Breathless (1961)

The movie that heralded the French New Wave movement, this lean and exciting 1959 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard (A Woman Is a Woman, Weekend) broke new ground not only in its unorthodox use of editing and hand-held photography, but in its unflinching and nonjudgmental portrayal of amoral youth. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg play two young lovers on the run from the law after Belmondo kills a cop and steals a car. Soon they are on an odyssey through the streets of Paris searching for some money he is owed so that he and his American girlfriend can escape to Italy. As a chase picture it features some startling photography on the streets of Paris, but as a romance it defies expectations, existing as part tragedy and part Bonnie and Clyde crime movie. The result is a wholly original film experience. Inspiring not only a remake starring Richard Gere but numerous films and television series, Breathless is an essential part of motion picture history. --Robert Lane Amazon.com essential video

One of Godard's first and best films

This is one of the best (and first) movies made by Godard. It is historic in it's introduction of jump cuts and as an important contribution to the french New Wave, and so on. And it's very fun to watch. This Criterion edition contains a good transfer of the film plus tons of extras. Well worth buying. June 23, 2008

"When the French say a second, they mean five minutes."

Breathless is a great example of French New Wave, a film with innovative camerawork and editing. It does not resemble the majority of films made previous to it which is why it is interesting. Jean Luc Godard was one of several filmmakers who felt that movies were getting stale, so he attempted to rejuvinate the medium.

Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) kills a cop after stealing a car. He overreacted but now needs to play it cool to avoid detection. He is a wanted man, but he steals cars left and right and persues a beautiful American girl (Jean Seberg) instead of fleeing the country. She is ambivalent about him, but the two spend a lot of time together. Their conversations are the most enjoyable parts of the movie, especially the one in her apartment.

A simple movie that sometimes feels like sneaking into a stranger's conversation, Breathless is highly enjoyable. It was made on a modest budget, but it comes off as being slick and interesting.

This DVD edition has an extra disk just brimming over with special features. For die hard fans, this is essential. May 15, 2008

It Cast Its Light Forward

"A Bout de Souffler," ("Breathless")1960, a French crime drama/romance/thriller was the first of the "Nouvelle Vogue"("New Wave") films - made by a school of filmmakers associated with the noted French cinema enthusiasts' magazine "Cahiers du Cinema--" principally Jean Luc Godard, and Francois Truffaut, among others. Truffaut wrote the script; Godard directed; it was his first film. It starred the "jolie-laid," (beautiful-ugly) Jean-Paul Belmondo, making his film debut as Michel Poiccard/Laszlo Kovacs, a petty thief-cop killer. And the stunningly beautiful Jean Seberg, then 21, as Patricia Franchini, a seemingly aimless American girl taking classes at Paris's famed university, the Sorbonne, selling The New York Herald Tribune International Edition along the City's equally famed shopping street, the Champs Elysee. It introduced techniques that were to become commonplace: hand-held cameras, jump cuts, a cool jazz soundtrack, as it told its story, filmed on the streets of Paris for less than $50,000: even then a bargain basement price.

In plot, actually, it could be a typical B crime thriller of the 1930's or 40's; Poiccard kills the cop in the first few minutes of the film -we're never quite sure why; thereafter, he just wants to raise enough money to flee to Italy with Patricia; who doesn't wish to go, and will eventually take steps to assert her independence. Poiccard is much more self-aware than an earlier generation of filmic criminals were; he's a great admirer of Humphrey Bogart; constantly trying on the mannerisms of that iconic actor. It's not easy to sympathize with him; yet we eventually do, to some extent.

"Breathless" is widely considered a great, groundbreaking film, and so it is. But my relationship with it is a little different than most people: I first saw it upon its initial release, as a college freshman. Someone once remarked that great books we read when we are young serve as lighthouses: casting their light forward on where we will eventually go. Well, for me, actually, it was movies rather than books, that illuminated the way forward, and "Breathless" was surely a lighthouse for me. Was it the coolness of the characters? Their ironic, disaffected viewpoints? For sure, the two leads are portrayed as shallow and vain, yet the movie spoke to something in the young woman I was; wish I could put my finger on it. So "Breathless" is no longer technically groundbreaking, of course, but hopefully it can still serve as a lighthouse for those coming upon it for the first time.
May 9, 2008

Brainless

I was actually looking forward to watching "Breathless" but it was certainly a disappointment for me. This is the story of a man who is going nowhere and who doesn't seem to care too much about what happens along the way. Yes, he had momentary interests and vague notions of where he would like to be tommorrow and maybe as far into the future as next week. However, we are given 90 minutes to marvel at his chain-smoking, car-stealing, pick-pocketing self absorbed life. He has friends in the underworld who show up on occassion and he has a string of girl friends for whom he shows up on occassion. No one is immune to his manipulation; not even the poor cab driver who got stiffed for the fare. I got tired of his pointless, hedonistic thievery (not to mention murder).

This movie is highly rated so the problem may well be me. Maybe it's meant to portray a new Lost Generation in Europe but all the more reason to pity the once great continent. It may be a brilliant look at a lone wolf's inability to exist in modern society but why empathize with a person who goes to excessive means to avoid assimulating? This is one of those movies where the dialogue doesn't fit the action. Murder, thievery, manipulation all takes place with a script that sounds like a college sophomore's intellectual efforts to seduce a coed. I'm not sure I'm cut out for Godard. I guess that's what I learned from "Breathless". March 29, 2008

Weightlessness of breath, innocence go asunder

O parting ways, the past from the conscience
but heavy steps leave prints of sorrow
Grasp thy beauty in its fallen splendor
let not what it remind you
from hence you have attempted
A love so fragile
and swift to slip away
Deeds forever always close the distance
and actions somehow eventually get repayed
Chances abandon all foolish endeavors
yeah, I don't know what the f#!@ I'm saying ;-D


Okay sorry, I'm not sure how to really describe this classic, other than it is brilliant. It's also more accesible than the last Goddard movie I watched, Pierre le Fou. Basically it's about an bad man in love with a good girl. Very well shot and influential piece of filmmaking, a masterpiece of the French New Wave.
March 9, 2008

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