July 26, 2010

Breathless (À bout de souffle)

or Why  Crisp B&W Cinematography and French 
Philosophical Plots Make Me Fall In Love With Film

Breathless (1960)
French New Wave 
Directed byJean-Luc Godard




This movie is incredibly well done.
Godard always has crisp cinematography, so watching it alone for the aesthetics is mind blowing, but there are also a lot of thematic elements at play here.

*The main romantic interest is an American, so you can see the portrayal of American woman by W. Europeans (American Woman are independent, easy in bed, simple minded)
*Themes of lawlessness, and the French Anarchist Revolutionary mindset
*Tragedy. I can't explain this one too much without giving this away...but this movie is a tragedy.

The plot line weaves philosophy, action, a bit of romance and political discourse/lawlessness with the aesthetics of classic, crisp and artistic Godard.

Formal Review

Plus, add in Jean Paul Belmondo and you have one saucy French Film:

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