrew Srris, argues that, to be considered an auteur of cinema, the director must be skillful, the director’s personality must be unique and any artistic or cinematic meaning derived from a film must arise from both the uniqueness of the director as well as from the film’s subjects. In respect to Godard’s body of work, and as specifically seen in Breathless, it is arguable that he fits Sarris’ standards for auteur-ship. The cinematography and editing in Breathless are artful and creative. Godard’s distinct personality is visible in his aesthetic style. His tendencies to be critical in his representation of his characters, to be radical in his script, to alienate the audience by means of direct address , to frequently utilize jump-shops and to emphasize the role of color, are exemplary of his personality as well as his technical capability. Together, they consistently produce the artistic and cinematic meaning unique to his films. In this light, Godard meets the three criteria for auteur status in Sarris’ model.

The synopsis of BREATHLESS is that thought guy Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) steals a car and kills a policeman who attempts to catch him. He runs away to Paris where he rekindles his flame with Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg), a beautiful twenty year old American that studying journalism at the Sorbonne that whom he had met in Nice three weeks prior. Michel intends to get money from a shady friend and to escape with Patricia to Rome, Italy. Throughout his attempts to follow this plan, and , in part, due to his passionate relationship with Patricia and her ignorance of his crimes, Michel appears oblivious to the fact that authorities are closing in on him. At the same time, Patricia is dating another American journalist. Upon learning about Michel’s criminal behavior, she is forced to choose sides.

Additional characteristic of Godard’s cinematic style that in this film are he often involve the theme of an obsessive love or romance. Godard uses sound to make his scene appear realistic. He does not create sound in an effort to avoid “faking it”. He also uses the music in an obvious way to remind viewers that the film is an assemblage of various parts. Godard habitually uses mirror shots in his work. He often uses the same actors to play similar roles. For example, Jean-Paul Belmondo also plays a criminal in Pierrot le Fou. Godard’s love for American musicals is visible in his thematic applications of color.

Not only that, according to this film, there is used the jump cuts. Partially used as the film was to long, cut down from 150 minutes to 86, help the story line and show emotional characteristic of Michel. The shot or reverse shot and 30 degree rule is the classical continuity style, film smooth and fluid and continuity style editing being invisible. Besides, the close up is the lack of establishing shots, not concerned about spatial and contextual relationship, engages viewer and wanted viewers to feel the settings and not merely see the movie. Establishing or re-establishing shots is that audience have a clear understanding of what is going on leaves nothing for the audience to interpretate or decipher. The tracking shots that show Michel’s first meeting with Patricia as she strolls along the Champs Elysees selling papers.

In summary, Breathless remains a classic example of Godard’s directorial and authorial greatness, influence in the French New Wave movement, and well-deserved pedestal in the history of film. The film’s avant-garde style provided a new means of emotive and critical self-expression and cultural identification for audiences world-wide. Its thematic content serves as a thought experiment from which viewers may question Godard’s suggestions, their own beliefs, and those of previously existing philosophical arguments. Breathless. Like most influential films, has affected the way in which we understand cinema and, thus, the world.