Breathless (A bout de souffle) --- Jean-Luc Godard 1960

Theatrical released poster of Breathless,
retrieved from: http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/breathless.shtml

          When we use the term evergreen, it is normally used for a song that have passed through the test of time, but little did we know that Godard’s Breathless, after 50 years since the release of the film, is perhaps the one most celebrated film of all time and is still certified as fresh amongst all the other French New Wave films of that era. It has won the evergreen title. This is a game changing film cleverly re-wrote and directed by Jean-Luc Godard himself. The script was initially outlined by Francois Truffaut after he was inspired by a true story that went on tabloid France in 1952. Despite the fact that this was his first feature-length work and one of the earliest, it ended up being the most influential of the French New Wave of all time, even until today. This film basically sums up his quote which says “To make a film all you need is a girl and a gun”. This is a tale of a young man (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who models himself after Humphrey Bogard on the run at Paris after killing a motorcycle policeman who stopped him over a stolen car and later meets the stunning Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg), a 20-year old New Yorker who sells the International Herald Tribune along the boulevards of Paris. Their relationship develops as the film goes, reaching some described as a tragic ending when Patricia finally gave him in to the police though she agreed to hide him while he tries to trace a former associate who owes him money so he can make a run for Italy supposedly with her.

          It was certainly his approach to this film that made him known as one of the most radical filmmaker. The fact that he was inexperienced and had little knowledge of the technical aspects of filmmaking proved little importance to the overall film. What he had at that time was the long term accumulation of such broad knowledge in high and low culture, his philosophical explorations, and his years as a critic that impacted on his debut feature film. The original ideas and the fearlessness led him to apply these into his film and as a result, a pure breed of art form arises as well as a cinematic revolution. There are several references Godard made in his film. For instant the greatest male star in the history Humphrey Bogard which was portrayed by Jean-Paul Belmondo with his cigarette; as well as Picasso and Renoir’s paintings. These are the subtle elements that he injected into this film and it blended together with such perfection.

Portrayal of Jean-Paul Belmondo as the famous Humphrey Bogard,

retrieved from: http://greginhollywood.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/large_Breathless-400x224.jpg & http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29500000/Bogie-humphrey-bogart-29562968-510-768.jpg

          We see the usual characteristics of film from this particular movement (French New Wave) itself and this film is no exception. One of the most prominent styles that one can see from this film is the deliberate use of jump cuts. Instead of cutting out the whole scene purely because he needs to conform to the producer’s (Georges de Beauregard) request of a ninety-minute film instead of the original two-and-a-half hours long, he made cuts in the scene and even the shots itself. This was one of the breakthroughs in filmmaking at that point of time as this was an unaccepted editing style in professional filmmaking. Editing had to be as seamless as possible. Godard also cut between shots from intentionally disorienting angles that broke all the traditional rules of the 180 degree imaginary axis and also continuity. One of the best examples is the shot of him while driving the car, numerous jump cut were used. This gave heighten and fast paced effect for more suspense.

Video retrieved from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ov4mQJIHhc

          Then there is the use of location shoot and handheld camera technique that suited Godard who wanted this film to be as much as possible, like a documentary. Raoul Coutard was the person behind the camera. He was originally a documentary cameraman for the French army’s information service in Indochina during the war. With Coutard’s style it fulfilled Godard’s preference of minimal lighting; lowlight filmstock for nigh time and at the same time maximum amount of freedom and flexibility during the shoot without fiddling with tripods, lighting and whatnots to save time. The reason behind this was to make the whole film newsreel-like and more realistic compared to the traditional film technique. Some of the tracking shots were shot using a wheelchair. These were also Godard’s personal requirement for the film to be shot as easy as possible so that he can improvise whenever and wherever he wanted. He didn’t even care if the public were looking straight into the camera and that adds to the fun part of watching the film as it depicts the society of France at that particular era and this was one of the advantage of location shoot. An example in the film would be when Belmondo decided to go find Jean Seberg where she is selling the Herald Tribune. The tracking shot were basically shot from low angle and it was tilted while the tracking isn’t entirely smooth itself. The public were also looking into the camera wondering what they were doing. 

Video retrieved from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuCEBtCNFEM

          Improvising dialogue is also one of the elements that Godard practices heavily in this film. He often provides the skeleton or outline of the plot for the actor and actress’ reference while allowing them to improvise the dialogue and completely allow freedom to flow in between. This element can be seen in the film especially when the pair of lover is conversing to each other. We couldn’t really grasp their emotion let alone the real meaning of what they are trying to communicate with the audience. Godard would sometimes write the dialogue day by day as the production went along and sometimes when there is a lacking of inspiration; Godard would cancel the day’s filming altogether. This made the film really unique in a sense that for Godard, the act of filming itself was as much a part of its meaning as its content and style. That way the film became more personal and captivating to the eyes of the audience.

          Finally what was really important was to look at this film at a deeper level, a self-reflective level. Breathless is essentially a film for character study as it portrays our everyday life and it deals with people and the situation they often find themselves in. We might not like the character in this film either Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) or Patricia (Jean-Seberg) but fundamentally all human lives in such situation. Both of these characters are trapped in their world but also trying to escape at the same time. Michel is wanted by the police and he’s running away from it as well as Patricia who is running away from the harsh reality of life. We are always escaping from problems once in a while to find something that we can relate ourselves to which is totally different. Godard was able to weave this masterpiece together so skilfully by using the characters and their pain and happiness. This is truly a timepiece of film that fits so well into the French New Wave movement and the portrayal of society and its problems all at that same time.