(film 87 minutes)
Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
Language: French
Rating: 7/10 | Yaser Tohidi
May 01, 2020
Michel steals a car, murders a policeman, just to come to Paris and meet Patricia again. He is in love with her and wants to take her to Rome. But Patricia, an American journalist does not want him because Michel is too tough for her. She is sentimental and Michel is the opposite. She wants only admiration from his side, but Michel wants much more. He wants everything or nothing. She says between grief and nothing she chooses grief, but Michel goes for nothing. Patricia is afraid of losing her opportunities in life if she goes with Michel. She is fascinated by the high-class attractions but for Michel a Dior store is only a place to telephone for free. He disgusts cowardice that unfortunately he finds that also in the girl he loves most. When the police come to question her, she does not collaborate. She helps Michel to run away. She is attracted with the excitement-in-the-moment when she is with Michel. However, her attachments to the default life of hers is just too much. Finally, she finds the only way to get rid of Michel is to leak his place to police and tell him to run away. But here also she is surprised, Michel is not running away. As he said he wants everything or nothing.
Breathless is an experimental melodrama that against the purpose of melodrama, wants to distance the viewer from being attached to the sentiments and rather to show the beauty of an existential life and authenticity in the protagonist Michel. The pictures in the streets are taken without hiding the camera from the passers-by or to set the scene to appear so. Passers-by look at the actors and the camera as though they are also following their story, as though they are also dealing with the same dilemma. Breathless criticizes the common sense in the larger society. Breathless is a fascinating philosophical movie that shakes our presumptions in life and society not only through the story but also through the unusual editing, photographing, and dialogues.
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