Monday, April 18, 2016
Love in the Time of the Beatles
One interpretation of Breathless is that it is a film about love in the modern world, where lovers know little about each others' past, have trouble communicating, follow their impulsive longings, only to end up betrayed at the end. Is there more to this take on modern romance? Is there something deeper in Michel and Patricia's relationship? Or is there something less? Is love even possible in the shadow of the atomic bomb and the Cold War? (Don't forget that Michel has other girlfriends and Patricia spent the evening -- and might have slept with -- her editor).
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In Breathless, Michel and Patricia’s relationship is set up to mock the idea of a modern romance. While elements of their love are present, this love is neither genuine nor in either of their best interests. Michel allows his love for Patricia to blind his ability to escape from the police. As such, love can be seen as a loss of one’s self-preservation and rational thinking. At the onset of the film, we see that Michel wants Patricia to move to Rome with him. However, we see no basis for their relationship and as such, this request seems unfounded to the viewer. Moreover, his reaction to her pregnancy also shows that this love is not one that will transcend the film. This revelation is due to the fact that while a baby is often a source of joy, it merely results in more than a pause for Michel. Another example of the fact that their love is not genuine is that they are completely lacking in their honesty towards one another. Communication is an extremely important aspect of any relationship. Nevertheless, not only is Michel extremely reluctant in divesting his criminal past, but also we see that Patricia is not entirely honest about her relationship with her editor. From these facts, we can deduce that their love is neither genuine nor pure. Rather, it is a shell of a relationship that only highlights the faults of modern love, such as a lack of communication and depth. Godard shows the consequences of Michel’s infatuation with Patricia when his desire to convince her to move to Rome with him overpowers logical thinking. Rather than flee before the police catch him, he not only wastes his time with Patricia rather than track down Berutti, but he also argues with Patricia for a good amount of time after she unveils her betrayal. Obviously, this relationship is not in Patricia’s best interest, as she lied to the police for Michel and became an accessory to murder. While Michel himself believes that he is in love, it is clear that he has no idea what this word actually means.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the film, Breathless, shows through Michel and Patricia’s relationship that modern romance is not as deep as it used to be before the atomic bomb and the advent of the Cold War. The meaning of love has been lost and replaced with lust and desire. People want to live their lives to the fullest and not be tied down. This is shown through Michel’s many romances with girls and how he does not take life seriously. He does what he wants and does not follow the law. Patricia begins to feel as carefree as Michel once she learns of his past. She enjoys being on the run and never questions her safety even though she is with a murderer. Patricia also is not completely committed to Michel because she is seeing her editor. This shows that people do not want to be tied down. It is possible that Patricia is sleeping with her editor which shows that after atomic bomb people did whatever they needed to in order to get where they want to go in life. I believe that Breathless illustrates that people are afraid to fall in love because they are afraid of losing those they care about. This is shown with Patricia turning in Michel. She turns him in to prove that she does not love him yet she stays with him until he dies. The fact that even after she turned him in that she stays shows that she cares for him. This film expresses that love is not taken seriously anymore after the atomic bomb and during the Cold War because people want to live their lives to the fullest and are afraid to lose those they care about.
ReplyDeleteMichel and Patricia's relationship shows the existential themes that were prevenient in the French new wave film movement. Their relationship gives a new interpretation about what a relationship means and almost mocks the idea of a relationship as a whole. Often in French new wave films little information about a character's past is reveled and this is defiantly the case in Breathless. Patricia and Michel barely know anything about each other, yet Michel claims that he is in love with Patricia. Michel's love for Patricia begs the question of what is love and can you have love for someone that you barely know? Patricia and Michel impulsively jump into their relationship and they cannot even effectively communicate with each other and in the end Michel is left dead and betrayed. This ending may be mocking the idea of young love because it is saying that young people don’t know what they are getting themselves into and they are in cable of real love. Another scene of the film that gives an insight into Michel and Patricia's relationship is the scene where Michel is in Patricia's apartment. The entire time he is there they are talking about important issues, such as Patricia being pregnant, but it almost seems like they are just joking around with each other. When Patricia tells Michel that she thinks she is pregnant with his baby, neither one of them seems surprised or excited. Typically if two people are in love, a baby is seen as a reason to celebrate but instead they quickly move onto another topic of discussion. It seems as though both Michel and Patricia are too caught up in their own lives to truly love one another.
ReplyDeleteThis film definitely has an interesting take on modern-day love / relationships. I felt that their relationship was ironic and even taunted the idea of love. Michel and Patricia both treated one another very poorly, which is not the way to act while actually in love. I think that Godard was attempting to show the incompetency of our generation through this relationship. Though both Michel and Patricia told each other that they loved one another, they were constantly contradicting this and constantly betraying each other's trust. Michel had several other girlfriends, not to mention he treated Patricia pretty terribly. All the while it is suggested that Patricia herself cheated on Michel with her editor. I think that the film's take on modern love is that it is close to impossible to find, which is represented in the very shallow relationship between these two. This is demonstrated in the bedroom scene, when Patricia is trying to have a real conversation with Michel, however Michel keeps trying to get her to take her clothes off. I think that through this scene Godard was trying to express that our generation doesn't care or is incapable of love, but only intimacy. I also think he was trying to emphasize the distinct difference between these two things.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between Michel and Patricia is nothing like the modern romance couples that we are accustomed to seeing on the big screen. Michel begs for Patricia and tells her that he loves her yet his past actions with other women and his crime history makes it difficult for the viewers to believe this notion. He is a liar by nature; fleeing punishment and abusing women and friends for money. This part of him makes it difficult for us to overcome in order to enjoy his relationship with Patricia. It is unclear why she is with him even when she figures out he is a crime suspect, and it is unclear throughout the film as to whether or not she loves him back. In many ways, this idea that she is falling for a guy that cannot and should not be trusted proves the inability of our current generation to fully get to know someone when it has become so easy to cheat and lie. While it is indeed a possibility that Michel and Patricia truly love each other, it is difficult to root for their relationship to fight through because the troubles with Michel are greater. How can a relationship be successful when there is lying and cheating involved? This modern romance raises the question for as to whether or not we can truly trust our instincts when it comes to love. We could think we are meant to be with someone yet we could have absolutely no idea what they do beyond the relationship itself. Patricia and Michel are a prime example of a relationship destined to fail due to the fact that their relationship is based on lies and Michel should not be trusted. This film captures romance as it really is without fantasizing it and making it impossible to exist in real life, unlike many of the cliché romance movies of today.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between Michel and Patricia is nothing like the modern romance couples that we are accustomed to seeing on the big screen. Michel begs for Patricia and tells her that he loves her yet his past actions with other women and his crime history makes it difficult for the viewers to believe this notion. He is a liar by nature; fleeing punishment and abusing women and friends for money. This part of him makes it difficult for us to overcome in order to enjoy his relationship with Patricia. It is unclear why she is with him even when she figures out he is a crime suspect, and it is unclear throughout the film as to whether or not she loves him back. In many ways, this idea that she is falling for a guy that cannot and should not be trusted proves the inability of our current generation to fully get to know someone when it has become so easy to cheat and lie. While it is indeed a possibility that Michel and Patricia truly love each other, it is difficult to root for their relationship to fight through because the troubles with Michel are greater. How can a relationship be successful when there is lying and cheating involved? This modern romance raises the question for as to whether or not we can truly trust our instincts when it comes to love. We could think we are meant to be with someone yet we could have absolutely no idea what they do beyond the relationship itself. Patricia and Michel are a prime example of a relationship destined to fail due to the fact that their relationship is based on lies and Michel should not be trusted. This film captures romance as it really is without fantasizing it and making it impossible to exist in real life, unlike many of the cliché romance movies of today.
ReplyDeleteWhile up front Michel’s relationship with Patricia is simply sexual, there is a deeper meaning amidst all of the impulsive longings in a modern relationship. The scene that shines the most light on whether Michel and Patricia’s relationship in the film is deep is when Michel sleeps over at Patricia’s place and waits for her. The drawn out dialogue in this scene contains sexual desires from Michel and quirky moments of love that includes a staring contest, but there is also a deeper philosophical moment where Patricia mentions William Faulkner. Patricia famously quotes Faulkner: "Between grief and nothing, I will take grief." As a response to this, Michel says he would choose nothing; "grief is a compromise." These quotes give insight to the characters somewhat contrasting personalities. When Michel says that he would take nothing he means he would rather go all out for love than suffer with the grief. This quote also foreshadows the ending where Michel ends up with nothing and Patricia is left to grieve Michel’s death and her part in it. A common argument is that the relationship between Michel and Patricia isn’t deep because Michel has other girlfriends and Patricia may have spent the evening with her superior. However, I feel that these incidents only happened because of Patricia’s hesitancy and inability to fully love Michel. Michel clearly loves Patricia because of her beauty of charm as he loses everything confiding in her even after she calls him into the police. When Patricia finally realizes that she may have more than a lust for Michel it is too late and she is only able to grieve his loss.
ReplyDelete