The "jump cuts" of "Breathless"

I recently checked the DVD of "Breathless" out of the library. The 1960 film by Jean-Luc Godard is said to be one of the classics of modern cinema. It provided a launching pad for the young Jean-Paul Belmondo and resurrected the career of Jean Seberg, for whom this is often described as the iconic movie.

Many of the cinematic devices, such as the frequent use of a hand-held camera, have been considered innovative and revolutionary, but perhaps the greatest attention was devoted to the technique of "jump cuts" in which the action without segue moves forward in time. Jump cuts are commonly used in modern cinema, especially in horror movies, but before 1960 they had never been intentionally utilized.

Roger Ebert has an excellent review of Breathless. I was particularly amused to read this revelation about Godard's "invention" -

The technique "was a little more accidental than political," writes the Australian critic Jonathan Dawson. The finished film was 30 minutes too long, and "rather than cut out whole scenes or sequences... Godard just went at the film with the scissors, cutting out anything he thought boring."

In my view, he should have kept cutting, because by modern standards it may be iconic, but it's also tedious. The YouTube clip above illustrates the famous "jump cuts" in one minute and will save you the extra ninety minutes of watching the movie.