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Journal Topics for Breathless

Godard also felt that a director should make his or her film as a “personal essay;” that a director should be able to include everything into the film that influences him at the time, without judging whether it fits into an approved aesthetic model. In the case of Breathless, it means selecting a minimal story, even a Hollywood cliché story of a girl and a wannabe gangster, a story that in essentially offers no new surprises. But, bring everything else into the mix that moves the director and make it highly self-referential, or in our terms, self-reflexive. Let the audience know that a film is being made, that it is a fiction made with a cinematic apparatus, and from this new perspective, we might learn something about the process cinema and of life itself. The goal here is to provide a truer more honest model for cinema that is also more fun and enjoyable and more personal. In the end, Godard succeeded far beyond what he might have expected. Questions: Pay attention to the tone and style of the film that Godard creates:

1. How would you describe the camera style (shots and movement) that Godard used in Breathless?

2. The film is full of literary and artistic references from very high and very low sources (Movies, painting, poetry, novels, music, philosophy, and popular culture). See if you can recognize and identify some of them.

3. After seeing the film, what are you feelings about the principal characters, Michel and Patricia?

Do you like them or care about them. Do you identify with them? How do you think Godard wants you to feel about them?

4. The film was revolutionary at the time and its influence is still felt today. Does some on that

feeling of excitement and discovery come through to you some 50 years later?

Breathless (À Bout de Souffle) (1960) was produced by independent producer Georges de Beauregard, and directed by Jean Luc Godard. The English translation of the film title is more accurately called, “Out of Breath.” The cinematographer was Raoul Coutard. Context: As we have already discussed in class, Godard was part of the group of French New Wave filmmakers who started out as film critics and then embraced new careers as film directors. It would not be an overstatement to say that Godard was the most influential of all of these young directors given his impact on World Cinema. As much as he loved classical Hollywood and European cinema, Godard felt that the classic period was over forever. Filmmakers should explore new styles and new subject matter in order to breathe new life into cinema, while bringing awareness to the filmmaking process of the history, the politics and the cultural ideology into the work itself. This philosophy is very much a postmodern approach to cinema.

5. Describe some of the things about the film that impressed you or surprised you the most?