I saw A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) en plein air on the Jardin des Champs-Elysées Saturday night.
It reminded me of something I haven’t thought of in a while: Growing up in Florida, I used to read whatever pseudo-cultural fare I could get my hands on at the 7-Eleven (Vogue, Vanity Fair), and when a classic French film was mentioned, I would jot down the name, inquire at my local Blockbuster, and the same thing would always happen: The employee would sadly tell me that this film was not in stock. At which point I would shrug and rent She’s Out of Control one more time.
I guess I half figured I wouldn't like New Wave films. Or I figured that if I liked them, it would be for the same reasons I love the pristine design of les Jardins du Luxembourg or French doctors who smoke cigarettes. Because they would be so typically French, so unable to conceive of anywhere else.
And so, dear reader, I'm happy to announce that 15 years later, I've finally come to discover that these films are actually, like, good. You heard it here first!
In Breathless, Jean Seberg says, "I don’t know if I’m free because I’m sad, or if I’m sad because I’m free," a line that would surely sound Zach Braffy in any other context.
Witness the dramatic futility of Belmondo’s death, punctuated with a confusing, "C’est dégueulasse." (His girlfriend? The situation? WHAT?)
I love all these things. In fact, the experience of watching Breathless is only slightly diminished by one truc, and it is something for which I cannot fault Godard or the French New Wave:
If you are an American who speaks French, it is crushingly painful to listen to another American speaking French for two hours. When Seberg says "Ca fait poule" you hear that slight linger on the "ou", that extra half second that shows that she’s struggling a tiny bit to get it right, and you cringe. Because it’s exactly how you say it. Probably better.
And you just KNOW if this were real life and they didn’t have cars to steal and police inspectors to escape, Belmondo would take a puff of his cigarette, look at her from under his fedora, shake his finger and say, "No, no Patricia. "Ca fait poule. Ou, OU, poule."
And she would say, "Poule, pouuuuule."
And he would say "Mais no! POULE, POOULE."
And then there would inevitably be the part where he laughs, and cruelly imitates the way that she says it, maybe throwing in something like "Qu’est ce qu'ils sont con les américains." And when he says it the correct way, it would sound EXACTLY THE SAME TO MY AND PATRICIA'S EARS.
And that, that is dégueulasse.
hahaha, thanks for that, elizabeth. although i have to say french new wave cinéma leaves me cold (i tried so hard not to fall asleep during pierrot le fou, to no avail), jean seberg is too damn cute in breathless although if i watched the film again i'd probably be dégouté by her accent, too.
qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire? (on sait pas quoi faire.)
Posted by: Anna | 22 August 2007 at 03:17 PM
The first ones I saw (just after college) left me cold. (La Peau Douce I really hated the first time). But I can't believe it was not until this summer that I saw 400 Coups and Jules et Jim, both of which tie for my favorite.
Posted by: Coquette | 22 August 2007 at 03:22 PM
He's not quite New Wave - more of an influence on New Wave - but any film by Jean-Pierre Melville is worth watching.
Love your blog BTW.
Posted by: Dan | 22 August 2007 at 03:49 PM
I love Breathless. One of my favorite movies and Seberg's hair in that film was the inspiration for my very short pixie cut. And an ill-advised purchase of some cat-eye sunglasses that look terrible on me.
Another favorite French film of mine is "Cleo de 5 a 7" directed by Agnes Varda. It's wonderful.
Posted by: Kat | 22 August 2007 at 03:51 PM
I absolutely loved this post.
Posted by: LH | 22 August 2007 at 04:30 PM
too funny -- I'll have to have my husband look at this post. He had to learn French for work (he's a Canadian snr. civil servant) and it took a long, long, time with 8-5 days of private instruction in which he'd try to hear the difference between two sounds and then try to reproduce the correct one.
At our local Blockbuster, and probably at most of them, we always get warned that the film we're choosing is, oh no, subtitled! And to be fair to the employees, they probably do the warning because they've had outraged customers come back complaining that they have to read while watching their film, on top of having to listen to another language! Double the bad, I guess . . .
Posted by: materfamilias | 22 August 2007 at 04:44 PM
Yes, yes, the horror of the subtitled film! My town of Charleston SC has a charming little independent theatre, and many of my friends look at me in disbelief, or sometimes not even that strong an emotion (more like it's not even something within the realm of possible) when I mention that I'm going to see a film in ANOTHER LANGUAGE.
Posted by: suz | 22 August 2007 at 05:05 PM
I've always loved Seberg's hair in this film, and wish that I had the head to have mine cut that short.
Posted by: Therese | 22 August 2007 at 05:06 PM
ha! too funny!
Posted by: Aimee | 22 August 2007 at 05:19 PM
La nouvelle vague had such an incredible impact on French cinema and world cinema in general. Great period in film history.
Oh and speaking of anglophones speaking French...I came across this woman who is an Anglophone but sings in French. Yes she has an accent when she speaks but the accent is somehow lost when she sings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baYJR4Ugycs
Posted by: delphine | 22 August 2007 at 07:04 PM
Delphine, She's so cute! I loved that!
Posted by: Coquette | 22 August 2007 at 07:29 PM
a technical explanation: I think the reason the accent disappears when Andrea Lindsay sings is this: it sounds like she has an accent when she speaks because the voice is placed really far up on the back of the throat when it has been trained to speak English, as opposed to French, which resonates in the facial palate (any singers out there will know exactly what I mean). But when she sings, her voice is naturally placed further forward in the palate than when she speaks, so that element of foreignness is gone, and the only clue to a possible accent is in the pronunciation of the consonants.
jean seberg speaking french, to me, is only moderately more annoying than jane birkin speaking it: "soixante-neuf, année eeerrrohtique"...
Posted by: maitresse | 22 August 2007 at 10:44 PM
Hee. Adorable post.
Posted by: Luisa | 23 August 2007 at 04:08 AM
I hate that thing about hearing your own voice or someone speaking with the same accent and wanting to rip their tongue out.
The VERY WORST is when I accidently hear my cell phone messagerie. I couldn't bear it, so ALL I said on the message was my first name. With a French accent. Yet even that is enough to make me cringe and want to throw my cell phone against the wall, smashing it into a thousand pieces.
Like that would help. No, then I would have 2 problems, a bad accent AND a broken cellphone.
Posted by: sassy | 23 August 2007 at 10:11 AM
hee, I love this post and A Bout de Souffle. Jean Paul Belmondo is gorge in it, even though he's supposed to be all shady and corrupting and all that. Nice, sensible men are so boring?! I always thought him saying c'est degueulasse (just had to scroll up twice to spell it correctly) was about her shopping him to les flics...
Posted by: Claire...(l.i.b) | 23 August 2007 at 02:53 PM
too funny. I love breathless.
Posted by: melanie | 23 August 2007 at 11:01 PM
I, too, was a frequent renter of "She's Out of Control" but could never figure out the deal with the tights pulled over the knees with a short skirt. Not ever a good look. But a funny movie.
Posted by: Pamela | 24 August 2007 at 05:40 AM
Nice and mythical film.
I also think to the remake "breathless" with Richard Gere.
Posted by: imaginair | 24 August 2007 at 04:28 PM
You back in town. Me too. Have to catch up. You call me. Me happy.
Posted by: Joli Kiwi | 24 August 2007 at 05:08 PM
This made me laugh. I've learned over time to giggle at the bad accents of anglophones speaking French (and not only because I have one too!), since I work in close proximity to senior civil servants and politicians in Ottawa-- I'd be cringing all of the time if not laughing my silly little head off. :)
Posted by: Stephanie | 25 August 2007 at 05:42 PM
Now you're ready for "Bonjour Tristesse," in which Seberg's English is almost as flat as her French.
Posted by: R J Keefe | 25 August 2007 at 08:24 PM
I saw Jean Paul Belmondo in a restaurant in the 6th once. I was sitting with two Americans who spoke French as you describe. Having seen a fair amount of these New Wave films, and after 10 years in Paris (at the time, now its 15 years), I felt my French was moving into a new phase. Then I asked the waitress if she would get me Belmondo's autograph. It was a moment of weakness, but in rapid French she declined with a half-smirk, it was not appropriate. My American friends said, "Wha'dshesay?" "Not her table," I told them. "Eat your salade niçoise."
Posted by: MATTHEW ROSE | 27 August 2007 at 10:48 AM
Seberg's hair or Farrow's hair in Rosemary's Baby...whose is chicer?? Love Breathless...
Posted by: riz | 27 August 2007 at 02:49 PM
I am so happy you've discovered the pleasures of French New Wave. You should watch Godard's A Woman Is A Woman, starring his ultimate muse Anna Karina -- her outfits are so impossibly chic and French -- and My Life to Live (also with Karina, in her own chic cropped hair-do). Godard's Masculin/Feminin is lots of fun... all sex and socialism. Melville's Le Samourai is very stylish, sexy, and existential... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a New Wave musical starring Deneuve, is absolutely beautiful (and again has great outfits).
Posted by: Raquel | 27 August 2007 at 07:05 PM
Your observation about Seberg's accent is very funny. It doesn't seem fair that she gets away with it, does it? Or maybe her fellow storymates are very nonplussed and postwar and just not bothering to give her the old "where are you from?" everytime she opens her mouth.
Posted by: Chris | 27 August 2007 at 11:29 PM
A Bout De Souffle is such a wonderful movie. So slow and poetic. It's funny I remember having the same xperience when i was little back in Madrid ... going to the biggest video rent place, alas Blockbuster, with the hope of finding some gem and coming back home with Pretty Woman for the umpteenth time .. ^_^
Love your blog <3
Posted by: bobble-bee | 28 August 2007 at 04:46 AM
Well at least you know there is a difference, even if you don t hear it , thta s the beginning of frenchification ;-)
Posted by: king negrito | 29 August 2007 at 09:19 AM
I love this movie and Jean Seberg is SO CHIC .
I like the song of Claude Nougaro about this movie
Posted by: Melanie | 29 August 2007 at 12:14 PM
"Poule, pouuuuule."
Posted by: Fashion Minute | 30 August 2007 at 05:18 PM
I LOVE! your photos of that outdoor screen with the fragments of their heads...
Posted by: ParisBreakfasts | 31 August 2007 at 04:14 AM
Ahhhhh, I too saw A bout de souffle for the first time several years after moving to France and was stunned by how marvelous it was... I had already bought a copy of it on DVD for my boyfriend, after he raved about it, but then insisted on seeing it one random day in a cinema in St. Germain des Près -- boy, was that a great decision!
'Course, I couldn't get over Jean Seberg's accent too! And oh, how I love her hair... I sported a pixie cut for years but it never looked anywhere as chic as that! (not nearly so...)
How fab it must have been to see this en plein air... But I was far from Paris at the time.
Posted by: Alice | 31 August 2007 at 06:23 PM
Elisabeth
Just wanted to let you know that 'La Coquette' is one of my 5 picks for 'Blog Day 2007'
Here is the link to my Blog Day 5
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com/2007/08/take-5for-blog-.html
Bon week-end
Serge
'The French Guy from New Jersey'
Posted by: Serge Lescouarnec | 31 August 2007 at 08:03 PM
great blog!
Posted by: joyce | 01 September 2007 at 05:20 PM
You're getting outdoor French New Wave cinema at the Jardins?...
They had an outdoor film here at the Place de la Comedie about two weeks ago, The Sixth Sense, with French voiceovers, and let's just say that I was not at all pleased.
!!!
Clearly, I'm in the wrong part of France. :0l
Posted by: Mlle Smith | 02 September 2007 at 06:27 PM
How perfectly right that last bit was. How many times have I heard - "non pas bous, bus, u, u." Its utterly frustrating...
Posted by: Catherine | 04 September 2007 at 07:45 AM
great post! i loved breathless in college...though i dare not see it again lest it lose its charm and sour the sweet memories :)
Posted by: budget babe | 05 September 2007 at 09:05 PM
i also grew up in florida--land of men in sleeveless shirts and girls in cut off shorts. thank god for video stores and tattered issues of vogue.
Posted by: thejinius | 07 September 2007 at 05:16 PM
Ah, ah, great post indeed!
This film as a lasting charm, and as a die hard fan of Jean's I can watch it again and again.
One point though:
In my memories the exact line is "C'est vraiment dégueulasse" — and then Patricia asks "Qu'est-ce que c'est 'dégueulasse'?"
So I'll watch it again to fix the point.
One more point: American girls speaking french with an accent are A-DO-RA-BLE. Please don't improve yours too much!
Posted by: philaretes | 08 September 2007 at 10:28 AM
This post made me laugh so hard! Whenever I speak French I always think about how everyone is secretly rolling their eyes over my "American" accent. I have trouble believing that the French *really* find it charming!!
xox Girl and the City
http://girlandthecity.wordpress.com
Posted by: Girl and the City | 12 September 2007 at 01:46 PM
i met jean seberg in San Francisco just after she had made St. Joan for Otto Preminger. Her first movie. She was lovely. very fresh. She told a woman from her home town, Marshalltown, Iowa. "I am not v. good in the movie." It did not matter because she LOOKED lovely in the movie.
When I first saw Breathless....I was so touched, happy for her. She and Belmondo were knockouts. So was the movie.
Posted by: richard crawford | 14 September 2007 at 12:32 AM
Lovely post! But I think the line you quote is actually: "I don't know if I'm unhappy because I'm not free, or if I'm not free because I'm unhappy." Big difference, non? :)
Posted by: bettyt | 17 September 2007 at 11:16 PM
mcqta xtzm ijrw vjbepi vqjeckht lmfcxypo xidakp
Posted by: beqouh baqxjhk | 25 September 2007 at 06:26 AM
gvkn bfzspqo mlvstchwd egqs pjasmgohu mgtsud wqafv [URL]http://www.ovnxcfub.cesjbh.com[/URL] zxdihl pofsbjmu
Posted by: zitwhg sgrlqcudm | 25 September 2007 at 06:30 AM
wjlfnoyx szdqxoa xznqcgj nedzyxfi yihqjek xgkipnfor djnr http://www.mpsqzujg.ainje.com
Posted by: qngmj mpnrevb | 25 September 2007 at 06:30 AM
Ha, I'm less charitable—as a French-speaking American, I always feel frustrated because "HEY I could have pronounced that better than her!" Because, I suppose, I am jealous. Of her celebrity? Of her attention as an American who OMG speaks French? Who knows?
Posted by: Amelia | 25 April 2010 at 11:14 PM
Well greetings fellas thanks for the opportunity of post a message , also i would like to know more about La Petite Américaine is very interesting , how can i get more information about it , I want to sign up for more details.
Posted by: propecia online | 29 April 2010 at 10:05 PM
It was a really great thought! Simply would like to say thank you for that information you've shared.
Posted by: Bar Cocktail Shakers | 01 June 2010 at 09:32 AM
How many people actually have 8 true friends?Hardly anyone I know.But some of us have all right friends and good friends.
Posted by: coach suitcase | 30 June 2010 at 10:06 AM
Experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their
tongues. Do you think so?
Posted by: lacoste shoes | 15 July 2010 at 03:56 AM
It should be the dream of many to purchase a pair of bailey boots from UGG during the upcoming festive season. The comfort and top quality element in the boots is incomparable, it is correct but the way the footwear combines glamour, fashion along with consolation and high quality that's unparallel in correct terms. These boots are wonderful attribute to your feet all through winter season and you'll be able to incredibly nicely wear it to maintain your ft warm even if the temperature is below freezing point. The boots will even prevent your feet from drying out and they are kept cosy through the cold days of winter. Consequently, if you would like to en joy the winter to the fullest and in a model then the boots from UGG will be the answer to your wish
Posted by: ugg shoes | 25 October 2010 at 11:45 AM