Breathless

       Another interesting film that I watched call “Breathless”. I gain another knowledge from this film. This film use the theory of French New Wave to applied. Breathless is a 1960 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. In the beginning of the film, I really can’t understand what this film want to bring out. The storyline suddenly jump from another scene to another scene very fast. Sometime the sound and the dialog not really clear, so I can’s clearly understand what they said. I think I need to watch again to understand it. Michel in this film is a youthful criminal. After he steal the car and kills a police, he meet an America girl Patricia. A lot scenes show the relationship between them. Before watch this film, I think I need to understand French new wave.

       French new wave came about in the late 1950s and 1960s. The new generation of filmmakers which were low-budget and, most important went against the prevailing trends in 1950s cinema of literary adaptations, costume dramas and massive co-productions- a cinema which had been labelled by Cahiers du cinema group as the father of cinema. Cahiers du cinema was founded by Andre Bazin & Jacques Donial Valcroze. The principles held at Cahiers du Cinema was rejects montage aesthetics, favoring mise-en-scene. The ideology in this stated that a films not only be intellectual or rational experiences but also should have emotional and psychological experiences. Next is personal authorship. The Auteur Theory stated that a film should be a medium of personal artistic expression. The filmmaker’s signature must have personality, controlling obsession and cardinal themes. The auteur should be grow maturely to make successive film. French new wave is the theory that challenges traditional film. The film used jump cut to bring out the storyline. We can see that the film will shoot longer to let audience more notice the location. Next is they use available light, the film didn’t use another light to fill the shadow of the character. The sound are use the sound directly when shooting. Many scene were used hand held camera. They also will used long takes in the film to show the movement. The low-budget approach helped filmmakers get at the essential art form and find what more comfortable and contemporary form of production was. This theory had Self-reflexivity. When watching film, it will reminds audience that they are watching film instead of escape nature of Hollywood.  Next point is strong female archetypes, women were given strong parts that didn’t conform to archetypal roles seen in Hollywood . Women are not depend on men, cause women can able to make own decision. The French New Wave ended in 1969. After a decade of radical filmmaking, this form of cinema has embedded into the mainstream. The directors developed their own styles and made mainstream films.

       In the beginning of this film, we can see that Michel steal a car and drive over the road. In this scene, Michel talking to himself inside the car while driving. We can see that a lot of sound from outside and also the jump cut. The jump cut here show Michel drive very long journey. In this scene also can see that the hand held camera shoot inside the car. Next, one of the scene show Michel bring Patricia go inside a dark room and lead go to the door that have light. In this scene the room very dark even can’t see anything, means they use available light. Patricia is a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. When she interview famous man at airport, we can heard that another airport ambient sound. Patricia in this film is a strong women because after she realize that Michel is killer, she report to police to let police catch Michel. Although Patricia really love Michel, but she want Michel to be a good guys instead of a killer. Lastly a long shoot show in this film when police shot Michel, Michel keep run and escape. It show the move movement of hand held camera.

       This film showed the reality of life instead the Hollywood. I want to try shoot this kind of film to show the reality of life. Although nowadays, all the audience preferred watch Hollywood film.