Breathless [DVD] [1960]

Still a compelling watch, but knowing where it came from historically and the breakthroughs it embodies, make this truly fascinating.

I love the films of JLG and this is one of the best !

Jean-Luc Godard's "A Bout de Souffle" or Breathless, is a milestone in modern cinema. He and cinematographer Raoul Coutard, pioneered the use of naturalistic lighting as opposed to the more standard Hollywood style of focusing on a certain object or person. The use of the jump-cut to advance the story is still used today, and the story of lovers-on-the-run, whilst nothing new, is told in a different light. The basic plot line is Michel, Jean-Paul Belmondo in his most famous role, steals a car, kills a cop and wants to go to Italy with his sometime girlfriend Patricia. He is owed money but has to wait until he can collect whilst all the time the police tighten their grip around him. Jean Seberg, who plays Patricia, also in her defining role, had already tried a career in America which didn't really amount to much, turned to Europe as her new start. Godard directed and produced this film during 1959 and it was his first major production after making some rather smaller scaled short films. This film could only have been released in 1960. Along with Psycho, it heralded a new era of film making, a more natural and less polished cinema. Whilst not the first of the "French New Wave" cinema, (Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" has that claim) but it is certainly the most influential.An important film not only in its structure and its look but also the use of improvised dialogue between two people which at times has practically nothing to do with the plot (see Tarantino for the most obvious example), which can be slightly tedious and repetative (hence the 4-star review) but does not deter from the spirit of the film.If you have any interest in the history of film and how cinema began to change its style towards a more unconventional way, you should own this film. The film is dedicated to cinema, and cinema since the release of this film has a lot to owe to Godard.

This was Godard's first feature-length work and I'm sure many film scholars will be able to explain it's importance within the history of French new wave cinema. On the surface the film has the appeal of an outlaw on the run, the drama of a police 'hunt' for a murderer and a doomed love affair. However this kind of story has been done better and with more suspense elsewhere.The appeal of Breathless, is it's bringing to the screen a way of living, a character study in order to bring to life certain ideas in existentialism. The character of Michel Poiccard is based on the true stroy of Michel Portail and his American girlfriend and journalist Beverly Lynette . It is the study of a nihilistic antihero, similar to Albert Camus' 'The Stanger' and his relationship to others.American philosopher Hubert Dreyfus saw the film as exemplifying Friedrich Nietzsche's conception of 'active' versus 'passive' nihilism. With no reason to live, the actions of day to day life have no rhyme or reason. In the face of a meaningless void, we could embrace everything like Michel, cheerfully following every whim without regard for the future consequences an empty morality or any project larger than the self, only our immediate desires. Alternativity like Patricia we could withdraw from everything, having as little commitment to family, friends, work or study as possible and drift aimlessly. It's this that explains her acceptance of Michel, who boorishly pursue her, as she can see in him, a similar spirt adrift in the world. Both share the lack of any engagement to anything whatsoever and even their relationship takes this character. Without giving anything away, this dynamic progresses towards the finale, leaving us questioning the psychological makeup of both.Godard won the Jean Vigo Prize, awarded 'to encourage an auteur of the future' and the film has gone on to inspire many more works in the genre. It's certainly a product of it's time and we probably need to know some context, to get get the most out of it. However with this in mind, this is a classic and it features highly in many 'greatest film' polls.

This is quite simply one of the great films of all time. It's a film with a Nihilistic core, in a way quite bleak, but done with such vigour, such verve and such startlingly beautiful images that it's irresistible. I saw it when it first came out, in 1960, and it literally changed my life; I dropped out of my university course and set out to make TV programmes on the strength of it.It gives an image of a certain moment in cultural history which still gives me shivers of pleasure every time I dip in to it. Belmondo and Seberg give what seem to me to be the performances of their lives, and Coutard's camerawork captures the essence of the Nouvelle Vague style, a brilliant version of Paris in the '60s.A treasure.

At first glance these StudioCanal digibooks seem very nice. Unfortunately they have a major flaw- the center hub that the disc is attached to. I have now received 2 out of 8 from this collection with cracked discs. The hubs are too tight so there is a good chance the disc may arrive cracked and, if not, it will get damaged trying to remove and replace the disc onto the case. The 6 discs that arrived ok I have to keep the discs in separate sleeves to prevent damage. 2 of those I probably had to bend the disc 1/2" trying to remove from the case so it's miracle none were damaged just trying to remove the bloody discs. Very poor design. Also, the newer releases in this series now have the booklets stapled/glued to the case- they cannot be physically removed like the booklets in the older releases. One of mine is tearing away from the case and looks awful.Hope your's does not arrived cracked. Be warned- even if its only a tiny crack around the center hole..this will get bigger and bigger and eventually disc will be unplayable. yep, a classic movie tho- love the film...shame about the rubbish cases tho.