Society is the same way; it is polarized between "black and white," (as the film's black and white theme indicates), "good and bad," and "kill or be killed." The film's motifs indicate that society and Michel's flaunting of society are intertwined, and that as long as there is an organized society, there will be those who simply cannot accept the rules of society, or fit inside it comfortably. The jump cuts in the film can often be uncomfortable to watch, or irritating, and this too is a way of the director to comment on society and government. Often, there are aspects of the government and state that are uncomfortable or irritating, but the people have to put up with them or make an effort to change them. In this film, Michel does not try to change them, he simply refuses to adapt to them, and it costs him his life. The jump cuts illustrate the other side of the argument, that many people will just endure the aspects of state and government that are irrigating and uncomfortable, rather than do anything about them. The jump cuts are like that - to enjoy the film you have to "suffer" through the jump cuts and their irritation, or simply stop watching. The viewer has the choice, but as in life, often the choice is the lesser of two evils, rather than a clear-cut choice for the better.
One critic notes, "Godard's jump cuts have also been seen as part of a new esthetic, a radical departure from worn-out modes of cinematic discourse, and an attempt to carry out within the film medium revolutionary developments found in other arts" (Raskin). Thus, the jump cuts represent change, just as society was changing at the time, and just as the lives of the two main characters in the film were changing. The jump cuts were revolutionary...
Breathless: French New Wave Cinema and Acting Technique Traditionally, acting has always been regarded as a 'craft.' Acting in the theater requires understanding certain modes of presentation such as breath and movement, to communicate the actor's intention to the audience. Film, however, is often called a director's medium, because the director can select what snapshots of life he or she wishes to show to the viewer. Film is also a more
Breathless in the face of Godard's Sharp and Fragmented Vision of Filmed Sexuality all these things, at first sight...are obstacles to conventional smoothness and logic. Yet they are perfectly efficient in the sense that they crate an impression of confusion, flight, fear, restrained violence, imminent danger, etc., while staying within the bounds of possibility...The editor [Godard] is saying, in fact, "the habitual idea of screen continuity is merely an illusion
Films and Directors of the French New Wave Movement Discuss the male/female relationship in the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, My Night at Maud's, Le boucher Shoot the Piano Player regards to the Nouvelle Vague. La Nouvelle Vague, or the "New Wave," is a term given by film critics in the late 1950's to a cluster of French filmmakers who began a movement that rejected classical cinema to introduce new perspectives of romantic youthfulness.
French New Wave French cinema, by the time the second world war ended, was faced with a crisis fittingly summarized by posters that advertised Mundus-Film (distributors for First National, Goldwyn, and Selig). These posters implied that the cannon operated by America's infantrymen launched film after film targeted at the French. La Cinematographie francaise (soon to become the leading French trade journal) claimed that every week 25,000 meters of film imported
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