As any good second generation mod will know, the pioneers, our forebears if you will, took their influences, sartorial and otherwise, from all over the place to create their own modernist world.
From the US, it was the Ivy League look, from Italy, the style and panache and from France well it was possibly the attitude as much as anything else.
The stories of original mods sitting in art house cinemas wearing berets and stripy Breton tops, with a bread stick under their arm soaking up the latest in French new wave films are legendary.
From observing the cut of a jacket, to the shape of the continental sunglasses, to the wrist jewellery, the cut of a shirt collar, the razor sharp hairstyles, to the ‘how to stand noncahtantly’ pose to how to smoke a French fag in a cool manner, were gleaned from these films.
Going by the amount of times it gets a mention in being an influential factor (copyright Graham Lentz) important to ‘our’ lifestyle, the 1960 film ‘A Bout de Souffle’ written and directed by Jean Luc Goddard is one that affected many. The title translates to ‘Out of Breath’ or ‘Breathless’ and action follows the day to day movements of a small time crook called Michel, played by Jean Paul Belmondo, and his American girlfriend Patricia, portrayed by Jean Seberg.
This was Goddard’s debut film and his unique style of fast and abrupt cuts coupled with an exciting visual look, singled him out as one to watch for the future. The same thing can be applied to Belmondo and Seberg. This film simply put them all on the worldwide cultural map
The plot revolves around Humphrey Bogart loving Michel killing a policeman in Marseilles and then going on the run in Paris. He hooks up with Patricia, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets.
Michel hides out with her and they plan an escape to Italy. However, she learns he is on the run and why. She betrays him to the cops. The police shoot him dead.
Looking back on it, all these years later, it is certainly a stylish film. Right down from the clothes worn throughout to its overall style and look. Director of photography Raoul Coutard filmed it on a hand held camera.
The filming took place in the August and September of 1959 in the streets of Paris. It is an early example of ‘guerilla’ style filming as no permission to film was pursued. The crew would simply turn up and work away. Coutard stated later that a lot of the film was improvised, with very brief rehearsals and a minimal guide to the dialogue. Then shooting just continued on the 23 day production.
Upon release it was an immediate commercial success, and is said to have made 50 times its initial investment. It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1960, best film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics in 1961 and was Bafta nominated in 1962.
Oversees critics loved it. The celebrated Roger Ebert stated ‘No debut film since Citizen Kane in 1942 has been as influential. The headlong pacing, its cool detachment, its dismissal of authority, it depicts narcissistic young heroes obsessed with themselves and oblivious to the larger society.’
In 2012 it was declared as the 13th best film of all time in a poll from the film magazine ‘Sight and Sound’
At the time or just after it’s relase its impact on a small group of stylishly attired youngsters watching from the 2 and 9’s, was yet to be recorded. But the legacy on them the first time around, and of the film over the years to come, can still be felt and seen today
The Mumper of SE5
