Breathless is a French motion picture that established Jean-Luc Godard as one of the most important directors of his time. The film was Godard’s first as a director. It is sometimes known by its French title, A Bout de Souffle, which roughly means out of breath. Breathless was released in 1960. It was one of several motion pictures that established an influential movement in French cinema called La Nouvelle Vague (The New Wave). Breathless also made French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo an international star.
In Breathless, Godard first displayed the experimental filmmaking techniques that made him both famous and influential. For example, his actors sometimes improvised their lines or spoke directly to the camera. The film also told much of its story in short, disconnected scenes.
Breathless tells about a young French small-time gangster (Belmondo) who kills a policeman. He tries to avoid capture, but his American girlfriend (Jean Seberg) eventually betrays him. In the movie, Godard paid homage to American gangster films and the dark melodramatic style of the 1940’s called film noir. Belmondo’s character is fascinated with American tough-guy actor Humphrey Bogart. Godard dedicated Breathless to Monogram Pictures, a small American studio that made many low-budget Westerns and action and crime films during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Breathless was written by Godard and Francois Truffaut, who soon became a major New Wave director. It was remade in 1983 with American actor Richard Gere performing the Belmondo role.
See also Belmondo, Jean-Paul ; Godard, Jean-Luc ; Motion picture (The New Wave in France) .
