Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.
Godard's debut is a landmark of world cinema and the French New Wave. The jump cuts, handheld camera work, and improvisational style were genuinely revolutionary and remain distinctive. Belmondo and Seberg deliver magnetic, naturalistic performances that feel effortlessly cool. The cinematography by Raoul Coutard defined a new visual language for cinema. The ending — Patricia's betrayal and Michel's death — is cold, ambiguous, and perfectly pitched. Plot is the one relative weakness: it is deliberately thin and episodic, more a mood piece and philosophical exercise than a tightly constructed narrative, which is by design but limits its score in isolation.