Review of Breathless (2009) by X X — 22 May 2012

Godard's first entry into the French New Wave, 1960's À bout de souffle, is a brilliant and powerful film. It signals a snappy march into a whole new bombastic, hell-raising, powerful style of filmmaking.

First of all, the jazz soundtrack is jaw-dropping; even as the cliché it's become, this is by far one of the more lush and effective techniques he uses. The relaxed, organic introduction of elements in its story -- cars, settings, characters all thrown together in a clipped yet always expressive way -- is another unmistakable strength. It's shot beautifully: capturing heads in the interior of a moving car, following faces down the hall, jumping from character to character, etc.

The film's attitude toward gender might look strained at first... cheapening the New York girl with a thick, obvious American accent; then, setting up a long, torturous dialogue about sex between the two leads; and finally, including a press conference full of cryptic and/or ugly pronouncements about women. But crisp dialogue and quirky storytelling can redeem all these unsavory possibilities.

And the heart of Godard's film is an awesome sex + violence story. Isn't that something we can all get behind?