Breathless Movie Woodcut

Jean Luc-Godard's 1960 French film Breathless was the most renowned of the French New Wave period. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo & Jean Seberg, Godard utilized bold documentary-style visuals with hand-held cameras, natural lighting and frequent jump-cuts. The film was shot on location in Paris without permits and the style is daring, frenetic and raw. Godard started production without a shooting script. He wrote scenes each morning and filmed them the same day. The story follows a young petty criminal (Belmondo) who models himself on Humphrey Bogart. He steals a car, shoots a policeman and turns to his American girlfriend (Seberg) who tries to help him escape to Italy. The film is a nihilistic road movie with a pre-punk rock sensibility. Godard could not afford a camera dolly so he pushed the cinematographer around in a wheelchair. The first edit of the film was too long for distribution so Godard cut little bits from scenes throughout the movie. This lead to the film's famous jump-cut technique. Aside from the main title, the film lists no credits. Breathless embodies the essence of cool and it has clearly influenced the films of Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson. A painfully bad Breathless remake starring Richard Gere was made in 1983. The original film remains fresh and spontaneous and still inspires people the world over to flock to Paris. (woodcuttingfool.blogspot.com)