À bout de souffle
By: Ramona Fotiade
Series: French film guide -- Ciné-files: the French film guides; French film guides series
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 142
ISBN-13: 9781780765099; 9781780765082
Subjects: À bout de souffle (Motion picture)
Other titles: A bout de souffle; Bout de souffle
Description: "One of the most charismatic feature films of the New Wave, A Bout de souffle (1960) has retained its appeal not only as the emphatic statement of a generational break with tradition, but also as Godard's earliest rendition of a set of thematic and stylistic motifs that would become his trademark. A Bout de souffle is now a cult film, propelled in part by the memorable coupling of its leading actors, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, whose story on screen seemed to portray the troubled love affair between French cinema and Hollywood. In this original guide to the film, Ramona Fotiade analyses in depth its production and reception, as well as its mise-en-scene and editing. She situates A Bout de souffle in relation to Godard's filmography and critical writings up to 1960, focusing on a narrative and visual discourse that is now identified with a distinctive strand in postmodern French cinema. She also explores the impact of Godard's early counter-narrative and visual strategies on the independent American filmmakers and the French Cinema du Look during the 1980s and 1990s."--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-139), filmography (pages 119-135) and index.
Table of contents: title: Production contexts. Before À bout de souffle ; Godard the film critic ; First short films: From acting and editing to directing ; From idea to the shooting script: Writing À bout de souffle ; Production and casting.; title: The film. À bout de souffle and the cinema of the 1950s ; Narrative, montage and length of sequences ; Remaking everything the cinema had done, but differently ; Montage, my fine care: Analysis of the first sequence ; Filming death at work: The postmodern Auteur ; Soundtrack and dialogue ; Location and cinematography ; Gender and genre: Women in Godard's films ; A Franco-American love affair? ; Language and failed communication.; title: Reception and later influences. The French Citizen Kane ; Film launch and first reception ; Breathless: The American remake ; Cinema after Godard: The critical and cinematic legacy.; title: Conclusion.