Breathless

I first watched this as a fresh-faced 18-year-old film student. Unlike anything I'd seen before, I absolutely loved it. Two decades on, now a lot older than Belmondo and Seberg, it lands differently. Impulsivity and defiance come across as immaturity and petulance. In many cases you wish he'd shut up and cop on. But where's the drama. In many ways it mirrors Marty Supreme, which I also watched this weekend - the hustle for money, the flight from authority. The characters are similar in their grand pronouncements and self-importance. Whether that speaks to the ongoing influence of this film or the perennial interest in petulant man-children, who can say.