Movies / Breathless (1960) aka À bout de souffle
Runtime: 90 min
Genres: Crime Drama Romance Thriller
Countries: France
Former "Cahiers du Cinéma" critic Jean-Luc Godard threw everything he had learned from years of movie watching into his debut feature--creating an enormously influential film and a seminal study of existential longing and betrayal. Within the first few minutes, Michel (Belmondo), a foul-mouthed Parisian who idolizes Humphrey Bogart, shoots a police officer and immediately becomes a fugitive on the run. He visits an ex-girlfriend and while casually charming her, he steals her money. He then gallivants through the marvelous streets of 1940s Paris, pursuing Patricia (Seberg), a blond pixie-like American selling the New York Herald Tribune on the Champs-Elysees. Michel is childlike as he pouts and whines in his fruitless attempts to seduce Patricia, then turns cold as ice as he curses her out, racing off to steal a car or meet up with some other thugs. Meanwhile, Patricia seems to seduce everybody with her youth and naivety. She is just 20-years-old, possibly pregnant, and despite the few scattered assignments she does for the paper, she is dreamy and directionless. Even so, she does not refuse Michel, though she won't commit to him. As they follow each other in and out of cafes and boutiques, sailing past the Eiffel Tower and down the grand boulevards in gorgeous stolen cars, we await what is sure to be a tragic ending.
Keywords (62) |
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imagery cop killer movie theater director cameo chain smoking sociopath long take fugitive breaking the fourth wall sunglasses More Keywords » |
Directors (1) | Credit |
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Jean-Luc Godard | ... |
Writers (2) | Credit |
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François Truffaut | story |
Jean-Luc Godard | screenplay |
Composers (1) | Credit |
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Martial Solal | ... |
Editors (2) | Credit |
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Cécile Decugis | ... |
Lila Herman | ... |
Cinematographers (1) | Credit |
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Raoul Coutard | ... |
Actors (30) | Credit |
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André S. Labarthe | A journalist |
Claude Mansard | Claudius Mansard |
Daniel Boulanger | Police Inspector Vital |
Emile Villion | (uncredited) |
François Moreuil | A journalist |
Guido Orlando | (uncredited) |
Henri-Jacques Huet | Antonio Berrutti |
Jacques Serguine | (uncredited) |
Jacques Siclier | (uncredited) |
Jean Domarchi | A Drunk |
Jean Douchet | A Journalist |
Jean-Louis Richard | A Journalist |
Jean-Luc Godard | An Informer |
Jean-Paul Belmondo | Michel Poiccard |
Jean-Pierre Melville | Parvulesco |
Jean Seberg | Patricia Franchini |
José Bénazéraf | (uncredited) |
Liliane David | Liliane |
Liliane Robin | Minouche |
Louiguy | (uncredited) |
Madame Paul | (uncredited) |
Michel Fabre | Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited) |
Michel Mourlet | (uncredited) |
Philippe de Broca | A Journalist (uncredited) |
Raymond Huntley | A Journalist |
Raymond Ravanbaz | (uncredited) |
Richard Balducci | Tolmatchoff |
Roger Hanin | Cal Zombach |
Van Doude | Himself |
Virginie Ullmann | (uncredited) |