The story of a nihilistic, reckless criminal and the naive, aimless girls who follow them to destruction is very old, even in movies. Yet, in this famous classic movie, there is a unique blend of tension and obliviousness that is feels unique and can be seen in movies and shows that are being made today. Breathless, for all its fame and age, feels like it launched the modern anti-hero movie genre that became so popular in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
The plot is fairly simple - a common criminal shoots a cop, then goes into semi-hiding in Paris, spending ample time chatting with and trying to seduce a beautiful woman.
Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the anti-hero, Michel, with a witty, joyful, i-don't-give-a crap charm. There is hardly any urgency about his efforts to escape arrest, even as Paris police circle ever closer. You get the impression that if he could get his lover, Patricia, naked and sweaty one more time, he'd be content with finishing in handcuffs and meeting his fate. This straight-forward talk of wanting sex also feels bracing and modern. It is not a pivotal plot point, whether the sleep together or not, it is just what this dude wants. The naturalness of it all feels almost more modern than the hand-wringingly "hooking up is totes normal peeps believe me!" banging that happens in recent movies and TV. Michel wants to have sex with Patricia. No one freaks out.
Looking at Jean Seaberg, who plays Patricia, you can understand how Michel feels. It is not that she is the most beautiful woman ever, and definitely not that she is mysterious or hyper-erotic with sheath dresses and glistening lips in that "femme fatale" way. Rather there seems to be a kind of dewy vulnerability about her. She seems fragile and tender, like the new shoot of a tropical plant that needs to be kept in a greenhouse. And at the same time, she is difficult to win over and impossible to pin down. In a semi-random-seeming scene in which she interviews a famous literary figure, you can see her start to respond and become interested, perhaps aroused even. But then she is on to the next thing. Hence, she seems clueless, a victim-to-be, yet she seems never to give in to the wishes of others, not even the persistent, appealing Michel. Maybe this is just the type that appeals to me, but I dare you to watch this movie and not fall under Jean Seaberg's spell, just a little.
The film got a ton of attention for its editing at the time, utilizing jump cuts instead of solely relying on various fades and wipes between scenes. Its depiction of the criminal underworld or the police in pursuit of the killer are not particularly innovative, though. You can see much the same in films from decades earlier. However, the film still feels unique. Shots of Paris still finding its feet after the war, with shuddering junk cars sharing the streets with sleek new Citroens, busy streets and swaggering nouveau riche circulating the same arrondisements as treacherous stolen goods fences and chop shops. It feels like you are in a real city, not some sterile set in a Southern California warehouse.
And beyond this grittier vibrant feel for the setting, there is a real charge in the juxtaposition of these two characters, Michel and Patricia. They are both true nihilists, with no particular reasons to do much of anything. They act, they chat, they discuss, Michel flirts and jokes, Patricia demurs and muses. Their rejection of the stakes of being alive and in the game that the rest of us play until we are bent and beaten feels just as a part of them, not an affectation. They are not the screaming, shouting narcissists of Natural Born Killers. They are just themselves, charming, annoying, drifting no where, sometimes causing mayhem and death.
This is a great film. It is one of those cases where the hype and legend seem to be deserved. Godard did not create this as a landmark movie, he just wanted to do something new. That sense of creating and daring and expressing a startling new perspective comes through. I am ready to see it again!
Rating: 9.5/10 - this is a great movie, even by modern standards, no need to add extra "for its time" points.