Friday, April 18, 2014
Crime Never Pays?
Michel Poiccard is petty criminal who steals cars like some people speed on the highway. He lies and cheats people close to him, including a girlfriend. He is dangerous when cornered and has murdered a police officer. Yet, at the same time, he is young and glamorous, faithful in his way to Patricia, and in the end willing to pay for his crimes. The film follows some of the rules of a film noir or gangster film. Yet, the film also plays around with those conventions: the police, for example, are incompetent and there is not much tension or excitement in the chase scenes. So what is going on? Is this film saying anything about crime and punishment? Or is it just messing with us?
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In “Breathless”, we see more illegal acts than legal ones: from stealing numerous cars to knocking out an innocent man in the bathroom, from killing a cop to suspicious money deals. Michel acts as if he is above the law and can do absolutely anything he pleases. This could be a statement aimed at young men of the time whose impulsive desires take the place of reason and rationality. Michel constantly takes whatever he wants from everyone else, sneakily and stealthily. He has no regard for the possessions of others or for morality. This concept of acting based on want rather than need is big in this film. Michel wants Patricia. Michel wants money. Michel wants cars. Michel wants freedom. So, he steals, he kills, he cheats, and he lies. All throughout the film, he receives absolutely no consequences for the countless crimes he commits. Ultimately, however, he is shot in the back as he runs away from his crimes. He does not own up to his evil ways or even fight for his innocence; he simply runs away. For someone who has committed so many crimes, is this a real punishment? He enjoys running down the street with a bullet in his back, smoking his last cigarette, and waving to Patricia. He is not suffering or feeling any sort of remorse for this actions. He is not being punished. He doesn’t have to live with the consequences of what he has done. I believe the lightness associated with his crimes (they are committed in broad daylight, there is nearly no aspect of mystery to the audience) is appropriately matched by the swiftness of his death and that he does not have to long suffer punishment.
ReplyDeleteAh, the confusion of French New Wave cinema. Breathless perfectly captures the chaos that is typically involved in New Wave and leaves us questioning some seemingly transparent aspects of everyday life. In Breathless the main character, Michel Poiccard, is a criminal that is on the run. He encounters the police a few times, but is never captured alive. The first time we see Michel interact with the police he is driving through the countryside and the cops spot him, when it seems almost impossible. Right away we think, “hey, these are some pretty impressive cops,” but then we see these cops make silly mistakes that allow Michel to get away. Right there we see that the filmmaker is trying to make a statement about crime and punishment. For the next hour or so Michel runs around Paris with Patricia, his lover and the possible mother of his child, and they never meet the cops again, even though they are stealing cars and walking through public. The next time the police are an actual threat to Michel’s freedom is when Patricia calls the police and tells them where Michel is hiding. It is very clear that the filmmaker is trying to say something else about freedom, love and punishment. In my opinion these police are not literal police; these police are the guards of Michel’s masculinity. When Michel is not obsessed with Patricia he is a free man that can escape any situation, but when Patricia affects him emotionally and with the possibility of a child he is no longer a free bachelor. It is a statement that criticizes men in modern society, because a man can love a woman, but he is still free to disconnect himself from that woman. However, a man cannot disconnect himself from a child therefore, for a man like Michel he life is basically over. This film is trying to tell people not to do the crime, if they cannot do the time.
ReplyDeleteTo some, this next statement might seem foolish; however, as I viewed Breathless, I couldn't help but imagine that it played an important role in Quentin Tarantino's development as a director. The way in which Godard allows Michel Poiccard to completely own the city made me feel that I was watching a primitive version of Tarantino's masterpiece, Pulp Fiction. Both movies disorient the viewer due to their atypical storylines. Breathless is far from the classic Hollywood film, a fact that ultimately helps affix a certain aura of chaos and confusion that couldn't be as prominent if the viewer possessed added backstory. Both of the aforementioned films also essentially mock the way that criminals carry out their business and the way that the police seems to be this foolish third party that ultimately has little to no actual power. The only reason Michel's reign of terror ends is because he chooses to turn himself in. This decision was due to his relationship with Patricia; the police didn't actually solve crime. For this reason, I feel that Godard's main objective was not to comment on crime as much as he wanted to display the foolishness of law enforcement. Although he is reckless and detestable, Poiccard really has no issues with the police throughout the film. I think that if Godard's main objective with Breathless was to call attention to the utter dysfunctionality of law enforcement in France during the '50's and '60's, then he completed that task with flying colors. If he was trying to satirize crime, I think he missed the mark.
ReplyDeleteThe film Breathless mocks the traditional expectations of the crime genre, yet also conforms to those same stereotypes. Throughout the film, Michel Poiccard steals cars and assaults people, yet almost always gets away with his crimes. His actions sometimes appear comical as when he assaults a man in the bathroom with a karate chop to the neck in order to steal his money. The comical assault is overdone and ironically Patricia cancels on him, meaning that he stole the money for nothing. In Breathless, Michel is incriminated by both conversations and the continuous chase. During all of the film, the viewer sees no evidence of Michel’s first crime. When Michel shoots a police officer, we see the gun go off, but we do not see the events that led up to the action. The director leaves us with a poor understanding of events. Although the film mocks the crime genre, the film also conforms to this genre. Breathless follows the typical- crime, chase, and then capture that occurs in many crime films. Michel kills a police officer, spends the rest of the film evading capture, yet in the end gives up and is killed. Overall, the film contradicts its own portrayal of the crime genre. In many ways, the director portrays crime as something fake, laughable, and always disputable. Is the viewer ever given any real proof of the crimes that were committed? Will we ever know if the characters are actually distinguished criminals? Or is it possibly just a manipulation of the mind, with no proof of the first major crime.
ReplyDeleteThe film Breathless is definitely taking a stab at mocking authority. It downplays the police's power to the extent that they come off as useless jesters. Since this film fits under the era of "French New Wave," I believe that Breathless puts crime under a "new" light. I can't speak for others, but after watching this film I have to say there was a part of me that looked up to Michel. Of course that didn't mean I was putting a visit to downtown in my calender packed with grand theft autos and constabulary murders, but nonetheless the rebel side of me was sparked. Specifically, I believe Breathless may be questioning the punishment of crimes in France. Since I personally was able to sympathize and root for Michel, it puts me in an awkward position against the cops and authority. One begins to contemplate if Michel is really that criminal on the front page that they have heard about so many times before in real life. The whole time I never wanted Michel to get caught. After Patricia called the police on Michel and they both were just waiting at the house towards the end of the movie, I almost wanted to get out of my chair and yell "Run Michel! Run to Rome!" So maybe the message is that criminals aren't always set out to what they seem. I would never classify Michel as a cold blooded murderer... I mean definitely a crook, but he had a heart. Even if Breathless isn't trying to fully back the rebellious and delinquent lifestyle, it causes the audience to take a step back to look at it from a different perspective: we all have that Michel Poiccard side of us, so is he even a criminal at all?
ReplyDeleteUnder normal circumstances, any person that murders a cop would seem to be an evil, dangerous criminal. However, the same doesn't seem to apply with Michel Poiccard, who is easygoing and seems to be more preoccupied with love than not getting caught. The film Breathlesss begins with Michel killing a cop who approaches him on the side of the road, which is the first showing of the police's incompetence and lack of ability. After this, he goes on with his life, and there is minimal showing of any attempt to capture him. His name pops up in some newspapers, and there is one detective that is after him. Yet, it doesn't seem as Michel is even fazed at any point in the film. In one scene, he sees that a man who recognizes his picture in the newspaper reports him to the police, and he drives away calmly.
ReplyDeleteDue to the incompetence of the police and the calmness of Michel, this film doesn't paint a truthful picture of crime and prosecution. Normally, even at the time, it seems as if such a brutal murder would be a bigger deal, but it was barely even reported. I think that the director made his crime not such a big story so Michel could still lance around and chase Patrice. The message of crime and punishment seems to be that you will only really get caught if you want to be, since Michel actually ended up turning himself in. At that point, the message seems to be so unrealistic that we really learn nothing about crime and punishment in the first place. It is not realistic to think that you can evade the police for as long as you please.