Breathless

Some movies I watch and immediately forget. Others are thought-provoking and I'm glad when there's someone interested in discussing them with me. Then there are those movies where I get to the end and I feel like I need someone to explain them to me. (This movie is that third kind, in case you were wondering). Sometimes it's because I'm sure I missed something, but I'm not sure what that something was. Sometimes it's because I don't understand a character's motives or intentions. Sometimes it's just because I'm so accustomed to slick plot-driven Hollywood flicks that I don't know what to do with something I'm guessing people watch in film school. If you ever needed proof that I am accustomed to movies as opposed to cinema, here it is. I mean, I don't even know what New Wave means (and to be honest, I'm just not interested enough to find out, either).

I must admit I can't find much to say about this movie. I am certainly not going to make up a bunch of crap about it in an attempt to sound like I know what I'm talking about. This movie really just seems to me like a 50s or 60s crime caper in the vein of Charade, How to Steal a Million, or To Catch a Thief--all fun movies which I have enjoyed, and all movies that I was sure I "got," if only because they were merely skin deep--except that, because of the way it is edited and because of stronger character development, this one is obviously more artsy fartsy. But someone else is going to have to explain to us the significance of all that.

On a more superficial note, I would like to comment on the French in this movie. First, Patricia's accent was atrocious. Yes, she was an American and French was her second language, and I suppose if her accent had been too perfect it might not have been believable, but I have to wonder if that's the best the actress could do, or was she actually trying to sound that bad? I'm convinced even I could have done a better job. Second, I'm so proud about how much of the French I could understand on my own (ok, so maybe it was only about 17%, but still). I had thought that j'ai oublié toutes de la langue, and it's not like I could get by without English, but I'm glad that I remember more than I'd thought. And third, once again I found I know just enough French to be annoyed by the subtitles, which either left out entire sentences (though never very important ones, that I noticed) or translated in a slightly different way than I would have.

So that's my superficial American opinion of this apparently classic example of cinema.