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The Guide to... BOUT DE SOUFFLE (1960)
Whats it about?This rst feature from 30-year-old lm journalist
Jean-Luc Godard revolutionised the waystories were told in cinema,
forming a vital part of what would be called the Frenchnouvelle
vague or new wave. This movement comprised lmmakers who cham-pioned
American cinema of the 1940s and 50s, particularly the thriller
genre. One,Franois Truffaut, provided the storyline for this French
riff on the gangster movie. Whenpetty crook and tough guy wannabe
Michel kills a policeman, he seeks out an Ameri-can girl he met a
few weeks before and asks her to hide him but can he trust her?
50years after it turned cinema on its head, this lm remains an
inspiration.
Who made it?Parisian writer -director Jean-Luc Godard was born
in Paris in 1930 to a wealthy familywho cut him off when he became
a lmmaker. Winner of numerous awards, Godardcontinues to direct
today.
Jean-Paul Belmondo (Michel) studied acting at Frances
prestigious Conservatoireand made his lm debut in 1957. One of
Frances top male stars, he divides his timebetween stage and
screen.
Jean Seberg (Patricia) was born in Iowa, USA, in 1938. She was
cast in her debut lmSaint Joan (1957) after winning a nationwide
search. Suffering from depression and ad-
diction issues, she committed suicide in 1979.
BackstoryWriting for French lm magazine Cahiers duCinema in the
1950s, Godard found like-minded critics who rejected
conventionalideas about lmmaking, and embraced di-rectors who put
their own personal stampon a movie. Some, like Godard and
Truffaut,went on to become lmmakers themselves.
This new wave, which abandoned ac-cepted ways of presenting a
narrative, wasa radical departure for lmmaking - whichat once
idolised movie history and set out toreinvent it.
A guy, a girl and a gun.
The ProductionWorking on a shoestring budget, Godardinsisted on
lming in real locations ratherthan on movie sets - using natural
light andhandheld cameras to create a documen-tary feel. His lack
of actual lm was appar-ently behind the lms famous jump cuts(shots
of the same thing from slightly differ-
ent angles to draw attention to a gapin the action), and instead
of the cameramoving on a traditional dolly, it was at-tached to a
wheelchair.
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The reviews
Modern movies begin here, with Jean-Luc Godards Breathless in
1960. No
debut lm since Citizen Kane in 1942 has been as inuential.
American critic Roger Ebert
More than any other this was the lm which epitomised the
iconoclasm of theearly Nouvelle Vague, not least in its insolent
use of the jump-cut.Time Out
What happened next?
Franois Truffaut once stated, Thereis the cinema before Godard
andthe cinema after Godard. But Bout de Soufe was a tough act
tofollow. Godards next few lms had
a mixed reception (although 1965sfuturistic thriller Alphaville
was hugelyacclaimed), with his style increasingly
becoming more experimental andless accessible.
Look out for
While the way the lm was made(or unmade) gives it its
historicalsignicance, the performances in Bout de Soufe are just as
impor-tant in creating its aura of timeless
Gallic cool. Jean Seberg is oftenoverlooked, perhaps because of
herchequered career, but her rst scenehere is a truly thrilling
cinematic mo-ment not just because of how she isbeing directed, but
simply becauseof Seberg herself. Selling copies ofthe New York
Herald Tribune on theChamps Elysees, her artless,
effortlesspresence denes modern as much
as jump cuts and handheld cameras.She seems always to be right
in thepresent even in a lm made in 1960.
Talking points
Close your eyes. Which image can you conjure up from this
lm?
Do you think the lm glories the criminal Michel, or exposes
him?
This lm inspired a generation to become independent lm-makers
whichmovies make you want to pick up a camera or write a
script?
Review starter
A turning point in lm history, this low-budget French thriller
took the cameraonto the streets of Paris
Ahead of its time in the 60s, still ahead of its time in the
2010s ...
Bout de Soufe, a lesson in cool
What we think
A tragic love story, an explosion of energy and a lm that
changed lm.
