Now of course an American discussing a non-American film is not weird at all, but hey, the title has a nice ring to it, right?
The French New Wave was revolutionary when it comes to film making. Many of the techniques that began there became popular internationally as well as in France, and American filmmakers even began started using some of those techniques in their films. So just by seeing the spread of these techniques, it’s easy to see how popular it became.
Beginning in the 1950s and being finished by 1973, the French New Wave created and inspired many films. One of these films was the 1960 A Bout De Souffle- translated to Breathless. It was created by director Jean-Luc Godard. He directed other flims such as Contempt and Pierrout le Fou.
There were some scenes that were confusing, but each scene helped with completing the story. The watcher can figure out more information about the characters as they continue to watch, which is a very interesting and fun technique I love to see in films. As the person watches, they can put the pieces together to fully understand the character, or at least understand their character enough to enjoy the film.
This film-noir style movie explores the story of a man named Michel. He kills a policeman after stealing a car and attempts to leave Paris with his girlfriend, Patricia. When he is driving the car, he by no means tries to be sneaky at all. He’s just speeding down the road for the whole world to see. You would think he would at least be a little bit sneaky! Patricia is suspicious of Michel, given that she doesn’t know what happened. She just thinks her boyfriend wants to just up and leave Paris with all this money Michel is saving up. However, Patricia reveal him to the police. She does hide him, but she does end up revealing him, ultimately betraying him.
Jean-Luc Godard has an interesting editing style when it comes to this film. In this movie in particular, we see jump cuts all throughout the film. Even right at the beginning, there are jump cuts!!
According to the director himself, there were so many jump cuts because the movie had to be in the 90 minute bracket, and apparently it was over two hours…so he had to cut down the material somehow!
They’re even in just simple scenes of discussion. Like when Patricia and Michel are sitting in Patricia’s apartment. They’re having a discussion, just trying to get ready for the day. Throughout the scene, there’s not really many smooth cuts. In fact, there’s many frequent cuts throughout the scene, cutting off their speech, showing them in a completely different place.
Not only are there jump cuts, but it’s also good to pay attention to how long the shots stay on characters while talking. While Patricia is putting up a poster in her apartment, the camera stays on her and Michel since her and Michel are both talking and performing actions. She’s putting the poster up, and he’s placing his hand on her ass.
There will sometimes be scenes as well where a cut will linger before it shows the person talking. That way the reaction to the person who is speaking can be seen before it switches to where the actual dialogue is coming from.
A little over 50 minutes into the movie, there’s a particular scene about 50 minutes in where a man is getting interviewed. A woman speaks to him, and after she finishes speaking, the camera lingers for a moment. The man starts talking, and then after a couple seconds, it cuts over to him. With that cut, we got to see the lady’s reaction to him beginning to speak. That technique is a very interesting way to get characters to react to something without completely changing up the scene.
This movie is so pretty and honestly a very fun watch. It is a French movie, so it was hard to understand at some point, but that’s what subtitles are for, right? Jean-Luc Godard’s style for this film is very distinct and honestly a very fun style! It’s very unique, and pretty expressive as well. You really get to see how the story plays out. As you piece the story together and continue to watch, the film’s beauty continues to grow.
Coley Rose's Corner 