Jean-Luc Godards’s Breathless certainly made for an interesting film watching experience. It was not very far into the film—the scene where Michel Poiccard is complaining about the traffic—that I was dreading having to watch it through to the end. True, Breathless is only 90 minutes long but I thought it was going to be 90 minutes of Godard’s annoyingly avant-garde muse. It was not the film’s unconventional (for its time) editing that bothered me. I actually really enjoyed the editing style and had no trouble following the plot. The issue was that the quality lighting and filming seemed poor, which initially made it difficult for me to get into the film. As the story progressed, however, I definitely got caught up. As roguish as he is, I did fall for Michel Poiccard’s charm. In spite of that fact that he’s somewhat of a scoundrel and in spite of that fact that I know French movies often do not have happy endings, by the end of the film, I was rooting for Michel. I wanted to see him escape and I wanted Patricia to run away with him to Italy. Even though I did not get the happy ending I hoped for, I was happy that, after she ratted him out to the police, Michel's last words were to tell Patricia that she was a scumbag. Although the editing style of Breathless is no longer unique, the story itself certainly is. I am not sure whether the lighting and filming seemed to improve as the film went or whether I become so engrossed in the story that I forgot to notice. In any case, my initial reaction to the film proved incorrect as I was eventually very wrapped up in the fates of Michel and Patricia. I found that the editing, and subsequently, the story are easy to follow as long as you are willing to engage with the film and place yourself in the character’s positions.


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