I am an official Jean-Luc Godard fan. I thoroughly enjoyed À bout de soufflè, Breathless. I have been riding the French New Wave with this film, along with Masculin Fèminin, Vivre sa Vie "My Life to Live", and Weekend. As a Director, Godard partnered nicely with Cinematographer, Raoul Coutard to deliver these films.

Breathless speaks for itself, engaging, visually appealing, has you drawn in to the characters Michel Poiccard aka Laszlo Kovacs and Patricia Franchini. I enjoyed the fashion of both Patricia and Michel, along with the buildup of their odd romance, and the beautiful scenes of Paris behind them. I felt like Godard was presenting Paris in a mysterious fashionable way, and yes with a little criminal activity to boot. But it was fun criminal activity that until the end Michel appeared to be very good at. That is until he fell helplessly in love with Patricia. Actually he did help himself and quite often. He was a smooth but rude gent. Rude when he called Patricia a coward. Ultimately she could not live the life he lives. So the message, to all you women out there, be good and you won't die. Godard didn't seem to mind a little sexuality badness. In fact he weaved it into most of his films (I think).

FINAL Thoughts: It was difficult though to see the countless cigarettes being smoked in all of Godard's films (former smoker). I almost choked out in the bathroom scene in Breathless. I am glad cinema has moved away from that practice. There is also the murderous tone of Breathless and Weekend; its satire quality makes it okay and daring in Breathless, not Weekend (that was a bit over the sexual and murderous top for me). If you get the chance to check out Weekend, it definately brings his film making to a new level. Lastly, I found it interesting in Masculin Feminin that in making the film he ”did not have a shooting script and instead relied on a hand written spiral notebook filled with ideas, sketches and dialogue written the night before” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculin,_f%C3%A9minin).

Overall After watching several French films (mostly by Godard for me), you get a feel for the music, vivid imagery and dynamic presentation of character. Feel the wave!

This is a good site that gives a little overview of Godard and his films Breathless, Contempt, and Weekend.

http://www.carleton.edu/curricular/MEDA/classes/media110/Friesema/contempt.html

"It's sad to fall asleep. It separates people. Even when you're sleeping together, you're all alone."
-- Patricia Franchini in Breathless