Throwback Thursday: ‘Breathless’ (1960)

I fear that asking the average person these days what the phrase “French New Wave” means to them, I would regrettably receive one of two responses… “What?” or, the slightly less distressing response of “Wasn’t that a punk music movement in the 80’s?” The answer to both responses is “No!”

Jean-Luc Godard didn’t just create an artistic and entertaining film with BREATHLESS (A bout de souffle) but, he also helped create a whole new style of filmmaking. What’s even more fascinating is that this is his first feature film, a film in which he took significant experiemental risks, and yet it became such an influential work. This is primarily a cops and robber story. Godard pokes fun on occasion at the scenes of the police doing their invetigative work, but the scenes still drive the story forward.

The story follows a small-time criminal named Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) as he pursues a relationship with an American journalism student named Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg). Michel recklessly pursues this infatuation with Patricia as he attempts to elude the authorities hunting him for the spontaneous murder of a police officer who nearly caught him with a stolen car. Now on the run, obsessed both with Patricia and his affection for American cinema, especially Humphrey Bogart, Michel and Patricia is a fugitive unaware of the gradual tightening of the noose with which the authorities are tightening around him.

Michel is a likable scumbag. He’s a misogynist, a thief, a con man and a killer. He has many friends, but he is truly a friend to no one. He is oblivious and naive to the severity of the situation he has put himself into, identified by the police as the killer and simultaneously trying to collect on an underworld debt. Michel plans to make a clean getaway to Italy with a lot of cash and his girl Patricia at his side, but things rarely go so smoothly in real life. Michel is optimistic he will make a clean break, putting the vast majority of his time and energy into securing Patricia as his intimate company for the journey ahead.

BREATHLESS is also a film that is heavily influenced by the random creativity of jazz music, which makes many appearances in the film. Godard made many of his editing decisions based around the jazz music he included in the film, which helps to tie the jump cuts into the finished product. I personally found myself profoundly affected by the philosophical moments between Michel and Patricia. Coincidentally, many of these scenes held very little spoken substance. Without a doubt in my mind, the most powerful scene in BREATHLESS is the final scene. Without giving away the ending for the newbies, I’ll simply call it one of the most ambiguously and simply shot, but open-ended finishes to a film and works brilliantly.

Jean Seberg is relentlessly cool and attractive in BREATHLESS. Her portrayal of Patricia is in some ways as unconventional and daring as the film is directed by Godard. She sports a short haircut, very modern for her era, and chooses not to wear a bra. Seberg’s face and those eyes are to die for and her “perfectly” shaped physique deceptively hides her 5’6″ stature against Belmondo’s 5’11” frame. This statement isn’t intended to be sexual, but Seberg was making a powerful statement with her look in BREATHLESS. Her character was independent and free, sinfully attractive but she didn’t flaunt it. Ironically, Seberg was originally from a small town in Iowa, but later would become a target of the FBI for her personal beliefs outside of the movie business. Her death in 1979 was officially ruled a suicide, of which she had previously attempted on several occasions, but rumors would spark debate over whether her death was staged by the FBI.

Before BREATHLESS, the presence of jump cuts was a sign that the filmmaker simply didn’t know what they were doing, but Godard integrates them into the bold, often chaotic, visual style that would help mark the film as one of the three seminal works that christen the French New Wave. One of the primary ideas behind the French New Wave was this concept that one cannot truly make a purely documentary or purely fictional film. Godard and his fellow filmmakers of this movement felt that even by making a purely made-up, fictional movie, you inevitably end up capturing real life in the process, therefor making it part documentary. Likewise, the idea works in reverse as well.

For those who aren’t familiar with the “jump cut” terminology, think of this as seeing a person walking along a city sidewalk, filled with other pedestrians passing that person in a metropolitan setting. Now imagine that image suddenly and without any immediately obvious purpose changes to that same person walking down a rural dirt road. Or, you could interchange that with a person walking during the day and then suddenly without skipping a beat it’s night time. These are just simple examples, but they illustrate the use of jump cuts as an artistic method of conveying an idea, rather than techniques for maintaining continuity or realism, of which the jump cut is completely contradictory.

Below is perhaps the most famous scene from BREATHLESS, using the jump cut technique:

Godard also uses the jump cut to convey a sense of urgency. This technique, when properly used, can enhance the efficiency of storytelling, propelling the action in an energetic and unencumbered pace. Rarely do we experience a scene in which Godard lingers on any one particular shot. Godard felt that the audience need not be spoon-fed the minor details of a scene. In BREATHLESS, he successfully attempts to cut scenes traditionally considered to be significant plot points, a robbery for example, so that only the basic idea of what is happening is visually conveyed. Godard believed the viewer would fill in the rest but the scene would still convey the same idea

There’s a rhythm to BREATHLESS that is executed through it’s editing. Godard cut out the filler, focusing a bit less on how effective the individual shots are and a bit more on how effective a string of shots can be to create a scene. What he creates are scenes that are visually engaging, regardless of what’s actually happening on screen. Aside from the jump cuts, another stylistic faux pas committed by Godard was his intentional willingness to break the fourth wall. An early scene in BREATHLESS while Michel is driving along in a stolen car, his travels depicted once again with cuts jumping him from one highway destination to the next, and the next, while never changing the camera’s angle, has Michel speaking and looking directly into the camera, conversing with the viewer, one on one.

While the jump cut plays a repeated role in BREATHLESS, Godard is also fascinated with the idea of lingering on the little moments that occur between people in real life. While Godard would spend a fair amount of screen time on small talk and insignificant actions taking place between Michel and Patricia, he does still implement the jump cut in these scenes, but these scenes also include long shots that Godard avoids during the more conventionally significant scenes.

Godard’s camera appears unrefined on the surface, but the grainy and often handheld or slightly jerky movement assists in the realistic feel. This is in contrast to the wonderful lighting that shows up in many scenes from BREATHLESS. Raoul Coutard (CONTEMPT, ALPHAVILLE) shot BREATHLESS for Godard, who has a meager to work with. Unable to afford a professional dolly setup, Godard pushed Coutard in a wheelchair to capture many of the scenes.

BREATHLESS was nominated for five awards from various critical bodies, winning three including the Silver Berlin Bear award for Best Director. Godard makes a small cameo near the end of the film, appearing as a man in sunglasses who spots Michel and runs off to inform the authorities. Immediately following this scene, we find filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville (BOB LE FLAMBEUR) also makes a cameo as a famous novelist.

Godard not only cut bits of scenes from his movie (originally intended to shorten the running time, but became an artistic revelation) but, aside from the title and studio credit, he also omitted credits for the cast and crew. Despite his clear love of American cinema, which he also conveys through Michel’s character, was a filmmaker who loved to break the rules and cross boundaries in an effort to progressively influence the art of the motion picture.

The DVD was originally released in November 2001, but re-released as a wonderful Criterion Collection two-disc DVD special edition in October 2007. Some who view this film will write it off as artsy-fartsy junk, but I urge any viewer to actually watch BREATHLESS from an unbiased perspective. If you see something that seems pointless or amateurish, try asking yourself why the filmmaker would choose to approach that scene or visual element the way he did. After that, if you still don’t like BREATHLESS, in the translated words of Michel Poiccard… “then get stuffed!”