Breathless (1960) Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard. Dissatisfied with her response, Michel sits up from under the sheets and picks up a visually explicit women’s magazine and pressures Patricia by asking her when she’s going to know she’s ready.Patricia then brings up the notorious tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and idolizes over it, telling Michel she wants them to be just like them “unable to live without each other”.
"The technique adds charm to a scene where the two drive through Paris in a stolen convertible, and there is a series of closeup cuts over her shoulder as Michel describes her. The film captures the New Wave's revolt against traditional forms of cinematic storytelling. She is forced to admit that she has met Michel, but says that she has no idea of where he is. Just about everything that looks different about Breathless became the signifiers of alternative, radical, independent film almost immediately.
This essay is the crowning achievement. Unsure of what he’s talking about she continues till the cigarette is let, rejecting Michel’s provocation.
It was one of the key films of the French New Wave, which rejected the well-made traditional French cinema and embraced a rougher, more experimental personal style. Now she knows for sure that she loves Michel. "Breathless" set the mold for the New Wave more than its precedents, not only in terms of its cast and crew, but also in its rebellious style and attitude and its visual and narrative virtuosity. The film’s main character, Michel, directly addresses the camera. When the cop stops and asks Michel to “Freeze,” we see a close-up of Michel and a close-up of a gun, presumably being pointed at Michel.
Almost all their conversations are sexually explicit and consists of Michel trying to get to Patricia to sleep with him AGAIN. Michel sits below a Picasso poster of a man holding a mask. She walks into the bathroom, only to have Michel following pursuit.
Here she gains back her independence and authoritativeness, letting him know he is not in charge and that whatever he has said has not gone to her head whatsoever.Patricia then goes over to the chair in front of the window to light a cigarette but since she is unable to light it on the first try, Michel calls her afraid. They play a staring game in which they gaze into each other’s eyes. Michel we can more or less read at sight: He postures as a gangster, maintains a cool facade, is frightened underneath.
What fascinates above all is the naivete and amorality of these two young characters: Michel, a car thief who idolizes Bogart and pretends to be tougher than he is, and Patricia (Michel wants to be as tough as the stars in the movies he loves. He questions her if she has slept with that guy she went on the lunch date with. Patricia’s body language is that of head down, hands in-between legs, sitting straightforward while Michel’s sitting at a slant towards her, right hand on her left leg staring directly at Patricia. We then hear the gun fired and we see the cop fall into a bush.Jump cut to: a panning long shot of Michel fleeing the scene on foot through a wide open meadow. She picks it up asking if its his, which he denies because of the last name difference. She is not sure whether she loves him or not, and anyway she has an appointment with an American journalist, who has offered her some occasional job as a reporter.
He models his behavior after the tough guy characters portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in the movies.
They’re both sitting next to each other on the bed facing the window (their backs to the camera). This response is another implication of their nonexclusive relationship, as if she has a number of partners.
Patricia boldly reaches into his jacket pocket but he insists she hand him the jacket, implying his secrecy and doesn’t want her meddling through his stuff. The shooting of the cop takes advantage of jump cuts and close-ups to disorient the viewer of what’s going on. It has been an absolute pleasure reading your work– thanks for setting the bar so high!!!! This sequence once again breaks the rules of continuity editing.