À bout de souffle ...

... called Breathless in its English subtitle version, is a film by Jean-Luc Godard. His first feature-length to be exact, respectively.

(Let's dismiss the Richard Gere remake. Not worth the key strokes...)




À bout de souffle, which literally translates in French "out of breath", is a film I never found time to watch, until last night. (Thanks, RM!) I only knew of the "book cover" details of the film, and have been long overdue of a viewing. I have read of Jean-Luc Godard, being the quintessential Tarantino of the 1950's, resulting in the beginnings of the French New Wave. I can't get too technical on the details. (I'll leave that to the person that pushed for the viewing of this film, RM. His area of expertise.) Simply put, this filmed shocked audiences and critics alike with it's boldness and innovations such as jump cuts. (Once again, don't ask me further than that, I can only critique the film, not the technical portion) ;)

Under the consideration that the cinematic treasure was filmed in the 1950's, it is not a bad film at all. Sure there are flaws, little shaky here and there, and not the best technical work, but the film did it's job of breaking outside the box for filmmaking of it's production time. I have to say, both the characters and dialogue were the Hail Mary plays of the film. (I found the lead character, Michel, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo, was excellent as the Humphrey Bogart inpsired swaggering tough guy who spends most of the movie on the run.) After stealing a car, driving through country, he eventually kills a cop, and hence the movie plot. Later he is joined by one of his ladies. (Why must I always think of Tim Meadows and his character from SNL when I hear the word "ladies" and giggle out loud...) I digress. He eventually pulls in Patricia in the film. She's the American (aspiring journalist) who sells copies of the New York Herald Tribune in the streets of Paris. (Here's a spoiler: In the final scene, her facial expression is worth the dramatic chase coming to a close)


The film still above is the best scene of the movie. At first glance, the scene's dialogue can drag a bit, but worth it. I fell in love with the characters at this point, I was finally "charmed" into the film. Perhaps it was the ping pong action of words, the playfulness of the two characters, or the camera angling...

I'm not entirely sure Godard mapped out every scene of this film, and if the choices he made were serendipitously done. The movie is charming, and it's hard to decipher an opinion based on this reasoning. However, if you pay close enough attention, you'll find literary references such as Faulkner, Bogart hints (Michel's lip thing, music from the Maltese Falcon plays in the background when Patricia is being chased in the movie theatre), soundtrack that boasts a Mozart's concerto, and works of art by Picasso & Renoir...

Finally, who else would play the informer, but Jean-Luc Godard himself. I found this to be a self-congratulatory high five to himself.

High Five, Godard.