(À bout de soufflé)
Criterion | 1960 | 90 mins. | NR
Fifty years after its premiere, Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless remains relevant and seemingly in sync with contemporary cultural trends and mores. With his cool and sexy characters, who fired off a bevy of instantly recognizable film and literary references, Godard set fire to the fledgling movement referred to as French New Wave (or Nouvelle Vague) cinema.
When Breathless burst on the scene five decades ago, the copious jump cuts were a revelation; a half a century later in the age of CGI, they still offer an air of excitement. Of course, there supposed to be. Largely done in the editing room, to cut down the films runtime, those cuts are one of the film’s most memorable characteristics. Like missing puzzle pieces in an otherwise continuous, occasionally harried narrative.
Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a low-level tough guy with delusions of Humphrey Bogart. He claims to have been in the army, and we’re told he was once a flight attendant. Whatever the case, now he’s a thug, making faces in the mirror to get his expressions just right.
The pivotal moment in Michael’s life comes in the minutes of the film. While taking a joyride in a stolen American car, he gets chased by a pair of motorcycle cops and ends up shooting one of them. A city-wide alert is put out for his arrest. Rather than trying to get out of town, Michael heads back to Paris to try and get some cash that is owed to him, and have one more roll in the hay with Patricia (Jean Seberg), a cute American journalism student with a Patricia realizes she’s must grow up at some point. Just how long can she play along with Michael’s bad boy games?
Working from an idea by Francois Truffaut, and featuring Claude Chabrol as “technical advisor” (pretty much a fake credit); there was apparently never any finished script. According to cinematographer Raoul Coutard, nearly everything was improvised on the spot, with Godard writing lines of dialogue in an exercise book, giving the lines to Belmondo and Seberg, conducting brief rehearsals and then filming. This, no doubt, added to the spontaneous feel that Godard was aiming for and added an air of excitement to the narrative that might otherwise been missing.
No matter the dialogue, there’s no denying the city of Paris plays a large part in the success of Breathless. In the city of city of lights, Belmondo and Seberg were given one of the world’s prettiest playgrounds. Scenes are shot on the city streets, on the fly, gawkers left in for all times. The editing might appear clumsy; jumping between takes and juxtaposing images over sound. Perhaps it is. Few would likely contend that Breathless is a perfect film when matched against the traditional rules of filmmaking. However, that is precisely what leaves it feeling so fresh and relevant fifty years after its theatrical release. Even today, Breathless still captures a spirit of creativity and freedom that has rarely been duplicated.
The film’s original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. While the film doesn’t have razor sharp clarity, the film still looks better than it ever has before. The contrast appears to be in line with how Godard and Coutard wanted the film to look. There’s a fine and consistent layer of grain, but the film’s low-budget origins likely account for that. There’s no white or black crush. The grayscale is above average and doesn’t feel artificially boosted. Blacks are consistent without being overly inky, and none of the whites are blazing, just sort of a bright grey. Sharpness is excellent for a movie of this budget and vintage. Small object detail is very good, while details in fabric weaves and other finely grained objects are definitely above average, improving upon the already-excellent Criterion DVD edition.
Any issues with this French Dolby Digital LPCM mono track are attributable to age and the way the audio was recorded. Or, more accurately, how the audio wasn’t recorded, since a lot of the dialogue was looped. The looped dialogue becomes most noticeable in the exterior scenes. Dialogue there sounds hollow, although it stops short of being harsh. Also, there are moments during the exterior scenes when outside noise interferes with our understanding of the dialogue. But again, sirens passing by were not considered a bad thing by Godard. In fact, they were the point. The music, with its piano tinklings, sounds fine. Breathless has never sounded better. However, for those not familiar with Godard’s style, don’t expect completely crisp sound in exterior scenes.
English subtitles are included.
All the special features afforded Breathless‘ latest Criterion DVD edition have been ported over here – in high definition!
Five interviews (27 minutes) conducted between 1960 and 1964 for French television involve director Godard (two different ones four years apart), stars Seberg and Belmondo (separately) , and actor-director Jean-Pierre Melville who makes a cameo appearance in the movie as the author Parvulesco.
“Coutard and Rissient” (22 minutes) Raoul Coutard was Jean-Luc Godard’s DP on 14 of his films and Pierre Rissient was his assistant director. In this new interview, the pair reminisces about the experience of shooting Breathless, which was sometimes fairly unorganized. This is a must-see.
Interview with D.A. Pennebaker (10 minutes) The documentarian relates his experience meeting Godard and explores his assertion that Breathless was “a documentary about Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.”
Jean Seberg film essay (18:20) A biographical study of the actress by Mark Rappaport, director of the documentary From the Journals of Jean Seberg. He uses still photos and clips from promotional films and interviews to chronicle the various ups and downs of her tragic life and career.
Breathless as Criticism (11 minutes) Another video essay written by film historian Jonathan Rosenbaum and delivered by an unidentified male voice, it delves into the literary and cultural references in Breathless.
Chambre 12, Hotel de Suede (80 minutes) An early ’90s French television program that seeks out the original locations from Breathless, as well as cast and crew, in order to get as close to the flashpoint that was the film as possible, sort of like peering back through time. Those interviewed include Belmondo, Claude Chabrol, Coutard, and many others. Godard even shows up, ever so briefly, as a voice on the phone. He hangs up on the interviewer almost immediately. A definite must-see.
Charlotte et son Jules (12 minutes) A fun short from 1959, which paired Godard and Belmondo for the first time and shows a few hints of what was to come.
Also, on this disc is the film’s original trailer.
Also of interest, is an included 80-page book filled with stills from the movie, an appreciation of Breathless by film professor Dudley Andrew, and a fascinating series of interviews and correspondence from Jean-Luc Godard from 1959-1962 which show his initial enthusiasm for working in the medium and his gradual disgust for the success his work brought him.
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