Sunday, April 10, 2011
Style Over Substance?
Some critics argue that the plot and characters of Breathless are beside the point. They are nothing but convenient vehicles for the real point of the film: the joy of making a movie. According to this argument, the stylistic innovations and virtuoso techniques are not related to any deeper meaning, either to character or thematic development. Is this idea correct? Describe one of the films stylistic devices such as the use of jump cuts or the use of long, acrobatic takes. Does that device give us any clue to the characters or to deeper theme in the film? Does it provide an image or symbol that helps to explain the movie? Or is it just an experiment in changing the language of film?
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I don't think this idea is correct mostly because the characters and plot seemed to both have a big influence on the film and show deeper meanings. The relaxed and casual nature of Michel after killing a police officer makes fun of the cops and their inability to keep up as Michel goes through his daily schedule. His care free attitude somehow stays one step ahead of the cops. While the film does make constant references to other films and that it itself is a film, it also has deeper meaning to how love and the police are just something to be made fun of. In one scene near the end of the film the camera acrobatically follows Michel and Patricia around the room as Michel waits for the cops to show. The long take first follows Michel as he walks around the room, into another room, and then back to both Patricia and Michel. Then, while in the same take, the camera followed Patricia along the same path that Michel walked along. This device provides more evidence of the long wait for the cops as Michel talked casually with Patricia, making fun of how well the police force responds to a call of the location of a police murderer, Michel.
ReplyDeleteah no the movie Breathless definitely has more meaning to exist than just cause the director felt like shooting it one day on a whim. It obviously is a social commentary on the life style of the time. Around the sixties is when the rate at which information was about to really speed up and the people who made this film looked at their culture and were commentating on how relationships seem to have no meaning anymore, or how the police suck at their job, and criminals don't even have to try to evade them. but on the other hand i can see where the argument for the opposing position could find evidence to prove otherwise. the camera movement, the fact that the film was shot on location, and the jump cuts that skip most of the action. But overall breathless is just a young group of guys calling out the social status quo of the time period.
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