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Summary Is A Bout de Souffle a realist film?
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Short discussion on if A Bout de Souffle is a realist film? Breathless, French New Wave classic film. Film Studies OCR A Level.
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Katie Small‘A Bout de Souffle is a realist film.’ HFDYA?
The camerawork and editing of A Bout de Souffle could either be realist or not. Godard’s approach
incorporates a loose portrayal of action with a greater focus on ideas. For example, the editing in the
police shooting sequence is largely omitted by the jump cuts; the camera impulsively favours
extreme close ups that obscure the actions rather than wide shots that would have made the action
clear and then compare that to the long takes in the bedroom sequence that has seamless editing
with the majority of the sequence made up of straight cuts. The extensive bedroom sequence has a
larger focus on the dialogue, and within that a focus on ideas. This is much more realistic than the
police shooting incident and is more natural in it’s delivery. Godard was heavily influence by German
playwright, Brecht. Like Brecht, Godard, at times, actively reminds the audience that what they are
watching is a constructed work of fiction and he empathises that they are not viewing reality but
rather something made to resemble reality. This is evident in the inciting incident of the police
shooting, but also in the taxi and car scenes, in which time is corrupted and shortened. So, whether
A Bout de Souffle is realist or not, I would say it’s a balance. Godard makes audiences forget they are
watching a film during long takes but then prevents the audience from becoming wrapped up in the
story by disrupting reality with jump cuts that remind audiences that this is fiction.
Though having said that, a very realist aspect of A Bout de Souffle is Godard’s use of sound and the
locations that are an attribute of that. Godard uses direct sound from the location that it is filmed
which simulates real life and makes the location feel more genuine rather than a crafted medium.
Not only does he use direct sound to build an authentic soundscape, Godard also chose not to
eradicate loud background noises such as, sirens. This means that Godard values the reality of the
situation rather than getting seemingly perfect audio, like the studio system would, making it more
of a realist film. Even the background music is majorly playing in the scene rather than it overlaying
the scene, for instance, Patricia would play a record to accompany the mood of their conversation.
This further suggests that A Bout de Souffle is realist because the majority of sound heard in this film
is authentic to the locations and picture shown.
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