Screening Journal of Breathless
Breathless is most famous for the unusual editing: the controversial jump cuts, drawing attention to the fact that the film is not a reflection of the real, that it is a contrived piece of art and that he, as director, is making editorial decisions. It also reflects the rapid, sometimes chaotic pace of life in the modern city and behind the wheel of powerful, modern automobiles. I think the style meshed well with the rapid pace of the plot itself. The editing strips down the necessities of the story and that's what we get in the final film. The crime angle of 'Breathless' is just a Macguffin, and Godard just uses it as an excuse for some (admittedly) very impressive shots. Godard employs dangerously subversive jump cuts - where the camera cuts to another shot within the same frame creating a breach in continuity - along with rapid-fire, quick shots and lengthy dialog scenes. The accidental in jump cuts evident in the fast pace of when Michel is in the car at the beginning of the film, and it is quite a good deal of fun even when it slows down and we get those long hand-held shots by Raoul Cotard. All of this broke French cinema convention, which, prior to this, was consistently polished and very elegant. Godard invited in a rebellious messiness to the picture, almost like the guy coming into a neatly-organized room and rustling all the papers and files to not only create a stir but to do something different, something completely new.
The direction and cinematography allows for some beautiful shots, I particularly enjoyed the scenes that featured smoke exiting the actor's mouths. With the black and white film stock, it captures something poetic and rich about the story.
The film is also important for its references to American films and cinematography. Godard loved American cinema, and was influenced by Hollywood directors. The references to the Cahiers du Cinema (a film critique magazine) and other films are a noble homage to his influences.
The hand-held cameras and filming in the streets lend a sense of immediacy and the references to Bogart link the film to the gangster dramas of the past. Here, the reference is half-tribute, half-parody. The Belmondo character seeks to emulate the characters Bogart plays but knows he can never be as "cool" as he perceives Bogart to be in his mind. Likewise, his insistence on stealing American cars instead of French vehicles suggests a worship of the new consumerist culture being imported from the United States that is all about facades - American appears cool though it is not. It is the land of consumer aspirations so Belmondo steals cars to satiate the desire it instills in the black market customers yet he cannot keep any car for long. He must continually try what is novel and new, just as consumerism drives people to acquire more and more goods.
The dialogue is however praiseworthy overall, even if it is rambling on occasions or forced. In particular one line I find interesting is when Patricia says "I'd like to be called Ingrid", which Michel might see as a reference to Ingrid Bergman - Bogie's co-star in 'Casablanca'.
Godard committed the film to the cut-rate gangster B pictures that this somewhat satirical urban drama was bringing into play and completely aping. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Michel, a petty thief who kills a highway cop. Although in retreat to Rome, he stops in Paris and hooks up with his sometime girlfriend Patricia, a sexy American tomboy whose glamour is her detached flightiness. As they talk, make love and unenthusiastically evade the police, Godard reveals them to be the sort of young people that the movies had never before portrayed, bustling in the here and now, unmindful of traditional ethics, desperate to affect views and approaches to life like a fashion style. Theirs is an inborn existentialism, and Godard's leading actors make it just about hopelessly relatable.
Lean and physical, Belmondo became an international star by seizing Michel's disarming fusion of weakness and bandit bluster. Godard at one time had the same enthusiasm, but he's not over-romantic about it. As played by Jean Seberg, Patricia is a star-spangled cat, a memorable intermingling of idol, a fitting image for the next generation's possibilities and duplicity. Truffaut wrote the basic plot line and hardly gets sufficient recognition for its neat, sly effortlessness.
I was of course impressed by the use of the much name-dropped technique of jump-cuts but seeing them now it is easy to forget that this was new then. Away from its place in the formation of modern cinema and its influence on many modern directors, this is a great film in its own right even if the rather laid back telling may annoy some audiences.
Its characters, script and performances are superb. And the story is surprisingly modern. There are some films that lose credibility with the time, that's something impossible for this one because it's a very generic and elemental story. I like very much that movies where the characters, are more important that the plot (like Pulp Fiction). And I think that's the secret of an unforgettable film. As the flash harry Michel, Jean-Paul Belmondo is utterly superb and convincing. Jean Seberg as his American, flight attendant date that he sets out to impress. I read a reviewer (amateur) who moaned that the hotel bedroom scene was boring and wishy-washy where nothing happened. But that's the point and beauty of it and makes it the best part. Anyone who's spent aimless afternoons in the semi AND intimate company of a potential or actual lover, just knows that inane and meaningless chatter that goes on and that being was so brilliantly written and naturally acted. The film is about style. It breaks rules and surprises us with fresh editing. It delivers an atmosphere which is hard to beat. Do not make the mistake to believe the protagonists are seducing each other. They are solely seducing you. The naturalness of the famous bedroom talk is a performance. It is, however, a performance which is particularly enticing because of its off-beat naturalness. By the end of the film at the latest it becomes clear who is ultimately addressed: Jean Seberg looks directly into your eyes.
