A French New Wave Existential Romp - Godard's Breathless

Breaking the rules of his own Hollywood film influences while at the same time paying homage to them, Godard's Breathless is a French New Wave existential romp through the streets of Paris. With his use of extreme jump-cuts and an unsteady, life-like handheld camera Godard was able to express his film theories and philosophies through the two main characters Michel and Patricia.

On first viewing one could look at the film as a dreamy visual poem, taking the viewer through Paris with a jazzy soundtrack and semi-surreal feel to it. It's almost a beat poem with harsh jazz cuts and changes in rhythm, twirling cigarette smoke, fedoras and fast cars, exhausting, confused romance and obvious references to Bogart and 50's American crime cinema - sinister, shadowy noir. Through Breathless Godard masterfully shows his love for cinema without distracting the audience from the narrative; his film acts as pure entertainment on the surface, but lurking beneath the stolen cars, innocent crime and engaging, questionable romance crawls cinematic theory and Godard's philosophy.

Before making films Godard worked as a critic for the magazine Cahiers du cinema,in which he and the other writers (including Truffaut) reevaluated classical American cinema. It is from this criticism and film theory that the French New Wave evolved and produced Godard's distinctive style. In Breathless Godard expresses his reverie for American movies through Michel's character and his movements; such as his constant rubbing of lips, mimicking Bogart, especially evident when he is staring into a poster of Bogart; and his criminal nature as a petty thief and anti-hero. Michel is the antihero in the likes of noir films - a petty criminal. Through Patricia Godard represents the attractive, illusive woman who, like in noir films, lures the man in, only to double cross him; although in this film her motives are very questionable, rather than the Noir-style femme fatale.

There is an interesting reversal of the typical, classical film style in the way Godard's story progresses'. Instead of using the typical arched story telling, where the beginning builds up to a climax and then falls down to a resolution, Godard seems to flip it over. The film starts with immediate action when Michel kills the cop. This event is captured at such a fast pace that the audience may even forget it happened. It's as if it's not important to the story at all; when it is the reason for every action which takes place in Michel's quest to get money and run off to Italy with Patricia. The arch of story telling is reversed when in the middle of the film no action takes place; Michel is sitting in a room with Patricia attempting to coerce her into sleeping with him; this scene lasts about a half an hour and involves pretty normal conversation - something almost never done in film before. It's almost an anti-climax, nearly nothing is happening. After this third of the film is over, the action begins again, and leads to a climactic, yet ambiguous end. Most films at the time would have more resolution and understanding of the motives of each character, but in this movie one is left to guess at why Patricia did what she did.

Godard redefined cinema and cinematic theory, along with his New Wave companions, through the production of their films. In Breathless, specifically, after viewing the film one feels exhausted and curious, playing the film over and over in one's mind in an attempt to make sense of Patricia's actions. The existentialism concepts of the dread of humanity is seen through the effects of Michel and Patricia's actions; in the end Michel is dead because of Patricia's choice to betray him, and ultimately because of his choice to be a criminal. He got his just deserves. In the final scene Michel refuses the gun offered by his friend while running down a nearly endless, lifeless street, thus relaying the concept of the freedom of choice and ultimate endless anguish of life; his choice brings about his death. Within the betrayal by Patricia and the continual longing for her by Michel one could argue Sartre's concept of being for others, or making choices based on what another thinks and wants. At the end of the film the viewer is left feeling something similar to dread, as the hope for Michel to escape is shattered.