#chambrol

[whatisvignesh-blog]

#ReadingFilms : When Two Cultures Collide

À bout de souffle (Breathless) Directed by Jean-Luc Godard Written by Jean-Luc Godard Based on an Original Treatment by Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg

Watching a film like Breathless is a testament on several levels to the validity and the profundity of cinema as the most powerful medium of Art in our times. 

Its a story born out of a love for films, inspired by the characters that inhabit them and how they change and touch lives.

A very fine example of the New Wave movement (which was virally influential and had its heyday between ‘58 and ‘64 Breathless has its roots in cinematic and world history.

The effect of the devastating World War 2 had temporarily shut down the French ‘high culture’ machine. With the war’s conclusion, the United States lent support to war-torn nations via the Marshall Plan. France was one of its beneficiaries. 

France not only received support monetarily but also culturally. The United States re-gifted France a culture of Cinema. American films were the ones that were first played in movie theatres in a post-war France.

This power of cinema took a few young Frenchmen by storm. Among them was a young Andre Bazin. Bazin went on to open the uber-influential Cahiers du Cinema. It was at Cahiers where the budding prophets of the New Wave (Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, et al) got their starts.

Breathless released in 1960, a year after the release of Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. While I thought Breathless lacked the aspirational visual perfection I came to enjoy so much on The 400 Blows, Breathless, to its benefit, had a gritty DIY sort of feel which I thought was pretty cool.

It looks very real- so real, that it may be (looking) like something that may be going down next door. There is simplicity in the story, and I believe simplicity is a luxury because it allows the writer to write in a cool and a detached prose. Its got a touch that’s almost impersonal. The story is one influence by cinema itself and a celebration of how what is on the reel bleeds into what is real.

The dialogues in the film were phenomenal. Some of them were majestic and powerful in the depth of thought that they wish to convey, seeping into the marrow of your soul.

The story is also really rich in subtle, symbolic references. Maybe I am reading too deeply into it but it's a fun exercise nonetheless. Here are a few of them : 

- the frenchman inspired by american cinema falls in love with a woman selling the french version of an american newspaper

- the frenchman has a penchant for stealing american cars

- the frenchman is so captivated by american cinema’s Humphrey Bogart that the traits of the on-screen Bogart become an integral extension of the frenchman’s identity

These are merely threads in the story; I really like to think about what do these kinds of thoughts really represent. The broad-spectrum answer would be the inevitably powerful collision of the French and the American cultures. 

Another aspect of the story that appealed to me was the absurdity of the human imagination. Michel (played by Jean-Paul Belmondo) is someone very taken by the idea that the kind of characters Humphrey Bogart portrays on-screen are real and human. They (characters portrayed by Bogart in his films) pose themselves as something worth aspiring to in Michel’s mind. The constant cigarette smoking, the fedora, the stroking of the lips; as mentioned earlier, the traits of the on-screen Bogart became an integral extension of Michel’s identity and persona.

Patricia (played by Jean Seberg) plays Michel’s love interest. She is an American in Paris. She’s liberal, open-minded and quite the modern woman (this is taking into account the fact that the film was made in 1960). 

There are several threads that tie into Breathless’ story. You find ideas of living, being, dying, choosing, hating, suspecting, confessing, and of course, Godard’s famous idea of immortality.

The film appears very real and very every day; a most wonderful combination.

Part of the film’s genius owes praise to the masterful cinematography of Raoul Coutard. Coutard’s influence can best be described as the grainy look filmmakers use to make their tales of fiction look amazingly real.

The famous of cinematographical trivia associated with the film is one involving tracking shots. With a budget that does not account for the traditional application of a tracking shot, Coutard ingeniously used a wheelchair with Coutard on the camera and someone (probably Godard himself) pushing the wheelchair.

Another pioneering technique employed in the film was that of jump-cuts. This jagged cutting style still lives on and is most beloved. According to Australian film critic, Jonathan Dawson, “Godard just went at the film with the scissors cutting out anything he thought boring.”

Breathless opened to a sensational reception. 

The film is a definite masterpiece. And I’d like to end it by quoting my favorite dialogue from the film:

Patricia : “What is your ambition?” Parvulesco : “To become immortal... and then die.”