FILM REVIEW // Breathless (1960)
I’m about to commit film buff sacrilege: I think Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is overrated. The story follows a young criminal and chauvinist named Michel - based on the real life Michel Portail - who steals a car, kills a policeman, and goes on the run, hiding out with his American girlfriend. I like film realism, so I appreciate Godard’s efforts to ground scenes in Breathless in the authentic and everyday. He even went the length of filming a couple of scenes entirely in long takes, using a secret camera hidden in a mall pushcart (it’s pretty obvious which scenes; just look out for the trademark wobbly tracking shot and canted angles). However, with so many passers-by looking directly into the camera, the scenes instead come across as completely artificial - and I think Godard’s reach for thoughtful, intellectual dialogue backfires when it seems stilted and amateurish as hell (“Which do you like best: my eyes, my mouth or my shoulders?” is an odd example). Perhaps the latter point is because I was dependent on subtitles rather than performances. I did like how the film dipped into the gangster genre, but the accompanying music by jazz pianist Martial Solal - as cool and stylish as it is - did not fit the tone of the film for me. Some dramatic scenes ended up as pathetic, particularly the ending. The characters are morally indifferent and often rather enigmatic. Although Breathless is a memorable film, I simply wasn’t engaged at all.
If you’re interested in how Breathless revolutionised the form of cinema and low-budget filmmaking, you should absolutely check it out; it is undoubtedly a watershed work in film history. But if you’re someone in it for the plot and a good evening’s entertainment… maybe not.
