Breathless Forum

Breathless

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Since seeing this film, I think more about doing nothing than I did before. There is much sitting around, and living aimlessly. Godard doesn't hide this, instead revels in it.
From this meditation on "nothingness", I began to see slight differences in just how that is done. I,for example, just took a nap and reflected on the day and life in general. What is missing however, was obviously another person. In "Breathless" this is portrayed. The "doing nothing" but doing it intimately with another. How dreamy. Taken in that angle, I find that there are many introverted elements in this movie, and perhaps that could shed light on the mysterious betrayal that occurs. Not to go into that now, this is a discussion after all. I want to first discuss in more detail the nothingness in this movie.
It's obvious that Paris is an important character in this film. Now wonderful cities like Paris can have very different aspects. Take the difference between Breathless and Godard's My LIfe to LIve. In either environment, not doing anything may or may not help. For someone who wants to move into the city to survive imediately, they are immediately confronted by the darker aspects of poverty and prostitution and crime. For another who is set up well; with a job and money and associates, Paris is lights and champagne and new dresses. Nothingness is therefore dark in the prior and delightful in the latter.
What Goddard shows is a certain attraction that people may have for a different pace of life, even if they don't know everything about another person. This happens between movie stars and movie fan in particular, as Michel exemplifies. The attraction gets into every nook and cranny of a persons down time. That is where posters are hung on walls and when people stare at themselves in the mirror. So this time doing nothing is very important to the two main characters in Breathless because they are not exactly sure what to make of eachother and the time together that they spend doing nothing is a good time to ask questions and watch each other's reactions.
That's all for now, hopefully someone will respond.

>>By beendone (Friday, 20 Aug 2004 01:31)

Since seeing this film, I think more about doing nothing than I did before. There is much sitting around, and living aimlessly. Godard doesn't hide this, instead revels in it.
From this meditation on "nothingness", I began to see slight differences in just how that is done. I,for example, just took a nap and reflected on the day and life in general. What is missing however, was obviously another person. In "Breathless" this is portrayed. The "doing nothing" but doing it intimately with another. How dreamy. Taken in that angle, I find that there are many introverted elements in this movie, and perhaps that could shed light on the mysterious betrayal that occurs. Not to go into that now, this is a discussion after all. I want to first discuss in more detail the nothingness in this movie.
It's obvious that Paris is an important character in this film. Now wonderful cities like Paris can have very different aspects. Take the difference between Breathless and Godard's My LIfe to LIve. In either environment, not doing anything may or may not help. For someone who wants to move into the city to survive imediately, they are immediately confronted by the darker aspects of poverty and prostitution and crime. For another who is set up well; with a job and money and associates, Paris is lights and champagne and new dresses. Nothingness is therefore dark in the prior and delightful in the latter.
What Goddard shows is a certain attraction that people may have for a different pace of life, even if they don't know everything about another person. This happens between movie stars and movie fan in particular, as Michel exemplifies. The attraction gets into every nook and cranny of a persons down time. That is where posters are hung on walls and when people stare at themselves in the mirror. So this time doing nothing is very important to the two main characters in Breathless because they are not exactly sure what to make of eachother and the time together that they spend doing nothing is a good time to ask questions and watch each other's reactions.
That's all for now, hopefully someone will respond.

P.S. Breathless is by Jean-Luc Godard and stars Belmondo and Seberg

>>By beendone (Friday, 20 Aug 2004 01:37)

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