film reviews by teens

Jean Luc Godard, one of the most important names in French New wave cinematic movement, claimed to get inspiration from American cinema, especially Hollywood's movies. In his movie "Breathless" ("À bout de souffle" in French) he shows an interesting way of getting inspiration from films across the Atlantic ocean, especially film noir. American film noir is very different from old school French movies before the New Wave. We can see that by analyzing some details in the movie. First, the choice of including an American artists as one of the starring roles in "Breathless", like Jean Seberg who plays the main female character in the movie. That unlocks a great way to reflect on how American movies portray american people in Europe. It is somehow a subject that can be reflected upon all along the movie. Also the main actor, Jean-Paul Belmondo acts very often like Humphrey Bogart, which is obviously a reference to film noir and the a tribute to the very famous and recognized actor. Like film noir, "Breathless" leads the viewer into an universe of violence and certain suspense, mixed with what we could call a love story. We also have the death od Michel Poiccard at the end that has a tragic side similar to Film Noir deaths. But the French New wave has a certain way of portraying these aspects of the plot, in a somewhat more "dull" way, at least to the modern viewer.

Teodora Ichim