this lazy sunday i saw À bout de souffle again...

it's funny... what used to shock the parisians of the sixties is hardly worth any attention to americans nowadays. what used to be an avantgard cinematography back then, now can make you take a nap...

there are so many questions when it comes to the plot: why to glorify a bad guy at all? why to leave him with no punishment? why o why that pretty girl stands on his side even after betraying him?

and maybe the most important one:
why is this movie worth seeing again?

i'm not sure.

what i know is that it's not a movie about justice and punishment, nor about acting right, by the law. in a word: it's not a movie about crime. it's a movie about drama, and of course - it's a movie about romance.

at some moments that romance is hardly understandable, even for the main characters: a french bad guy and an american beauty. he, so extreme, brutal, and superficial vs her, soft, elegant, and deep. their long dialogues can barely find the right answers but they initiate all those pop-up issues that mark a beginning of every true relationship. that's what make them more human. i don't get them, but i know who they are.

and that romance is placed in such an elegant set-up, where even gangsters look cool. every detail leads to aesthetic: simple charming rooms with cut-outs barely pasted on white doors, long nails and eyeliner, smooth moves, pretty bodies, nice suits, high heels and cobblestone, champs-elysees, renoir... paris, in all its beauty.

she, wearing simple yet beautiful dress and white shoes
vs
him, with hat/tie/dark sunglasses and, of course, a cigarette

so polished
so stylish...

still inspiring!