(published in this month’s Notion Magazine)
50 years since its first release, Jean-Luc Godard’s hypercool movie Breathless is back in cinemas. The film is credited with kick-starting the French New Wave and, more broadly, the whole notion of a Counter Culture in film, music and fashion. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that, were it not for Breathless, you probably wouldn’t be reading this magazine right now and would instead be busy playing hopscotch or catch-the-pig or whatever other wholesome shit they got up to in the ‘50’s.
The film stars roguish French hipster Jean-Paul Belmondo as Michel, an outlaw on the run for killing a cop. He turns to a beautiful American student played by Jean Serbeg who hides him in her apartment as the police close in. In reality though, plot is very much subordinated to style in this picture (Godard famously once said that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun) and the real pleasure is in his experimental and at times improvised filmmaking techniques.
I’m almost tempted to describe it as the cinematic equivalent of Jazz, but that would make me sound like an unbelievable dick.
Mainly, it’s just amazing to see just how fucking cool everyone looks. Jean Seberg, sporting an iconic blonde elfin haircut, is unforgettably beautiful. I’ve basically fallen in love with her character in this film so much that I’m currently looking into the possibility of legally marrying the DVD. Meanwhile Belmondo, cigarette dangling laconically from the corner of his mouth, delivers a masterclass in being irresistible to women: basically it seems chicks really dig it if you call them mean names and steal money from their handbags.. Definitely going to try that sometime soon.
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