Film
Dating’s last gasp: À bout de souffle
Despite playing with the tropes of Golden Age Hollywood, Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) isn’t an action-packed film. It’s exhausting all the same. A study by NBC found that half of Americans’ sex lives worsened due to the pandemic and even as Tinder reported a 12% increase in engagement between March and June, many have found these romances to be a lot of talking, but not a lot of action. The lumpy communication and overstepping of boundaries it portrays feel so similar to the talking stage of dating. In the year it turns 60, I want to see what Breathless can offer in terms of consolation in a time where dating is restrained to two metre distancing. Keeping connection from withering on the online vine can feel as detached as the drama of Breathless. Godard pushed the boundaries of cinematic tradition by pulling away at the point of action. As he recounts the story of small-time crook Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) stealing a gun and shooting a policeman, Godard tugs what could be high-octane into something much more subtle. The extreme close up as the gun goes off denies the viewerany real sense of the character’s violence. As with meeting someone online, this enforced separation provokes a bravery that might not otherwise be invoked when faced with the much more visceral threat of rejection in person. Like the back and forth that comes with dating online, the couple’s extended tête-à-tête is the film’s main source of tension. Having fled to Paris in pursuit of money, Michel tries to take his girl Patricia (Jean Seberg) away with him to Rome. Godard transports the viewer to being ten again and hoping that complimenting the peas your friend’s parents made will stop them bickering. Michel begs Patricia to leave with him and muscles his way into her flat. He smokes when she asks him not to and dismisses her attempts to make it as a journalist. Tucked up in our own beds, we get to see that if someone won’t respect your boundaries, then they probably aren’t for you. Any gulf in values with a new person can be telling of what’s to come. The film’s experimental nature means the characters feel far removed from real people. But where Michel isn’t likeable, Patricia seems vapid. The female characters in the film are consistently vain, childlike and objectified. In this flatness, it’s hard not to interpret a level of veiled contempt for women on the part of Godard, particularly as the female characters of his films consistently double-cross the male protagonist. After asking if women will have a place in modern society, the man Patricia interviews dismisses her question by telling her that they will if they look cute like her. It’s difficult to discern how much of this depiction of gender is self-aware. This serves as an indication that it’s worth digging past initial assumptions. 14
