Breathless | Richard Balducci, Jean-Paul Belmondo | One of Godard's first and best films

Breathless | Richard Balducci, Jean-Paul Belmondo | Top Classic

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Breathless

	Breathless Richard Balducci, Jean-Paul Belmondo Fox Lorber, 2001 average customer review:based on 83 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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

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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.

Top Classic

What to write? If you know of the director, you surely own this. If not, and you're interested in TOP FILM CLASSICS, buy it...

Godard's Jazzy Groundbreaker Still Packs a Punch and Gets the Luxuriant Criterion Treatment

At the forefront of the French New Wave along with François Truffaut (The 400 Blows), Alain Resnais (Hiroshima Mon Amour), and Louis Malle (Elevator to the Gallows), Jean-Luc Godard broke all the rules in his 1960 directorial debut with a story borne out of American B-movie conventions but revitalized by his free-form narrative, hand-held camerawork (by Raoul Coutard) and jazz-infused editing style. On the surface, it seems like a standard young couple-on-the-run adventure, but Godard upends the predictability of the situation with a fresh, documentary-style perspective that emphasizes youthful impulses over morality lessons. Some of its fresh, brazen novelty has worn off over the years, but there is no denying its propulsive energy.

The plot is deceptively simple. Michel Poiccard is a young, small-time criminal with a Bogart fixation, living for the moment and taking what he needs with no consideration for the possible consequences. His one obsession is Patricia Franchini, a pixyish New Yorker who lives in Paris and works part-time for the New York Herald Tribune. Michel steals a car in Marseilles and drives to Paris to see her again. On the way, however, he shoots a motorcycle cop with a gun found in the glove compartment of the stolen car. As the police close in on Michel, he holes up in Patricia's apartment and tries to convince her to run away with him to Rome. Godard wrote the script based on a story by Truffaut, and the plot emphasis is placed squarely on the dynamic between Michel and Patricia, especially in a lengthy dialogue scene in her apartment. The thriller aspects seem secondary until the last half-hour and the memorably bitter ending.

In his breakthrough role, Jean-Paul Belmondo captures Michel's surly, amoral nature with a certain magnetic quality that announces his arrival. As the fashionably enigmatic Patricia, Jean Seberg was just 21 but had already been burned by Hollywood thanks to her mechanical performances in two Otto Preminger films, Saint Joan and Bonjour Tristesse. She still strikes me a blank slate here, but it seems to work for the story because the viewer is left wondering what motivates her devotion to him and her final act of absolution. The two-disc 2007 Criterion Collection DVD set is as impressive as expected for the film's aficionados. Beyond a fairly pristine print of the movie, Disc One includes the original French trailer and 27-minutes worth of vintage interviews with Godard, Belmondo, Seberg, and director Jean-Pierre Melville (who has a memorable cameo as a pretentious author. Surprisingly, there is no commentary track from a film scholar, the usual supplement for special Criterion releases.

Disc Two has the lion's share of the extras. There are recent interviews with Coutard and assistant director Pierre Rissient, as well as a ten-minute interview with documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker and his brief experience working with Godard. Seberg gets special attention in an eighteen-minute film essay that covers her tragic life and career, and another essay, "Breathless as Criticism" has Chicago Reader film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum explaining the significance of the film for a new generation. There is a 78-minute documentary from 1993, "Chambre 12, Hotel de Suede" that traces the original film locales. Interviews with Belmondo, Coutard, and technical adviser Claude Chabrol are also included. Finally, there is a twelve-minute comedy short from 1959, "Charlotte et son Jules" co-starring Godard and Belmondo. A comprehensive eighty-page booklet accompanies the set.

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"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.

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