DVDs in Review

Breathless (À bout de soufflé) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

Title: Breathless (À bout de soufflé) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

Release date: September 13 2010

Certificate: PG

Format: DVD, Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £19.99

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

‘Breathless’ is a film that depends on its style, and has come to be defined by it. Under Jean-Luc Goddard’s assured, jazzy and experimental hand, his first ever feature film is considered to be to first great film of the French New Wave, riffing on the groundwork laid down by Truffaut’s masterpiece ‘The 400 Blows’ from 1959.

Rejecting the conventions of classical studio cinema, Goddard took to the streets, shooting handheld, adding in jump cuts and throwaway conversations to emit a youthful freedom and improvisatory tone that American auteurs such as John Cassavetes built on shortly after. It’s an exciting period for independent cinema, and ‘Breathless’ is one of the movement’s most refreshing titles.

‘Breathless’ acts almost like a rear projection technique, taking all the cool elements of American noir cinema (cigarettes tipping precariously out of mouths, a man on the run modelling himself on Bogart, sharp buildings, elements of double crossing and detection) but injecting them with that inimitable French kinetic energy and acknowledgement that what they’re doing is stylish and fashionable. The difference is that the Americans played it straight.

It concerns Michel, a man on the run (played with confidence by Jean-Paul Belmondo), who has come to depend on his free spirited American girlfriend, a student who dishes out copies of a New York newspaper on the street. They both seem to belong elsewhere but enjoy this masquerade they’ve come to accept as their lifestyles.

There isn’t much more plot involved, but it does dissect feelings of trust, expression, identity and betrayal – all in all, a passionate relationship, built on a certain emptiness. Without Godard’s revolutionary style, this would be an empty film with little going for it. Instead of becoming run of the mill, it’s suddenly off the cuff instead; it’s hard not to get swept along.

Its use of improvisation (and, more importantly, the feeling that it’s improvised) allows the real life elements to jump out and be noticed. Tarantino sampled these ideas with irrelevant monologues about fast food restaurants in ‘Pulp Fiction’ to great effect, while directors like Michel Gondry (‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’) have swiped its visual motifs. If you liked those, and are looking for an entry point to French cinema, you’ll appreciate this.

Newly restored with a spectacular print, Optimum’s DVD is an essential purchase. It’s also available on Blu-ray as part of a fantastic new collection of classic and contemporary films under the Studio Canal Collection banner. A trailer for the collection is below.