Breathless

This movie is a very real-world approach to what happens to a person when he becomes enamored with an image that can only be portrayed on film. The main character, Michel, is a small time thief that loves Humphrey Boggart films and imitates them in his own life. He dresses like a gangster, is very blunt, smokes like a chimney and makes decisions on the fly (which usually turn out to be bad choices). After he steals a car then kills a policeman, he is on the run in Paris with a girl from New York. During the film he is trying to get in touch with a man who owes him money so that he can go to Italy with his lady (Patricia) and stay on the run. The thing is, the entire time he has this attitude that doesn't really come with the experience of a seasoned gangster, but rather one that is trying to hard. He goes out into the open, and he doesn't try to cover his tracks. He is living in an illusion that provides a lot of false hope and security. The story never really gets inside his head. It doesn't need to because his attitude is all that needs to speak for him.

The film really portrays this single-mindedness. The jump-cuts signify how absent Michel is. He just talks and goes through the motions. He also needs a constant re-assuring of himself. He is always asking "if it was good" and never really answers any of Patricia's questions. Being this self-absorbed eventually leads to his downfall. Once he is shot and is dying, he says "Im a scumbag."