After yesterday's rant about Pierrot Le Fou I thought I owed it to Godard to watch one of his films that I liked, and celebrate its excellence. So, last night I re-watched Breathless (for who knows how many times). It's funny, the other day I went down a Godard rabbit hole and read several pieces that ranked Godard films, and not only did every one of them rank Breathless as his best films, but then they universally apologize for naming Godard's first film as his best film. It's an old chestnut that an author or a filmmaker or a songwriter spends their entire life writing their first work, but then are unpleasantly informed that they need to produce something better in a year. I would rank A Band Apart higher, but that's purely subjective - that is, I simply like it better. It's hard to argue with Breathless's position based on its cinematic/historical significance; as the Criterion Channel pointed out, there was film before Breathless and film after Breathless. Every time I watch Breathless I'm reminded that Jean Seberg was essentially driven to suicide by the FBI.
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