French New Wave - Breathless

French New Wave started in 1959 by Jean-Luc Godard with the film Breathless as a controversial approach to film (Bordwell & Thompson , 2010). It transitioned classic French films from structured studio productions to spontaneous realistic approach to creating films. The report aims to study the history and purpose of French New Wave. Additionally, the report elaborates on the mise-en-scene and mise-en-shot as well as how it complements the thematic structures of French New Wave. By analysing the semantic and syntactic approach of Breathless, the report attempts to provide a thorough understanding regarding the history and actual productions of films categorised under French New Wave.

The French new Wave was short lived as it lasted for only 11 years. It started as a documentary movement to capture the post war conditions, stressing on the damage of tangible artifacts and intangible psychology of people by filming Nazi war territories and mental institutions’ patients. The main highlight of French New Wave is the magazine “Cahiers Du Cinema” started up by Andre Bazin and Jacques Donial Valcroze that comprises of articles about films written by film lovers including Jean-Luc Godard (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). These film lovers watched and studied films during the 1950s that were unreleased at the Cinematheque Francaise, also known as the public theatre. There they analysed these unreleased films by recognising their similar characteristics and categorising them under the genre French New Wave.

The principles found common of these films include the rejection of montage aesthetics also known as continuity to favour mise-en-scene (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). These films introduced long takes and jump cuts. Long takes favour mise-en-scene by having consistent visuals but tend to bore the audience. In contrast, a constant and sudden change of visuals is to distort audience from the film world. By boring and distorting the audience, it is with the purpose of ensuring that watching the film is an intellectual experience which involves rationalised thinking rather than being emotionally influenced. Furthermore, film makers utilised location shooting as stated by Bordwell & Thompson (2010), transitioned from filming at studio sets to utilising actual locations with real time. The elements of mise-en-scene are minimally manipulated to ensure authenticity where films were just to reflect reality instead of constructing a false better world through film. Natural lighting and sounds are used without any equipment to colour grade and sound mix (Bordwell & Thompson). It was also stated that make up and costumes were relevant to everyday life. Lastly, actors’ movements were one of the highlights of films of French New Wave as their actions and dialogue were improvised where they were encouraged to talk over each other as it replicated real-life conversations. In addition, the mise-en-shot technique used was usually handheld shot as it allows flexible camera mobility (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). Additionally, the syntactic approach of film includes women characters who started to be portrayed as characters with stronger personalities as they make decisions for themselves. Besides, male lead characters were portrayed as one who always goes against authority but people tend to find them charming. To recapitulate the principles of French New Wave, semantic and syntactic approach to film are generally improvised to educate the public about the current reality through film.

In the film Breathless, Michel was on his way to Paris. However, he was trailed by the police and ended up killing a policeman. After escaping to Paris, he hid out with his lover, Patricia, by putting up a façade that he was very wealthy and a man owed him money. They continued to enjoy each other’s company. Unfortunately, the police caught up with her and told her to inform them about his whereabouts. She was threatened to be deported back to the States. In the end, she betrayed him by selling him out to the police. After a big fight, he ran out to the streets and finally found the man who owed him money but was shot down by the police and died.

As mentioned above, Breathless constituted of multiple long shots and jump cuts. Long shots define as filming a shot for a very long time which is evident in the scene where Michel and Patricia were walking along the street (Picture 1) as well as the scene where they were arguing and the camera circled them around the room (Picture 2). 

Picture 1 

Picture 2 

Jump cuts were prevalent during the more intimate scenes such as of them kissing (Picture 3)and non-sexual scenes where the cab driver was yelling to other road users. 

Picture 3

Furthermore, location shooting is very prevalent in the film as passer-byers were constantly looking into the camera especially in the scene where he was following her after finding out she was going to meet a man (Picture 4). 

Picture 4

There was natural throughout the entire film as illustrated by the loud ambulance sound that overpowered the conversation between him and her in the bedroom. Whereas the entire movie was shot with natural lighting. An example would be the scene in the lift where he was trying to steal a Ford car was almost pitch black without any studio lights. Additionally, majority of the film consisted of handheld shot as the shots were constantly shaky. Although these aspects made the film to be not visually impressive, it was intended to go against traditional structure of studio-made films by reflecting authenticity of reality through documentation. Syntactically, female characters, were also portrayed as females with the ability to make their own decisions as they decided for themselves who their own sexual partners were. Lastly, the leading male character also reflected the principle where he goes against authority but was charming. Although Michel killed a policeman, he was still well-loved by the ladies. These principles categorised Breathless as part of the French New Wave cinema.

As a summary, Breathless is a film produced as part of the French New Wave which highlights everyday life through documentation. The semantic and syntactic approach of the film went against traditional film making techniques. This is to separate the film world from actual reality where audiences are still able to rationalise rather than being emotionally moved about the content of film. Therefore, French New Wave films possessed its own unique characteristics by highlighting the authenticity of shots.

Reference:

Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K. (2010). Film Art An Introduction (9^th ed.). USA: McGraw-Hill,

pp 475-477.