Breathless

Kristen Shults
2/29/2012
Title: Breathless
Language: French, English
Color: Black and White
Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Henri-Jacques Huet
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Screenwriter: Francois Truffaut
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Running Time: 90 min
Release Date: 7 February 1960
Awards: Silver Berlin Award for best director Jean-Luc Godard, Critics Award for best film, Prix Jean Vigo featured film award



Breathless is a French film whose main character is named Michel Poiccard, who is a small time car thief who killed a police officer. The police start looking for him and his face is plastered on every newspaper and media source. He begins talking to Patricia franchini a young American woman who is studying journalism. He falls in love with her and begs her to run off to Italy with him. However before they can run away together he needs to collect some money from an unknown source. Sadly, the newer Bonnie and Clyde duo never leave France because Patricia gives Michel up to the police.

The movie Breathless was part of the French new wave. The stylistic traits included swift movements, the use of handheld cameras and the importance of sound. Breathless is truly an auteur film. The cinematography of Breathless was a simple look, made by using natural lighting. Another new wave trait was the editing techniques, mainly the jump cuts and non-diegetic inserts.
I believe that auteur theory was used in the movie Breathless. Auteur theory is when the director feels he or she writes the film, as if he or she was an author of a book. Jean-Luc Godard added individual style to the film which was evident in his jump cuts. .The director wanted others to think of films as great creations, such as paintings. This move was loved and still is loved mainly because of its uniqueness and modernization.
    The first article I found was from The Village Voice. The article spoke about how the director, Godard fed the actors their lines while filming. It also gave some interesting insight as to how Godard thought the movie would never be released. Instead breathless ended up making him a star. Sadly the article also spoke about how the Breathless fan club was dwindling. That with every passing year the fans get less and less and more gray haired. And they ask the question, will anyone under thirty come to watch Breathless?
   The second article I found was from the University of California Press, written by Arlene Croce. This article talked about how Breathless was one of the truly novel films of all time. The article also tells about how the movie compares cultural as well as moral liking. Then the article talks about the two main characters of the movie. For example Michel, the article speaks of him as being the criminal with a love of life, however will die, because of his crimes. And for Patricia the article focuses on the psychological stand point of her character.
   I personally enjoyed this 1960 movie. The movie its self is so hectic all the way through. However, that is why I enjoyed it. You never find yourself becoming bored. The small time car thief is always stealing random cars or speaking about love and life. However, I wasn’t expecting him to die the way he did. I would have preferred him and his American women to escape to Italy.

Citations

Croce, Arlene. "Georges De Beauregard." IMDb. IMDb.com, 1961. Web. 01 Mar. 2012.

Taylor, Ella. "New Lufe for Breathless?" New Life for Breathless. IMDB. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. .

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
1) ( ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.
2) ( ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3) ( ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.
4) ( ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.
5) ( ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.
6) ( ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.
7) ( ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.
8) ( ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.
Name__Kristen Shults_____________________________________ Date_3/1/2012______

points:
l. ( ) An introductoryp aragraphc learly introducest he subject.A topic statementi s evident
within the paragraphT. he positiont akeni s clear.I f thep ositioni s unclearp, ut a question
mark in the margin.
2. ( ) The next two paragraphse achh avea single or main claim. Note eachc laim in the
margin n a3-4 word phrase. If you can't identift the claim, put a question mark in the
margin. Iftwo or more claims exist and tend to diverge from a coherent thought, put a
question mark in the margin.
3. ( ) The samet hing holds for the next two paragraphso n the opposites ideo f the issue.
4. ( ) rne four paragraphsa bovea ll focus on thelssie at hand;t irly do not wandero ffinto
irrelevant tenitory. If any paragraph wanders, put a question-r"ri. in the marlin.
5. ( ) The sixth paragraph weighs the conflicting claims from the nut p*ugt"pis above and
arrives at a conclusion.IlTty some evidence is-inore convincing than ltheievidence is
explained. The ensuing conclusion is clearly stated. Circle it. liyou can't find the
, conclusion, put a question mark in the margin.
6. ( ) The finalparagraphr eturnst o what was statedi n the first paragrapha nd, in light ofthe
evidencep resenteda nd weigheda bove,c onvincin$y rephraseit hJposition statement.t f
the conclusione xpectedb y the assignmentis to be.tinesiedj,u stifring statementsfo r the
variancem ust appearh erea nd flow from the explanationi n ihe sixthiaragraph of your
paper.
Consider all question marks appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing.
Next:
7. ( ) Is eachc laim in paragraph2s -5 supportedb y evidence?A re therea ny nakedc laims
supportedo nly by variationso f "I believe..."?If so,p ut a big X in the marginb esidet hat
paragraph.
8. ( ) Is eachc laim backedu p by a referenceI?f a claims tandsn akedo f supporting
evidenceo r argumentp, ut a big X in the margin.
consider any X appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing.
Another thing:
9'd( ) Doest hep aperd o moret hans imply but gloriouslyr estateth e question? Examine the
case study and cross out all ideas that uppeu. in boththe case study and in your paper.
What remainsu ncrossedo ut is your analysisI.t shouldc onstituteit re ma.loiityo iyou,
paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven'td onea n analysis.
D,J.EderP, h.D, Copyrigh@t 2 0t2 deder@siue.edu
Rewrite as necessatTW. hen you've finished,l et it sit at least one night befored oing the
final step below.
Finalty:
Up to now, you'veb eenw orkingo n substancea ndt hinking.N ow, on the final morning over
breakfast on the day the paper is'due, check out the mechanics. Sweep your paper with a
spell checkera ndc omb it for the cornmonf atale rrorsi n the list below.I f you find sucha n
error, put a check in the box.
10.( ) A sentenclea ckse itheras ubjectorav erb;a sentencdeo esn ot beginwitha capital
lettero r endw ith a period (citationsi n parenthesegso aheado f periods,n ot behindt hem).
I l. ( ) A sentenceb eginsw ith a relativep ronoun sucha s Which, Who, That, Where,a nd
When.
12.( ) A pronoun lacksa clear antecedentt;h at is, a word such as it, he, she,o r they doesn ot
havea n obvious link to a noun (especiallyn oticeablei f a sentenceb eginsw ith ,t, he, she,
or tha.
13.( ) A pronouno r verb fails to agreew ith its antecedenitn number;t hat is, a singlep erson
or agency is refened to as they, or a plural subject is given a singular verb (such as,-
"memberso f the schoolb oard....givesth eir vote...").
14.( ) A sentencer uns-ono r usesa commat o splicei ndependenitd east ogether;t hat is,
complex ideasa re not split into two sentencesb ut are linked, often by a cornma,i nto an
overly long, wandering sentence.