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Who Is The Hero In The Film Breathless

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The 1960 film Breathless by Jean Luc Goddard tells the story of small-time Parisian hood Michel Poiccard, who is frantically trying to collect enough money to flee the country with Patricia, his American love interest, after he murdered a policeman who tried to pull him over and became the subject of a city wide man hunt. Michel is an interesting character whom evokes a wide range of reactions from a very diverse audience. He tries to be like his hero, the suave and courageous Humphrey Bogart, to the extent he imitates his mannerism (tracing his lips with his thumb), but he falls short for he lacks the charisma of a heroic protagonist, as he does an antiheroic pathos. Michel’s quest to emulate his hero, as well as other instances sprinkled …show more content…

The absence of the values commonly associated with the slave morality as shown in the film are purity, goodness and humility. The casual mention of Michel’s sexual history as well as the scene where Michel and Patricia sleep together are ways in which the director is reaffirming his pursuit of sex, and denying the acceptability of sexlessness. On his way to Paris, Michel comes across two women hitchhikers. He ponders giving them a lift for the price of a kiss per kilometer travelled. As he draws closer, he changes his mind because they weren’t attractive enough. Michel had a choice between the “good” actions, or the action that served him best, however shallow the reason may be. He chose the latter, obviously rejecting Nietzsche’s slave morality, refusing to settle for mediocre women because society thinks he should. In Paris, he witnesses a motor accident. A pedestrian got hit and there is a crowd of people around him. Michel walks way when he could have helped, again showing an absence of “goodness”. Only the strong would be able to walk away in the face of such tragedy, which the weak undermines by glorifying the act of staying, terming it “good”. The absence of humility can also be seen within the character of Parvulesco. The interview of Parvulesco reveals all we need to know about him. His arrogant manner of conducting himself is evident in his replies to the question thrown at him. Nietzsche would say here that that humility is merely the weak glorifying their timidity because of their inability to speak up. Parvulesco shows none of that. His most telling statement is this: “… to become immortal, and then die” says he in response to the question about his greatest ambition in life. The lack of humility here is glaring. Parvulesco would transcend the realm of men, becoming god-like almost, only to die immediately after achieving what most

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