Review of Breathless (1960) by Josep P — 07 May 2011

Fast-paced action, snappy dialogue and constant-changing camera angles. And yet there is a helpless air of disinterest and insignificance piercing through in every scene. The whole thing seems pompous and pointless.

Belmondo plays a police killer on the run in Paris and Seberg plays an American journalist caught up in the story as his love interest. The soul of the film is based in Godard's playful direction.

What he inadvertently explores here, and with a great deal of skepticism, is the Americanisation of 60s Paris: Pioccard's fixation of Humphrey Bogart, Eishenhower's visit to the streets, the selling of New York Herald Tribune on the Montparnasse.

And the ending may be seen as a derogatory gesture towards Americans: 'you're a louse.' But Jean Seberg is certainly a pretty louse.