Jean-Luc Goddard has made use of two main characters, Michel and Patricia. In breathless, Jean-Luc Goddard has brought forth a style of production that was complimented by audiences to be one that was perhaps one of the most significant contributions to motion picture direction. It was in Breathless that Jean-Luc Goddard made exceptional use of the hand held camera for direction and it was in the very same motion picture that the concept of jump-cutting became all the more widespread than it was ever before.

Jean-Luc Goddard is well known for his work in his magazine Cahiers du cinema in which he along with other exceptionally talented directors critically revaluated American motion pictures and gave foundation to the film theory that is commonly referred to as the French Wave. This particular 1960 motion picture has a relatively simple plot but it is Jean-Luc Goddard’s special touch of direction that has made the motion picture a part of the hall of fame. The following paragraphs shall attempt to delve into the relevance of Jean-Luc Goddard’s Breathless with respect to the reception theory (Holub, 1984), but before this can be done, it is necessary to understand the nature of the plot in order to attain a concrete and comprehensive understanding of the motion picture.