Where Hiroshima, Mon Amour was actually highly structured (which was definitely atypical of New Wave) Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960) was quite the opposite, and likely the quintessential example of a New Wave production. While Resnais revamped narrative structure with his cinematic masterpiece, Godard transformed visual aesthetics with his own sparkling, streamlined soufflé of breezy, “young and restless” love (soap opera pun intended).
The plot of Breathless is very light and simple…at least in comparison with Hiroshima, Mon Amour, which copes with a weighty historical and intensely emotional issue. Hiroshima attempted to successfully distill this through the thoughts, feelings, and memories of two very different, yet attracted people. The couple of Hiroshima are both professionals (one an architect, the other an actress) presumably successful in their chosen fields…whereas the two protagonists of Breathless are basically living on the edge — wholly lacking in enthusiasm or purpose.
To start with, we have Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo in his breakout role) who operates as a petty thief of sorts. After a while he tries his hands at bigger things like stealing big American roadsters…an Oldsmobile, Thunderbirds, etc. Then he tries fencing them off, but isn’t brilliant at that! His “on again, off again girlfriend is a young, pretty American named Patricia (Jean Seberg) who tries to eke out a living selling English-language newspapers to tourists — or something like that. In any case, the main point of comparison between Breathless and Hiroshima relates not so much to the considerable differences of the characters and storylines of the two films, although both are also revolutionary in the visual sense.
With Breathless it could be said that Godard went further than Resnais with his cinematic experimentations and tinkering. For the non-initiated New Wave audience, Godard’s methods of filmmaking can be confusing and disconcerting. Or, as Evan Nuzi, a film writer for the Black and Blue online site noted: “for Godard, the lines, plots, and story were to take a back seat to his ability to manipulate the cinema and the camera.” Luzi went on to describe how Godard would appear to start with a close-up of his subject. For instance, when Michel is holding up a newspaper, but the scene would instantly change with a jumble of strange cuts, shots that did not match, and a type of editing where flow and continuity were purposely lacking.
Next week I’ll publish the conclusion to Breathless and then move onto Cleo From 5 To 7, another crown jewel 💎 of the French New Wave 🌊!!
