Review of Breathless (1983) by Lerichem D — 13 Sep 2010

This is why cinema exists. Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" (literally, the French title is 'At Breath's End') is that existential wonder that defined the French New Wave cinematic movement.

There's no surprise that it did. It's fresh, frank, transcendental naturalism (and realism) is juxtaposed (almost effortlessly) against a screenplay that is so quick, so sharp, so particularly human and yet, so whimsically universal, you'll swear you're watching it from within.

Within the characters ("behind the faces") is where this movie lives. Its boldness to express what's stirring within is the movie's greatest strength as it never, it refuses to compromise it.

One minute, a burglary. Next, a death. And then, 'what time is it again?' Followed by, a pregnancy. The next, 'paper for sale!' It's genius, really, and yet, you feel it couldn't have happened without writers like Albert Camus and William Faulkner, without cities like Paris and New York City, without the everyday anarchy that (we all) live with.

This is life as cinema; a rare life, indeed.