Tuesday, April 21, 2015
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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Like in many popular films of all eras, the law enforcement in Breathless is portrayed as incompetent while the protagonists who happen to be criminals are depicted as clever, resourceful, and even compassionate. The criminals live a fast, luxurious, and exciting life whilst outsmarting the bumbling French policemen. It seems as if the film is conveying the message that crime is totally acceptable up until the very end when Michel is finally brought to justice for his crimes and shot in the street. Therefore, the important takeaway from Breathless with regard to crime and punishment is that in the short run one can get away with crime and live the high life, but eventually misdeeds have a way of catching up with the perpetrator. Thus, the film can be interpreted as a social commentary, critical of the changing morals of youths in urban environments. This theory is especially logical when interpreted in a contextual sense as the year when it was released, 1960, kicked off a decade which enveloped the developed world in a wave of social and political upheaval on a scale that had never been experienced. By the end of the decade, cities like Paris transitioned from traditional bastions of old fashioned culture into the stomping grounds of hippies and other social reformers. Many of the reforms that went on were viewed as immoral and the heads of society believed that the youth couldn’t get away with it. The death of Michel Poiccard in Breathless foreshadows the eventual fall of the movement. He, like the protestors and changers of society, was able to outsmart the rest of society for a while, but in the end he was killed and the mood of the world shifted back into a less socially conscious state. However, there is still some hope as Michel was able to touch the lives of Patricia and many others, the youths of the era were to some extent able to create lasting changes in the global community.
ReplyDeleteThe film Breathless is essentially a critique of police and the punishment enforced on criminals. In the beginning, Michel is speeding away from the cops and he turns onto a little path off the road. The police cruise right by without noticing that he turned which makes the police look incompetent and like a joke task force. Michel evades police but when they finally turn around and catch him, he shoots and kills the policeman. However, the policeman really should not have died as he had several seconds to fire first on Michel as Michel reached into his car to grab his gun. All this time the policeman was just standing there instead of taking direct action and either shooting Michel or causing him to somehow drop the gun. Again, the film appears to be criticizing the police. Michel somehow escapes after he murdered the policeman and makes it back into Paris safe and sound. If the police were halfway decent in this film, Michel would have never got away from the scene of the murder, so again the police are made to look incompetent. Michel then is able to live out his life freely for several days before the police find him. Actually, the police did not find him but rather Patricia turned him in and gave the police his exact address. This shows that Michel probably could have evaded police for as long as he wanted, because the police are incompetent and needed his exact address in order to finally track him down.
ReplyDeleteThe film breathless is clearly about paying for your crimes. This is because in the end Michel has to pay for the crimes he has committed by way of death. The film is trying to show that no matter how cool or above it all you are, whatever mistakes/ you have made in the past will come back to haunt you in the end. In the case of this movie it is Michel paying for the death of the police officer that he killed at the beginning of the movie as well as all the cars that he stole throughout the movie. Even though it is a steep punishment for the cars that he stole he does get the right punishment for the murder that he committed on the police officer at the beginning of the movie. It was weird though as it seemed that Michel would end up turning himself in as he seemed like an honorable man in that respect, instead he ran and was shot dead. This was an unfortunate end to his life as he was going to be the father of Patricia’s child. It also seems like Michel was going to try and clean up his act, but unfortunately never gets around to it as he is caught and killed by the police. The film is definitely not messing with us as it clearly shows that protagonist making a mistake and paying for it with an equal punishment at the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteBreathless is the fine line between comedy and action/thriller due to the development of the main character Michel. Michel has committed many different crimes and somehow is always able to evade any negative outcomes until the end. Throughout the film we see different aspects of Michel’s mindset on what he will plan to do next during his escape in Paris. Before entering Paris he has already murdered a police officer and has his name out on a warrant for his arrest. While the smooth gangster reconstructs his life in Paris he runs into Patricia who becomes a roadblock to his crimes. He begins to have feelings for her and enjoys the thrill of hiding with her. In a sense they recreate a Bonnie & Clyde figure of a man and a women against the law. Michel doesn’t realize that Patricia would lead him to the end of his life because he will be off guard and unaware of reality. He is blinded by the thrill he has when he is with Patricia. This film is built to be an action/thriller but is essentially messing with the audience. Michel is made to be some thug gangster but he never really commits to that lifestyle as he is trapped in persuasion of Patricia. Everything Michel does creates a thrill he enjoys to dodge and find ways around but once Patricia enters the game Michel descends slowly into the failure of his tasks. He ends up paying for all his crimes and dies in the hands of Patricia never realizing she was the one slowing him down.
ReplyDeleteThis film is saying that if you commit a crime and do not get caught, then keep doing it. We see this with the cars repeatedly being stolen and the killing of the cop. Michel continues to pull these stunts until he finds out the cops are on to him. He is then forced to stay in disguise and out of the public eye. Michel ends up dying at the hands of the cop’s gun when he tries to run away. Michel takes the bullet and does not try to run and hide he just runs straight and ends up being shot. For much of the movie, the cops are trying to find Michel when he is usually right in front of their faces. I feel this shows the cops as incompetent and oblivious to what is going on. One scene in particular really demonstrates this point. Patricia points to Michel, who is across the street, that the police are right behind her by pointing her finger in the direction of the cops. This scene shows the film director’s feelings towards the cops. He does not like them and does not think highly of them and their profession. The film is also saying that crime is perfectly fine. Break the law as often as you can until you are caught. Then pay for the injustice you have done to the law and others. The new wave feels that crime and breaking the law is good and they do it throughout their lives and films.
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ReplyDeleteThe film Breathless clearly demonstrates that every action has an equal consequence. Michel, a cunning cop-killer, runs through the streets of Paris trying to evade arrest and not own up to his actions. Although Michel manages to avoid law enforcement for a period of time, they ultimately catch up to him and shoot him. Michel is a psychopath who clearly believes that he is above the law because he thinks he can steal cars and money and kill a cop without consequences. To Michel, life is just a game, and Patricia is just a player in his game. He finds a thrill out of manipulating others and dodging the police. The final scene is meant to express the idea that there are always negative consequences when you commit a negative action(s). While the director might take this idea to an extreme because every murderer does not end up dying, he is also emphasizing that perhaps more extreme consequences should be the result of extreme actions. This film is considered to reflect the cinematic era of the French New Wave. The French New Wave criticizes the concept of going bad and lowering moral standards. The director asks the questions: "Is this really what you want our society to look like? Should we live in a world of crime or should we try reforming our society positively?" The director emphasizes that the out come of immoral actions is always death.
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ReplyDeleteIn common films the criminals of the story are portrayed as the bad guys while the hero of the story are also the protagonist. Iron man and mandarin, batman and joke, the list goes on and on. The good guys are the protagonist which the view wants to succeed and the villain should be caught and is shown to make the viewer want to hate them. This is one of the many things which make this film a new film, it makes the view want to root for the villain and makes the good guys, the cops, the bad guys who people hope fails. This role reversal is new to the film industry and would be mimicked in movies for the rest of time. The film shows crime for the opposite standpoint that people are used to. It makes the viewer want to root for the criminal and when the cops are shown as completely incompetent it makes the view want to see the cops fail. It says that crime can be a good thing. When the criminal is shows as the good guy, good looking, gets the girl, and has everything he wants it makes the viewer root for the criminal to succeed. To some extend the film is just messing with the viewer. In real life this portrayal of the criminal couldn’t be father from the truth, and is somewhat illogical. The largest way that this film messes with the viewer is by the portrayal of the cops as incompetent and stupid. This film revolutionizes the movie industry by showing the criminal as the good guy and the cops as incompetent.
Michel Poiccard is a very dangerous man who will kill if needed. The way the police and agents in this film are portrayed shows that the punishment is easily avoided. Michel Poiccard was casually driving at the beginning of the film. He is seen speeding by the police and they as normal pursued him. This all seemed regulation but what I noticed first was when one police when by the other one was very far behind them. Now usually I believe police stick together in case something like an armed suspect were to appear. These police however do not follow this procedure and as a result one of them gets shot. Also somehow Michel escapes after the other police was just a few seconds away. I believe this shows that the police are just sloppy and its fairly easy to outsmart them. Another way this is shown comes from the agents looking for Michel after he killed the police man. There is a scene when the agent is following Patricia and she blatantly makes hand signs to Michel and mouths words to him. This makes the agent look silly in the fact that he cant pick up on the obvious movements by Patricia. Also the fact the Michel is just wandering around and not necessarily running form the police he is just wandering. This shows that the police are not competent enough to catch a man who is sitting out in plain sight. Although in the end when they do find him his punishment is harsh. He was executed in the street. This shows that the punishment is not soft in this crime system, but that the police are not well trained and are not competent of carrying out simple field exercises.
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ReplyDeleteI think the New Era style of film is just to mess with the viewer. There are many noticable things that make the movie frustrating to watch and it isnt because of the sparatic plot. The movie doesn’t make sense a lot of the time acording to the plot because it jumps around so much. There are examples of the film just making no sense, like the media being able to give a play by play of the car chase with Michel during that time period is ridiculous to think about. This movie makes no sense from beginning to end and it is just there to mess with us. There is no evidence that anyone saw Michel shoot and kill that police man and yet they had his picture in the paper within 2 days and already started the man hunt. The way they film this movie also is just messing with the viewer. Everything classic already established in cinema they want to do the opposite of. Most movies don’t want jump cuts; Breathless uses as many jump cuts as they possibly can. There are scenes that make no sense where they are and have no purpose of being in the moive; like when Michel leaves the car to flip up a girl’s skirt. This moive jumps around and makes no sense like a normal movie does and that is what the new wave is. It might not have anything to say about crime or punishement but it has things to say about the cinema industry. The New wave doesn’t want to do anything by the book they just want to mess with everyone who watches it by making the movie make no logical sense.
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