Breathless (3 Stars)

Today the legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard died in Switzerland by assisted suicide. I admit to being curious as to how this is carried out. Does the person have to sign a document stating he wants to die? Otherwise his children might have killed him to get their hands on his inheritance. Are there detailed stipulations how the suicide is to be carried out? I'll have to read up about this.

I remember watching a few of Godard's films on television, but "Breathless" is the only film of his that I own on DVD. I bought it in February 2006 and haven't watched it since then. I couldn't remember what the film is about, which is a bad sign, but I was determined to watch it again to commemorate Jean-Luc Godard's death.

The film is about the relationship between a petty car thief and an American student in Paris. Michel makes money from stealing and selling cars. Patricia has a part-time job with the Paris branch of the Herald Tribune. It's an uneven relationship. He's an uneducated man who lives for thrills, whereas she's an intellectual who has plans for her future career in journalism.

Michel shoots a policeman when his car is stopped for speeding. He's being hunted by the police, but he can't leave Paris because he's waiting for payment from cars he's sold. When he gets the money he wants to move to Italy, but Patricia says she wants to stay in Paris. It's a mixed up relationship. Michel is madly in love with Patricia, but she's cool towards him, not certain whether she loves him or not.

A word about my rating. Based on the story and the excellent acting by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg I'd give the film four stars, but I have a personal problem. The two main characters are constantly smoking. I find cigarettes repulsive. I can accept them in films like "Basic Instinct" where they're essential to the plot, as long as the smoking isn't overdone, but in "Breathless" there's smoking throughout the film for no reason at all. That deserves a one star deduction from an otherwise enjoyable film.

I grew up in a house filled with smoke. My parents were both heavy smokers. My father was a chain smoker who smoked 80 to 100 cigarettes a day, while my mother smoked 20 to 40 cigarettes a day. When I sat in the living room watching television there was always a cloud of smoke. It's a miracle that I never tried cigarettes myself, but I probably inhaled more smoke as a passive smoker than people who've smoked all their lives. The cigarettes took their toll on my father. He had a heart attack when he was 53. After my father's death my mother reduced her smoking to about 10 a day, and she lived till she was 78.

Growing up with heavy smokers, I was used to cigarettes, but after leaving home cigarettes began to disturb me more and more. It was a gradual development. Today I'm unable to sit in pubs where people are smoking.

I'm getting off the subject. Sorry. I'll just add one thing. "Breathless" has the best trailer I've ever seen. Click here to view it.

Jean-Luc Godard
3 December 1930 – 13 September 2022

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