Film Review: À bout de souffle (1960)

There are so many gorgeous stills from this film I could hardly choose one
Source: ourgoldenage.com.au

“Qu'est-ce que c'est ‘dégueulasse’?”


In theory, I’m watching this film to improve my French… or because I’m a total sucker for a pretentious romance film.

À bout de souffle, or Breathless, is director Jean-Luc Godard’s debut feature length film, released in France in 1960. The story follows petty criminal and scumbag Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who models himself on Humphrey Bogart and, having rashly killed a policeman pursuing him from Nice, flees to Paris and rekindles his relationship with American journalism student Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg). Poiccard attempts to collect debt from an underworld associate whilst trying (unsuccessfully) to convince Franchini, who sells copies of the New York Herald Tribune on the Champs-Élysées to supplement her studying at the Sorbonne, to escape to Italy with him.

Breathless was very innovative in its time, and although filmed in black and white, feels unexpectedly modern today. It is characterised by jump cuts, many scenes with no lighting, improvised lines and unofficial filming locations to add to the spontaneity of the action and the almost jaded sexual tension between Michel and Patricia. The rather long scene where the two talk – about nothing in particular – in bed in Patricia’s apartment is a personal favourite. The desires of the two leads are somewhat ambivalent, and both feel bored and in search of an adventure, whether they can admit it to themselves or not. Do they really love one another? Did they ever? While you ponder that, Seberg’s outfits are a bohemian spectacle in themselves: think Breton stripes, cats-eye sunglasses, pleats and boater hats. Having failed to make it in Hollywood, Seberg shines in this gem of French cinema.

Belmondo’s portrayal of Michel Poiccard with his masculine swagger punctuated with a more vulnerable side, is reminiscent of Marlon Brando’s Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and James Dean’s Jim Stark of Rebel Without a Cause, released five years previously in 1955. Godard claimed that “all you need for a movie is a gun and a girl”, and he’s certainly stuck to his formula with a À bout de souffle, with undertones of film noir (minus the overly clichéd storyline).

Banned for four years one at one point after its release for its immoral content, Godard’s film is now considered to be a nouvelle vague masterpiece which recently celebrated its 50^th anniversary with a re-release. If you’re learning French, Breathless is actually pretty helpful, even with the subtitles on; and if not, the beautiful visuals of Paris make up for what you can’t understand. Oh, and let’s not forget that infamous closing line: “Qu'est-ce que c'est ‘dégueulasse’?”