Film analysis of "Alain Resnais - Night and Fog (1956)" and "Jean Luc Godard - Breathless (1959)"
Each movie is a small story. Each movie carries its own information. Each movie opens the whole world to the viewer, no matter if it is full-length film or a short film or even a documentary. Still, it gives a chance to make own decisions about some particular moments. Another question is how ideal the information was given – did the director in his or her picture manage to cover all the needed aspects. It is not only related to the script. A visual point plays a great part in it as well, such as light, cameras’ position. It all goes together with the addition to such technical moments as montage, dramatic value, the usage of supportive music and others or “mise en scène” (en. mise-en-scene) all together.
So, the first picture is the documentary, the French short-film ”The Night and Fog”, directed by Alain Resnais in the 1955. This documentary shows the viewer a life of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. The way this picture was built is unusual. The director uses episodes of actual filming of 1940th- 1945th diluting them with episodes of the present state of those places, where camps were. The montage corresponds to the audio support of the film, including the narrator’s voice during the whole documentary. The dramatic value is showed through its montage – the scene with sunny day with its bright colors suddenly replaces with the black and white scenes with historical episodes. This combination gives the viewer an opportunity to make a comparison between those times of the World War II and the beginning of 1950th – how things have changed and what remained.
For the documentary it is a perfect way of montage, because it is leaving the viewer in thoughts and brings to the analysis. (Alain Resnais. Night and Fog).
The second picture is the film, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, called “Breathless” or “À bout de souffle”. This picture tells a story about young man, who is a pretty criminal, who cheats on people and his girlfriend from USA. This film contains a love line in the connection with different sort of social relations. (Jean-Luc Godard. À bout de souffle).
At the first sight, this movie was made in a usual way. No special effects – everything is shown like in a real life. But, it is not. Some episodes are changing too suddenly, but here goes one specific feature – the previous scene is similar to the other for the location and coloring, or, it is better to say, a tone. It creates a special flawless of the motion of the film. The camera’s foreshortening was chosen rather well. As most episodes were filmed during the day, the director managed to show main characters in a natural light and shade game. Even in a small room the director managed to show as much space as possible, letting actors to move free. The dramatic value is laid in the setting of the actors’ performing. The way they behave, the way they talk to each other. It gives the viewer an idea of the types of relationships between them. For such kind of movies, everything above said was creates the “mise en scène” all together. (Jean-Luc Godard. À bout de souffle)
As a conclusion, it is important to mention that both types of suggested pictures – and documentary and drama are a great example of the professional directors and actors work. Perfectly chosen the camera’s setting, perfectly chosen locations – everything is corresponding to the theme of the picture. These two movies may be surely considered as ones of the best in their genres.
Reference list:
- Night and Fog. Dir. Alain Resnais. Perf. Michel Bouquet, Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler. Argos Films, 1955. Film.
- À bout de soufflé. Dir. Jean-Luc Godard. Perf. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg. UGC, StudioCanal, Films Around The World and Rialto Pictures, 1960. Film.
