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films d'hier: Breathless

By: Kevin (@prufesuroak)

films d'hier is a new column we’re introducing to pretty much be a place where my love letters to films can live. These are more opinion and personal taste pieces for the most part. But a massive chunk of my favorites are the undeniable classics if you’ve seen them. Relive them, and if you haven’t and don’t mind spoilers read on.

“There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless”. A phrase that usually accompanies Breathless.

Breathless is a love story between Patricia; a woman trying to figure things out, and Michel, a small time crook and con man without a care in the world, making ends meet by pickpocketing, and boosting cars whenever he needs them. Patricia is a New Yorker in Paris trying to be a journalist, who’s also figuring out what she likes about Michel.

Breathless is regarded as one of the best films that’s come out of the French New Wave movement, as well as one of the earliest examples of the genre. The film breaks new grounds with directing, writing, and cinematography. The process in which Jean-Luc Godard went about filming was unconventional. Working on a small budget, his team had to make do with what they had. Godard was directing the movie as he went, often telling the actors what to say as they were rolling. The camera they used couldn’t record audio simultaneously, and was too loud to have any good audio when it was shooting. Thus, a huge part of the dialogue had to be overdubbed in post. Raoul Coutard was even pulled in a rolling chair for many of the tracking shots. Seen below being pulled by Godard himself.

To cut down on the length, the film employs jump cuts. (An abrupt transition from one scene to another that retains the most important bits of dialogue needed to advance the story.) The movie was very adventurous, as Godard didn’t have much to lose. He was under no one’s control. He just had the script, the actors, and a camera. Godard wanted to shoot the film like a documentary or vérite. He wanted to shoot in the real world, without fake sets. To achieve this, Godard’s team needed to shoot on higher speed film for proper exposure within the indoor scenes. It broke the contemporary Hollywood rules and became a template for many films after it.

There’s a silliness in Breathless that was part of French New Wave. Making faces, breaking the fourth wall, and the use of non sequiturs were actually reflective of real life. It made it seem like they were just regular people, and not super stylized movie characters; even though they were. As the acclaimed critic Roger Ebert said, “modern movies begin in this movie.” The New York street style, the style of Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma, Allen and tons of others alongside them and after them. The French New Wave brought in a realism to film that wasn’t really embraced before.

It’s up to much debate whether or not Michel and Patricia loved each other. I believe they did. In one of the last scenes of the movie where Patricia tells Michel that she called the cops, there’s this very indirect but sufficient tension and emotion from the two, walking around the room, perhaps to distance themselves. Patricia “tests” him numerous times throughout the movie just to see if she does love him or not. Calling the cops being one of these tests. Michel was overwhelmed with weariness, and if he couldn’t take her with him, there was no point in going on.

Michel was afraid. He hides behind his façade. And while it’s obvious to us, Patricia may have not seen through it. Michel was afraid, but he didn’t show it to Patricia. He wanted her to trust him, but it only made her worry because she couldn’t see past the exterior he’d put up. I’d like to think that if he had answered her nicely just before she left to go get the milk and paper, that she wouldn’t have called the inspector. But this was not to be. Michel wasn’t going to let her in, at least not until she went with him. They were both testing each other, if she came; she loved him, if he answered; he loved her.