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Plot Summary
There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless.Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer forCahiers du cinéma. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured cinema would never be the same.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
97%- Reviews Counted: 58
- Fresh: 56
- Rotten: 2
- Average Rating: 8.6/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: Breathless makes alienation look like it was a lot more fun in 1960 than in the ponderous gravitas or ante-upping brutality of indie film today.
Fresh: This movie liberated the cinema -- the stories you could tell and the ways you could tell them -- as clearly and cleanly as Picasso freed painting and the Sex Pistols rebooted rock.
Fresh: Even 50 years later, it's easy feel how vivid a game-changer Breathless must have been when it arrived.
Fresh: On its fiftieth birthday Breathless remains fresh and exciting, although its revolutionary approach has long since been absorbed into the mainstream, and the years do show on it a bit.
Customer Reviews
Godard is a Genius!
A true auteur! Jean-Luc Goadard's Breathless is a magnificent piece of filmmaking and only the beginning of the wonderful genre that is the French New Wave! A true classic and must see for any fan of cinema!
The movie that defines the French New Wave
This is a truly magnificent piece of filmmaking. This is the film that MADE movies modern-- none of it is phony, none of it is corny, and none is dumb, and Godard knows that-- and because of this, "A Bout de Souffle" succeeds in every way. It's an highly innovative film, and uses a really low budget with black and white; but none of that matters when you have a cool Jean-Paul Belmondo at the beginning of his career and the impish but lovely Jean Seberg as the central couple. Together they're terrific, and with a wise old script everything works. "A Bout de Souffle" is one of the few Godard films that really should appeal to everybody.
I'm no film student but I still love this
Jump cuts and black and white french bliss. Godards first foray into film is his finest and most memorable.
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- $19.99
- Genre: Drama
- Released: 1960
- © Les Films Georges de Beauregard-S.N.C., 1960; © 2007 Pretty Pictures& Vauban Productions (Paris)