Breathless (1960 film)
| Breathless | |
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Original release poster
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| Directed by | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Produced by | Georges de Beauregard |
| Written by | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Based on | an original treatment by François Truffaut Claude Chabrol (uncredited) |
| Starring |
Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean Seberg |
| Music by | Martial Solal |
| Cinematography | Raoul Coutard |
| Edited by | Cécile Decugis Lila Herman |
| Distributed by |
UGC (France, original) StudioCanal (France, 2010 re-release) Films Around The World (USA) Rialto Pictures (USA, 2010 re-release) |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes 90 minutes (unrated) |
| Country | France |
| Language | French English |
| Budget | FRF400,000 |
| Box office | $67,464 2,082,760 admissions (France) |
Breathless (French: À bout de souffle; "out of breath") is a 1960 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard about a wandering criminal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his American girlfriend (Jean Seberg). It was Godard's first feature-length work and represented Belmondo's breakthrough as an actor.
Breathless was one of the earliest, most influential examples of French New Wave (nouvelle vague) cinema. Together with François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Alain Resnais's Hiroshima, Mon Amour, both released a year earlier, it brought international acclaim to this new style of French filmmaking. At the time, the film attracted much attention for its bold visual style, which included unconventional use of jump cuts.
A fully restored version of the film was released in the U.S. for its 50th anniversary in May 2010. When originally released in France, the film attracted over 2 million viewers.
Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a youthful criminal who is intrigued with the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest Patricia (Jean Seberg), a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. Patricia says she is pregnant, probably with Michel's child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street and, after a prolonged death run, he dies “à bout de souffle” (out of breath).
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