Breathless (1960 , directed by Jean Luc – Godard ) challenged the established conventions of editing by employing jump cuts which help  to remind the audience that they were watching a movie which was unheard of at the time and Godard employed the technique because the New Wave movement was concerned with challenging the established conventions of films due to the Algerian war and the way that the French establishment treated the youth and this was a reaction to that oppression and the way this film was edited was a deliberate act of subversion against the established norms of the film world.

Breathless challenges the established rules about narrative because the characters have long conversations about trivial things that seemingly don’t contribute anything to the story and this subversive as the established rules of cinema say that every piece of dialogue should contribute to the story. Furthermore , the trivial dialogue slows down the pace of the film and it is nice for the audience to be able to relax and enjoy the film and it creates a high amount of verisimilitude because the film would be reflecting something that people actually do in real life.

Furthermore , The black and white cinematography helps the film to create it’s own distinctive tone for while it is a thriller  and this may be a conscious allusion to films like the Maltese Falcon ( 1941 , directed by John Huston) which stars Humphrey Bogart who is someone who is alluded to in the film  , the tone can be remarkably upbeat at times and  this can sometimes border on being comedic and this makes the choice to film in black and white , seem like a conscious one that was made in order to challenge established tropes in the cinematic medium.

Finally , Breathless challenges the norms of film by using all of the aforementioned techniques in order to draw the attention of the audience to the fact that they are watching a film and this is not supposed to happen as films are supposed to serve as an escape to another reality , but Breathless is realistic and it creates a sense that  the film could be happening and it does not  provide the audience with an escape , instead it holds a mirror up  to our world.