A breathless goddess

As I joined a course on film appreciation on Jean Luc Godard's works recently, his first and probably greatest work, "Breathless" seems to be a logical choice to start with. Yesterday, we watch (and re-watched) the film again on screen. Perhaps it was a good timing thing, as Criterion recently released a new, much restored version of the film into the DVD. With better translation and images, I was able to fully appreciated the film once again.

A lot of people would love this film for various reasons, whether it is the "new" techniques applied, the fast pace of the editing and storyline, the jazzy soundtrack, the "reality" presented between opposite sex relationship or simply just the coolness of the film (& its character) itself. For me it was all of the above, plus Jean Seberg. She was always one of the on-screen goddess for me. Maybe I am an old fashion person, but I really enjoy the presence of female actress in their 60's. They have this intellectual look, sophistication , beauty, grace and style which cannot be matched in anything which offer in today's cinema. I have to admit that I remember Jean Seberg's performance as good as the other actresses which I like from that era, most noticeably, Monica Vitti and perhaps Kim Novak. They almost become the major reason why I like the film they starred in.

Today watching Jean Seberg again in breathless, I was again "hooked" by her sheer beauty on screen. The coolness within her character are just bursting out, like any other "nouvelle" technique and cinema languages in the film. There was this one scene (one long take), in which she was standing on the escalator, was perhaps one of the most beautiful shot I have ever seen in the cinema (even though it wasn't anything famous). Not just showing how beautiful Jane is but the construction of the shot is so stylish and cool (the lighting on both side of the escalator certainly helps a lot)

I did some further research on the net this morning about her and it was a bit sad to know about her circumstance of her death in the early 80's. Nonetheless, I was able to find a couple of still shots from the film, which captures her most beautiful and coolest look from the film.

I feel satisfied.