Film Response- A Bout De Souffle (1959)

'A Bout De Souffle' (Breathless) is a 1959 French new wave film directed by Jean- Luc Godard and starred Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Bemondo. A young car thief called Michel kills a policeman, and tries to convince Patricia, an American, to run away to Italy with him.

The film was very revolutionary as it adopted a lot of techniques that had not previously been used, as well as discussion of topics that were deemed inappropriate for the time. One of the techniques that is used is the unusual editing. Where in most Hollywood films, the crew strive to achieve a continuous, flowing feature, this makes use of editing that doesn't necessarily fit together, making the audience feel slightly uncomfortable. Another thing that is new is the use of completely on location filming. There is also a lot of blunt talk of sex, which for the time was new and shocking.

However, although I appreciate the artistic nature of the film, it wasn't really my cup of tea.

The Last Seduction Scene Analysis

The Last Seduction is a Neo-Noir film from 1994 directed by John Dahl and starring Linda Fiorentiono, Peter Berg and Bill Pullman. It narrates the story of Bridget, who after stealing her husband's drug money, runs away to a small town, where she seduces a man so as to convince him to murder her husband.

The scene I have chosen to analyse is the one in which Bridget enters the bar in Beston and first meets Mike. The scene is shot with low- key lighting reflecting the dark and dirty themes of the film. It also highlights elements of Bridget's character. The bar depicted is very typical of American bars, and is mostly filled with men. The fact that Bridget walks in confidently shows her to be a women with traits of masculinity. She is wearing a suit, again emphasising her masculinity. It also suggests that she is from a big city or a professional background. This is reiterated when Mike later says to her "you're not from around here, are you?" She is wearing monochrome themes, suggesting that everything is very black and white in her life.

At the bar, the bartender ignores Bridget and doesn't give her a drink. This reflects the patriarchal dominance of the society, serving a binary opposition of Bridget's character. Mike eventually steps in and buys her  a drink, depicting him as someone who believes in traditional morals such as chivalry. He attempts to be charming so as to woo Bridget. Bridget is abrupt and cold in the way she talks, and this establishes her ruthlessness with Mike from the very start of their relationship. She is very forward and coming with her sexuality in this scene, and this foreshadows that she will use her sexuality to her advantage.

The atmosphere and music in the bar sets it up as clearly from a small town. This makes Bridget stand out in the crowd, reiterating her comandeering personality.

Georgy Girl- Opening Scene analysis

In the opening scene of Georgy girl, we are introduced to our main protagonist Georgy, as we see her travel along the streets of London.

When we first meet Georgy, she seems to be a confident and happy young woman. This is seen in her body language and the way she skips so fancifully down the road; swinging her handbag and whistling as she goes. She is smiling too. However, her clothing gives us a different impression of her character. She wears mostly dark colours, this reflects her dull personality. Her hair is quite messy, showing us that she is quite disorganised. Her coat is big and heavy, and it shows us that she lacks the femininity that women of that era are expected to have.In simple terms; she is not an 'it' girl (when we later meet the character of Meredith, we see that they are the binary opposition of each other).

Another element which really helps to build the scene is the music.It is has a lively happy beat; common for the 'Swinging Britain' era, however the myth is dispelled by the lyrics of the song. The lyrics of the song are cold, harsh and a blunt reminder of reality. This dull/dark reality is also highlighted in the fact that the film is shot in black and white.

The high street that Georgy travels down could be seen as a visual metaphor of life passing her by. This concept is highlighted in the song lyric, "You're always window shopping and never stopping to buy."

As the cinematography zooms in on the hairstyles in the salon, one of which Georgy ends up getting, It is reiterated that fashion is a key part of the youth culture at the time. We are also given the sense of a pressure to conform, which Georgy feels too. This is why she changes her hair. As soon as she comes out the salon though, we can see an uneasy look on her face, and she rushes to change it. This reiterates the conflict between the old and the new and how Georgy is torn betweeen the two. This is foreshadowing later themes in the film.

The ending lyric of the song, "A new Georgy Girl," hints to us  that our main protagonist is going to go through a big change during the course of the film.

Up The Junction- film response

This 1968 film, tells the story of Polly; a young girl from Chelsea who gets a job in Battersea, and her attempts at working life. It tells us a lot about the nature of working class London during the period of 'Swinging Britain' and breaks many myths about the period. It stars Suzy Kendall and Dennis Waterman.

I enjoyed this film, as I thought it had fun likeable characters, whilst also depicting the reality of 60s. Polly is a strong female protagonist, who has clear views on the issues which are visited. I found her character refreshing for the era; especially after the derogatory portayal of women in the film Alfie. Suzy Kendall shows Polly to be independent, hard-working and a loyal friend; traits that I think are important for women to see, and especially would've been so in that era.

The main male protagonist, Peter, played by Dennis Waterman is the polar opposite. He is a character from a working- class background, who dreams of the high life. Although his character turns out to not be as great as we first think, I love Waterman's portrayal. We are really given the sense of a young man who is ambitious beyond understanding. He knows exactly what he wants from life (seen in the scene where he tells Polly his dreams when they are at his place).

The minor characters, Sylvia and Ruby, are also strong independent women. Sylvia is a women who has been married but has had a divorce, something which was a taboo subject for a long time. She has lots of life and is fun- loving. Ruby is a 17 year old girl who lives a very similar life to her older sister. She gets pregnant and decides to have an abortion. The scene in which they do this is beautifully executed, because in showing less they have increased the poignancy.

I thought that overall, all the controversial subjects of the film werre dealt with very well. As I said, I think that the abortion scene and the scenes following it, and some of the most memorable of the film, and also some of the most heartbreaking. However, this is a good thing as it is a reminder of the consequence of illegal abortions, and highlights the desperation young women were to have the abortion act passed. Divorce is also mentioned but not dwelled on. The film shows women in a positive light, which also would've been a risk at the time, as it was a patriarchal society.

The one thing I didn't like about this film was the ambigious ending. We are left hanging with absolutely no resolve, and this frustrated me. Although I think it shows a brutal but true message (we always resolve to our ascribed status if we giveup trying to escape it), I wish there would've been something more so that we had closure in the character's stories/lives.