Breathless (French: À bout de souffle, literally ‘Out of Breath’) (1960)
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Watched: 8/19/17
Rating: 3/5 stars
**** Spoilers ****
Influential
French New Wave
Godard’s first
and
was written by
Chabrol/Truffaut-
bet they regret
not finishing!
It’s
a nihilistic
road trip with detached
characters that are
hard to care about.
A young man on the run from the law,
an immature reporter girlfriend;
both blasé, deluded with pretense.
She claims she’s pregnant with his child-
but to test her love, she turns him in?
Godard improvised throughout filming,
his rebellious methods now legend-
handheld camera with low lighting,
forced to use spliced film rolls and dubbed sound.
Has a
weak plot;
Though bold and cool back then,
cuts and edits confuse,
hindering story’s flow.
Pop culture favorite
with artistic merit,
but quite overrated!
Title meaning: In the final scene (inexplicably a critic’s favorite)- after a drawn out and poor attempt at escape, the protagonist is shot by authorities, curses his lover Patricia, and dies “à bout de souffle”.