À bout de souffle / Breathless

I know I'm way behind the times, but I finally saw Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 French new wave classic, Breathless (À bout de souffle).  I took a bunch of screenshots, and I think the one above shows Jean Seberg in the most iconic outfit from the film: striped shirt, pleated skirt, sunglasses.  She is also wearing loafers (or flat shoes) with ankle socks, and is carrying the cutest little white drawstring satchel (blurry here).

I liked the movie.  I wouldn't say I loved it.  But I enjoyed the music, and the style of filming.  I thought Jean-Paul Belmondo was charming, despite the fact that he was, y'know, a cop killer.  Jean Seberg's character was sort of meh, I thought...but her look!  So chic.  The pixie hair, the shades, and the outfits!  All amazing.

Even her selling-newspapers-on-the-street outfit is great looking.  Love the New York Herald Tribune top and cigarette pants.

You can see the cute little satchel better in this shot.

I'm assuming that's a Burberry trench with plaid lining.

Beautiful Paris.

Nearly everything Seberg wears in Breathless is striped, down to her bathrobe (worn most fetchingly by Belmondo here).

And then there is this incredible striped dress worn with white gloves (better photos below).

Love this shot.

A better view of Seberg's dress. Between the collar and the stripes, I'm dead.

I thought this sartorial exchange about Belmondo's outfit was pretty funny.

I love how Seberg is looking at the guy here, like, "what's the big whoop?"

xo

K

cracks

Cracks is a 2009 film directed by Jordan Scott (Ridley Scott's daughter), that is set at an English boarding school in the 1930s.  It stars Eva Green as a much-loved (but seriously crazy) swimming instructor.  I will say up front: the movie is not that great.  It's very derivative of a number of other films and books (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie comes immediately to mind).  But the sets and costumes are gorgeous.  And the actors portraying the boarding school girls are excellent, especially Juno Temple as Di.

But we're here for the clothes, duh!  So, of course, Eva Green's Miss G gets to wear some amazing outfits.  I wondered how a young boarding school swimming teacher in the 1930s was able to have such a large and beautiful wardrobe.  The only explanation given for this is the presence of a sewing machine in Miss G's room.

This striped jacket--amazing.  Especially loving the jewel tones against this misty forest backdrop.

Quite bohemian was Miss G.  Loved her pants and the amazing top.

The story is set on a fictional island off the coast of England, but the movie was filmed in Ireland.  The settings--particularly outdoors--are stunning.  

But of course, it was the clothes the girls wore that I loved the most.  They had uniforms, but were allowed to wear "mufti" on Sundays.

Orange velvet hat and coat.  Amazing.

Love the colors, the boots, the coats, hats, scarves...

I want to move to England and wear shorts with a cute sweater and Wellies.  Because I need to live in a place where it is possible to wear a sweater in the summer and not keel over.

Cutest sweater.

Look at the face on her!  Pretty dresses, but do not cross these bitches.  They gave me a flashback to junior high volleyball team.

 This little old terrier reminded me of Lucy, and my first thought was "nothing better happen to that dog!" but he never appeared again in the movie.  Whew.

Totally random shot having nothing to do with anything, but I'm glad it was left in the film.  I loved these ladies, and the sheep behind them.

I did love Miss G's room, though I'm sure it was some sort of film metaphor for her very disturbed mind.

xo

K