(4.5/5)I have this thing with Breathless. I think it’s great (though I don’t rate it as highly as some other Godard films, which isn’t an insult because I’m a Godard fangirl), and I enjoy it every time I see it, but even though I’ve seen it four or five times, I somehow manage to forget entire chunks of it exist. Every time I watch it, there are scenes where I’m like, “wait, what is this part? Was this part there the last time I saw it?” This is a phenomenon I’m not entirely sure I can explain, especially since the parts I DO remember are indelibly engraved in my psyche.
A couple of attempts at explanation: 1) The parts I remember are those parts that are indelibly engraved on the psyche of cinephile culture in general. The parts that get included in montages and retrospectives, the parts that get screencapped in film histories, the parts that get talked about when people talk about the influence of the New Wave. Or 2) The parts I forget are the parts that deal with the narrative plot of Michel’s criminal activities and attempts to get the money he’s owed. Godard tends to bury the actual narrative of his films in general, preferring to focus on the moments that would be incidental or skipped over in straight-forward narratives. So from that perspective, it makes sense that I remember the endless conversations in Patricia’s bedroom, or Michel copying Bogart, or Patricia wearing Michel’s hat, or them driving down the Champs Elysses talking about basically nothing, rather than the scenes where Michel is trying to solve his problems.
Whichever of those explanations is correct, or even if both of them are to some extent, there’s very little I can say about Breathless that hasn’t already been said. So let this instead stand as tribute to the things about Breathless that I find unforgettable.
(I should mention that the festival played a brand-new Rialto restoration, which is now touring the US. I’m not sure exactly what was restored; it looked really good, but so did the DVD Criterion put out a few years ago. In any case, keep an eye out for when the print tours near you.)
“What is your greatest ambition in life?”
“To become immortal, and then die.”
Many images after the jump.
Awesome tribute to Breathless, Jandy! You could definitely pose a challenge to Bob in the screen grabs department!
I love Breathless, but as a part of Godard’s body of work, I think it’s more of a one-of-a-kind phenomenon that a representative “masterpiece” of his. It is just so fresh and interesting – and different from basically everything else he (or anyone else) has done. If you were to ask me to name “the” quintessential Godard film, I’d likely say Pierrot le fou.
I don’t know about challenging Bob! It took me about two weeks to get these together, because I discovered I didn’t have the DVD like I thought I did, then I discovered that none of the libraries near me did either (I could’ve Netflixed it, but that would’ve required actually having time to watch and send something back), then I had issues with my screencapping software…yeah. But it was worth it, I think.
I’d choose Pierrot le fou, too, as the quintessential Godard film, though Band of Outsiders is my favorite. I think Breathless is more important based on when it was made and the kind of stylistic break it made in cinema history, but I really don’t like it as much as a lot of other Godard films. I think it’d be about fifth of the ones I’ve seen, behind Band of Outsiders, Pierrot le fou, Une femme est une femme, and Contempt. (I haven’t seen anything of his after 1967 yet.) I don’t know why entirely, though I’d like to think it’s not ONLY my girlcrush on Anna Karina! Like, half-watching Breathless to screencap it, love it. But actually sitting down and paying attention to the whole thing…there are chunks that just aren’t that interesting to me, which are probably the same chunks I keep forgetting every time.
Man, I love this movie.