[The distinction of À Bout de souffle] lay in its ability to embody in the texture of the film itself the uncertainties and fragmentariness that form the basic ingredients of its view of life and the view of life of many Godard films to follow. À Bout de souffle abounds in non-sequiturs which become part of this meaninglessness. It also abounds in jump-cuts and restless tracking shots that deprive us of any sense of a logical transition from scene to scene as they deprive us as well of the sense of ever being still. Also in the movie as part of its gangster-film atmosphere, there is the feeling of persecution, a sense of the net closing in. The mechanics of the city seem to work against the protagonists. (pp. 215-16)

One of the most crucial elements that deepen Godard's fractured universe is his technique of allusion. The many allusions lend...