Tuesday, April 21, 2015
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).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I find it very unlikely to believe that the relationship between Michel and Patricia consist of something deeper. The main reason for that is that their relation is very superficial and the very often both of them are doing actions that displease the other, resulting in a failed attempt to control each one's behavior, something very explicit in the countless scenes of Michel criticizing her attitudes and trying to make her go to France with him. True love is non-striving and non-controlling, thus is why the movie leads me to believe that the characters are simply strongly infatuated and don't really see a real future perspective with one another. One might argue that Michel did in fact loved her and thought about having a life with Patricia in Italy, but the same might not be said about her. She is greatly more focused on her career as a journalist than on her love life with Michel, which might explain why it was so easy for her to snitch him out once she found out that he was a gangster and a killer. Another aspect that should be taken into account is the period and location the movie takes place. In a Rules of the Game modus operandi, 1960s Paris might not be the best location to fall in love with someone. The post-war feminist movement and the introduction of the birth control pill in 1960s resulted in the sexual liberation movement, which despised the conservative and traditional model of marriage and sex; something that is made explicit is scenes such as the interview where someone asks how many person it is acceptable to sleep with, and most people in the movie seem to agree that it is a relatively high number.
ReplyDeleteLove in the time of the Beatles was a complicated thing. There were many people like Michel and Patricia who had many relationships going on at once. Lots of people (mostly men) were just worried about having as many relationships going on as possible. This is what Michel seems to be at the beginning of the movie, but as the movie moves on it becomes even more clear that he is truly in love with Patricia. It is easy to see as he tries to spend all his time with Patricia and is very suspicious and unhappy when he finds out that she was romantically involved with her editor. Not to mention the fact that he does claim his love for Patricia many times throughout the movie. Even though it is not clear I do think that Patricia has the same feeling for Michel. I believe this as the way she acts around him tells a different story than her words. I think that even though she calls the cops on Michel, she is just search for reasons not to love him as he is a ‘bad boy’ and not the type of crowd she usually hangs with. I think that she is also afraid that her child is Michel’s and that by not loving him it will be easier to find a different person to blame for her pregnancy. All in all I think that there can be love at this time and at this place in history, but I do think that the movie breathless show love in a complicated light.
ReplyDeleteInstead of creating a story within the strict, pre-determined definition love, Breathless completely redefines the concept of love for the modern world where love is less about finding a life partner that will provide stability, and much more about short lasting and self-indulgent ecstasy. It is quite obvious from the beginning of the film that Michel and Patricia were not going to be a couple that would fall into the cliché vision of love where the two would marry and grow old together. Instead, the couple’s romance is a short burst of energy that quickly, and dramatically, fizzles out. Yet, Breathless poses the question: is this version of love any less valid? Due to the Cold War and the rapidly globalizing world, it is clear that the popular and “pure” vision of love cannot exist within the world of Breathless. While for decades sexual relations were seen as a completely private matter that one should be ashamed of, the sexual revolution of the 1960s completely shifted the meaning of love, and this film mirrors those changing mindsets. During the bedroom scene, Michel repeatedly tells Patricia that he loves her, while also attempting to go to bed with her. To both characters, love and lust are interconnected, yet there is also confusing grey area between the two (can you love without sex? Can you have sex without love?). However unconvincing Michel and Patricia’s confessions of love may be, it is important to note that the viewers, especially viewers who watched when the film was just released, are and were predispositioned to believe in the version of love that is a lifelong, unbreakable, bond between two people. Although Michel and Patricia obviously do not have this kind of love, their version of love is between two young and restless people who are still discovering who they are in the world. Their love is much more intense than examples in more traditional cinema, and this leads their relationship to be destroyed with just as much intensity with the death of Michel. The final scenes where Michel dies and Patricia is seen in an extreme close up mimicking a specific mannerism that Michel did illustrates their confusing yet intense relationship. Their love ends abruptly with betrayal and death, yet their relationship will always live on with Patricia—and it is clear that she will never forget Michel.
ReplyDeleteBreathless exposes a new form a love through the relationship between Michel and Patricia that foreshadows the concept of love that evolves in the late 1960’s due to the counterculture movement. While some may argue that Michel and Patricia do not truly love each other because they do not make plans to marry and spend their lives together and they are not completely loyal to each other. While both of these are true facts, they have no correlation with the love in their relationship. Michel and Patricia’s love strengthens through their exhilarating journey as Michel escapes from the cops and they find surprises at every turn. They care very little about their plans for the future and the morality in their relationship and instead they just want to have fun and focus on the positive aspects of their relationship. Their love for each other is certainly real even though it is different from the relationship between couples in earlier films such as Hildy and Walter’s marriage in His Girl Friday or Johnnie and Annabelle Lee’s relationship in The General. Patricia and Michel share a new type of love consistent with the idea of French new wave. Their relationship also foreshadows the changing meaning of love in the 1960’s. As counterculture and the hippie movement rises to fame in the mid to late 60’s people began to focus on the present and open their hearts to love from anyone and everyone. People start to have casual sex and relationships with no future. Michel and Patricia’s relationship expresses this type of love as it comes and goes but the love in their relationship is strong and filled with passion. Michel and Patricia have more than just a fling as they share a true love that is waiting to be defined in the 1960’s.
ReplyDeleteThe struggle between Michal and Patricia’s love is not a result of the time and things happening around them, but because they know so little about each other. Immediately, it is very clear that the relationship between these two individuals is built around a physical foundation. In fact they met each other as a result of sleeping together. We do not see the couple attempt to strengthen their relationship by trying to get to know each other. The couple is usually seen arguing or displaying their attraction in a physical manner. Patricia, knows that Michal is a criminal, but this is essentially the limit of her knowledge on her new lover. For the majority of the film it is unclear whether or not she even knows the reason for Michal’s fleeing is murder. This ignorance of each other’s past is essentially the route of the problem between these two young individual’s love. At the rout of this problem is Michal. I believe for two individuals to truly be in love they have be open books, having no secrets about the past or present. Michal, barely has any sense of truth in this film. He tells little to nothing about his Past to Patricia, yet is still able to maintain a relationship by manipulating Patricia with his smooth and confident persona. Michal is even able to get Patricia to aid in his escape, throwing the police off his sent. Although, she is willing to do so much for her new lover a long-term relationship is not possible, because too little is known about each others past.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship depicted in Breathless is not only representative of relationships in the 1960s, but in fact displays the problems of modern relationships in general. In movies made before the time of Breathless (or at least the ones we watched) lovers seemed to be sincere and simple in their feelings for each other; from The General to His Girl Friday, it seems like old cinema basically just shows a guy trying to win over a girl and be the hero of the day. However, in Breathless, this simplicity is no longer present. Michel tells Patricia over and over again that he wants to sleep with her, and he does not show the kind of emotion that a lover would be expected to show. He treats her somewhat indifferently and, regardless of what he tells her, he does not seem to be interested in her beyond a physical relationship. Where sincerity, loyalty, and emotion seemed to be the driving themes of older romantic movies, Breathless depicts a new kind of relationship that may have been developing along with the changing culture of the 1960s. To put it simply, it looks like this movie is trying to show (in an odd way) that the days of classy ladies and gentlemen are over; rather than holding doors open for her and giving her the attention that she deserves, Michel often does not look her in the eye, lifts up her dress as a joke, and directs insults and vulgarities towards her.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, it is important to note that Michel is not the kind of person that would likely be a gentleman to anybody; as a car thief, cop killer, and brute, it is not surprising that he does not treat his lady like royalty. Throughout the movie, Michel seems frustrated at the world, calling the police “pigs” and saying that Patricia “makes him want to puke.” (He said it after she had ratted him out to the police, but also earlier in the movie). Perhaps this arrogance is not intended to represent a single person, but actually young men and women in the 60s as a group. Patricia acts indifferently towards Michel at times as well, proving that this rude attitude is not one sided in the relationship. So, although the relationship between Patricia and Michel is certainly not a healthy one, I believe that it also aims to indicate the problems of young people in the 60s as a whole; by portraying a couple whose members are neither faithful to each other nor invested in the relationship, Breathless makes a statement about people, relationships, and society as a whole in the 1960s.
Breathless uses the relationship between Michel and Patricia to show that love in the modern world is a relatively simple emotion that refers to fleeting pleasures. Throughout the film, Michel tells Patricia that he loves her many times. Yet even more frequently, Michel talks about how he wants to sleep with her again. Michel is generally portrayed as an impulsive character that will do whatever he wants. When he needs money, he robs people, and he is not hesitant to kill a policeman when his freedom is threatened. Michel’s statement of love almost seems like a way to manipulate Patricia into having sex with him. One of their longest conversations takes place in Patricia’s bed, and throughout the entire conversation, Michel is relentless in trying to sleep with her. Patricia seems to care about more than just sex, but she feels no obligation to be loyal to Michel. There is a strong possibility that when she spent the night with her editor, she slept with him. Additionally, she is the one who calls the police and sets into the motion the cycle of events that end Michel’s life. Patricia is upset by Michel’s death and their relationship has been intense, but it has only lasted a few days. Breathless suggests that modern love can be simply physical and devoid of any obligations. Love is portrayed as something that can arise and then cease to exist in a very short period of time. Love can still exist in this time period and society, but it must be modified. Love is not two people wholeheartedly caring about one another, but a brief connection that exhausts itself quickly.
ReplyDeleteBreathless was produced in 1960, a time when everyone, and society as a whole, was experiencing deep change. The Sixties was a decade of the high volatility; the decade itself was full of revolutionary acts and people involved in the annihilation of social order, like the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, and the counterculture movement regarding social norms. There was immense liberation from societal norms regarding music, clothing, use of drugs, and sexuality. Moreover, this redefined what it means to love and be loved. Patricia and Michel exposed a new type of love that was sensational, unordinary, and fleeting. In Early Summer, we were introduced to the topic of Mono Non Aware, where something’s beauty is amplified and appreciated more because it is fleeting and ephemeral. I believe that the explosion of love between Michel and Patricia is an example of that nostalgia that is experienced with mono non aware; their love was new, fresh, and ultimately going to dramatically crash and burn. Because of all the change in the 60s, love was not the stereotypical grow old together type of love; it was a “be young and dumb” together for as long as you could, but you knew it was going to end type of love. However, that was the beauty to their relationship. In the middle of the movie, they have a conversation regarding love and sex and how they are correlated. Michel goes on to say there is no difference between love and sex. I believe that is the popular belief in the 60s because they did not want the stereotypical type of love. They wanted passion, not stability. This philosophical question of the correlation between sex and love is still popular today because of all the ruckus that the counterculture caused; the ripple effect of their revolutionary actions has shown the world that there are multiple types of love and it comes in many shapes and sizes. Michel and Patricia exposed the world to a new type of love; it was an explosion of energy and passion for one another, but it ended in betrayal. When the fourth wall is broken in the last few seconds of Breathless, Patricia wipes her lips just like Michel did. This, I believe, is a sign to say to the audience that their love was true and pure, just a new type of true and pure.
ReplyDelete