French New Wave's True Legacy: Smoking Indoors Was Acceptable

One often hears effusive praise for the French New Wave's revolutionary cinematic techniques – jump cuts, naturalistic dialogue, the sheer audacity of filming on location. Yet, the real, tangible legacy, the one that truly shapes our collective consciousness (and perhaps our pulmonary health), is far simpler: the unbridled, unapologetic act of smoking indoors. A defiant puff in a café, a contemplative drag in a bedroom, the very air thick with existential angst and carcinogens. Such was the golden age.

It wasn't merely an artistic choice; it was a societal mandate, a testament to a time when lung disease was, apparently, a mere aesthetic accessory. Imagine the sheer audacity today, attempting to replicate the iconic cool of Jean-Luc Godard's protagonists without the accompanying haze of Gauloises. The mere thought triggers an immediate public health announcement and the swift deployment of no-smoking signs. Truly, the pioneering spirit of films like "Breathless)" wasn't just in their narrative deconstruction, but in their unwavering commitment to a nicotine-infused atmosphere, making every interior shot a potential health hazard and a cinematic triumph.