Breathless (The Criterion Collection) (1960)

François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer were film connoisseurs, who all worked as movie critics for the same magazine. Between the years 1958 to 1964, this group transitioned into filmmaking, and, along with other directors, such as Agnés Varda, Jean-Pierre Melville and Louis Malle, ushered in the French New Wave Movement, (Nouvelle Vague). Their background in film theory and criticism was a major factor in motivating these artists to create a bold new cinema.

Jean-Luc Godard's first feature, "Breathless," was released in 1960, introducing the New Wave and changing cinema forever. Godard used jump cuts, handheld cameras, zoom lenses and a new editing style to take the viewer places never ventured before. No artificial, glossy stage sets in this movie. Along with the protagonists, we travel up and down small side streets, into local bars and sidewalk cafes, across boulevards and, for inconsequential moments, brush the lives of passers-by, who have nothing to do with the screenplay, but always play a role in our daily comings and goings. The fragmented rhythm of modern life is translated here. Godard used sound in the same way, adding street noises, bits of conversations and music to add to the movie's authenticity and pace. This was indeed innovative at the time. And it still holds up. Watching "Breathless" forty-five years after its debut, 21st century technology does not detract from its dynamism or relevance in the slightest. In fact, with each viewing, I find the film every bit as exciting and poignant as I did the first time.

Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the feckless, foul-mouthed car thief, anti-hero and Humphrey Bogart fan, Michel Poiccard. Just a few minutes after the opening credits conclude, Michel's status changes from small-time hood to cop killer. His life's plans alter drastically as he becomes a hunted fugitive. Michel remains cool enough, however, to visit an old girlfriend and steal some money. Bogart would have been proud not of the theft, but of the style. Michel spots gamine-like American, Patricia Franchini, (the lovely Jean Seberg), selling copies of the Herald Tribune on the Champs-Elysees, and pursues her, with roguish smiles and moody pouts. He curses her and moves off fast, though, when she gives him a hard time. He likes his women more enthusiastic. Instead of getting out of town fast, Michel hangs with fellow thugs and steals more cars.

Patricia is an enigmatic character, who occasionally startles with her observations and revelations. Twenty years-old, with the naive face of an angel, she seems to have no direction or goals in life. She studies at the Sorbonne and says she wants to write, but is oddly detached. She shuns commitment. She does occasional odd jobs for the newspaper, but appears to live in a dream world. Of course Patricia winds up with Michel and together they gallivant around the gorgeous streets of Paris, as if they haven't a care in the world. Patricia does have at least one problem, however she might be pregnant. Together the couple attempts to collect on a debt to raise enough cash to escape to Italy.

Godard captures incredibly intimate moments between the two lovers, particularly in one lengthy, extremely realistic bedroom episode, filled with small talk, tenderness, petty cruelties, eroticism, mind games, childhood memories shared and loneliness. At the scene's end we have a better understanding of the self destructive individuals who make-up this twosome. A sense of burgeoning doom, which has hovered in the background all along, begins to increase here. Michel's bravado also escalates with the level of danger and, to his credit, he remains true to his idol, Bogart, to the end. The conclusion boggles the mind, at least it has always impacted me emotionally in a major way.

Belmondo is brilliant as the restless thief, in this, his first film role. He reminds me of a French James Dean. Seberg is convincing and fresh. This is a dynamic film, witty, fast-paced, romantic and disturbing. It has long been a favorite of mine.

JANA

Numerous reviews, essays, and books have dedicated much thought and contemplative work on Jean-Luc Godard's film Breathless. So where does one begin this review knowing that many have already dissected his film? Perhaps, we should try to understand why this film has received so much commotion.

Contemplating the society when Breathless was shot and comparing it with our current society might not be the best approach. It is also silly to think that a young audience will get all the references to older films, which Breathless intends to shove aside with a refreshing style. For example, jump cuts are something that today's youth have seen millions of times. If people watch MTV or any other television channel they will see the infamous jump cut in action in both recorded and live format. So why bother watching Breathless? Well, to fully appreciate Breathless the audience should watch films from France and the rest of the world that were made before, let's say in 1955. In this way the audience will build an idea of how stiff and structured films were without much visual surprise, which big production companies still depend on occasionally as they use them as a safety net in fear of having a bomb at the box office. 

Breathless is actually a refreshing breath of a new wave that hit the world of the cinema in the 1960s. This fresh idea helped develop film and cinema into what it is today, and this is why Breathless is such an important film. The film broke the cinematic rules that were in use by the production companies. For example, Godard wrote his shooting script during his morning coffee while probably inhaling his nicotine fumes, scenes where not rehearsed and the idea of how to frame a shot came though the motion and the making of the film. Cinematography used handheld cameras a long time before it became common through lightweight cameras. Contempt was expressed in regards to meticulous lighting. The filmmakers tossed the old ways out through the window and began to create a new form of visual expression, which was only a natural progress for cinema just as art has advanced through history.

Breathless takes place in Paris where Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) seeks refuge in the masses after having killed a traffic policeman in a moment of fear. Wanted and hunted Michel takes short cuts to find money by stealing money from old girlfriends and trying to get back old debts, money Michel needs in order to leave the country. However, he has also made new acquaintance in Paris that infatuate him, the beautiful American Patricia Franchini, a Iowan girl by the name of Jean Seberg who sought refuge in France after a couple of box office bombs in United States. Michel seeks Patricia as a means to find shelter and possibly affection.

The chemistry between the Michel and Patricia generates a certain mystique, as Patricia always seems to be full of astonishing revelations. For example, she tells out of the blue that she is pregnant and that she requires her freedom. Michel on the other hand is an uncomplicated guy with a tough façade that he seems to borrow through his hero Humphrey Bogart--style he mimics by having a constant cigarette that is hanging of either one lip or squeezed in between. The character's differences could maybe be a result of the individual styles of acting, but also on Godard's rejuvenating style of directing. This mystique keeps lingering in the air through the cinematography and the performances of the actors.

Regardless of how the mystique is generated, the film provides a wonderful cinematic experience, as it is full of surprises and leaves the audience in a breathtaking, yet quirky visual journey. This further evolves on how Godard makes the film a little more interesting in a cerebral way in regards to cinema. For example, Godard efficiently uses the director Jean-Pierre Melville, to perform as a famous writer that Patricia interviews while Michel uses one of Melville's films, Bob le Flambeur (1955), as a reference of who would pay a debt. Ultimately, the audience has experienced an interesting cinematic expedition through Breathless, especially in a historical perspective. The story is not intricate, yet it is the simplicity that Godard employs that makes this film so wonderful.

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Godard's "Breathless" (or "Out of Breath," the correct translation fo the title) still feels fresh and alive, especially when viewed in the dreary context of contemporary Hollywood cinema. It offers a sparklingly original alternative at every turn, from the pacing of its story to the engine that drives its loopy, intentionally sloppy plot. This is a picture that is alive on screen as you watch it, forcing you to draw yourself into the action rather than lay back and passively absorb it.

The film is one of the finest examples of New Wave cinema, from its jump cuts, its depiction of Parisian life, its incredibly sustained sequences of pure converstaion and dialogue, all of which dominate what is essentially a simple chase picture.

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg are a perfect mix of classic and contemporary, both remaining timeless. Their relationship really unfolds in the film's central sequence, a near 25-minute conversation in Seberg's bedroom, in which such subjects as Faulkner and fornication are explored aptly. And that is what the film is known for----when was the last time a thriller contained the audacity to feel free to explore areas residing outside the genre?

Like "Pulp Fiction," one of its distant relatives, this is a film where plot and story are present but removed far into the background, while character, dialogue and visual texture are placed in the foreground. In its pristine black-and-white cinematography, its innovative use of camera movement and position, its raw, defined performances, and its tireless style and visual invention, "Breathless" is a great film and belongs in any serious film lover's video library.

Read Best Reviews of Breathless (The Criterion Collection) (1960) Here

First off, if you consider yourself any kind of film buff and if you haven't seen Breathless, shame on you. Not only is it #1 on my personal favorite films life, but i also consider it one of the 5 most important films ever made in cinema history. In short, it is a film worth owning on DVD.

I had been petitioning for Criterion to release this title in their collection for years and it finally happened-Breathless has been done justice. And I must say that my expectations for this Criterion release were greatly surpassed; it is by far the best Criterion DVD i own.

Amazon seems to agree with the release's quality as it has ranked this edition of Breathless as 94 in their Essential 100 DVD's.

Here's what makes this release so good:

+ The new transfer. beautiful. it is clear and the image has excellent contrast. i noticed details in the film that i had never noticed before in my crusty Fox-Lorber edition. Same goes for the sound transfer.

+ Packaging. I love the box are and packaging. the 2-disc set comes with a pretty thick book of essays and interviews that are all very informative and examine the film from a number of perspectives.

+ Special Features. I dont know of any other dvd release of a classic film that has such comprehensive special features. i had considered myself somewhat of an authority on breathless... that is until i watched every available feature on this edition and realized that there was so much i didnt know! although all of the features are great, the best one was the documentary, Chambre 12, Hotel de Suede, an 80 minute piece that if probably the most comprehensive body of info on the film that ive ever come across.

I highly recommend this new release. In my opinion, you cant go wrong with this film, or with this definitive DVD release.

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This is hands-down one of the best movies ever made. Just the opening seconds of Jean-Paul Belmondo smoking announces a whole new attitude towards youth and life that hits with the freshness of the Beatles. "Breathless" creates a world of love and motion and danger and art that's single-handedly responsible for at least half the clichés you have in your head this second about Paris. Truffaut's script is excellent, nearly every shot is original and revelatory, but what I loved most about the movie was the apparently random, documentary feel Godard gave to so many of the scenes: Belmondo with one lens missing from his glasses, the faces he and Jean Seberg make in the mirror, the Air France clerk sticking her tongue out at her boss, etc. How did Godard manage to be so stylish and truthful at the same time? This is a movie that never lets you forget it's a movie, telling a story in a way no novel or play ever could. "Citizen Kane" is the only other film I can think of that does so much with the medium. One for the ages.

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