Breathless

While it didn't exactly launch the French New Wave (that happened two years earlier with the release of Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge), Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960) brought the nouvelle vague to the world's attention (along with Francois Truffaut's 1959 hit The 400 Blows). A bold embodiment of the quest for a freer, more personal style of filmmaking, Breathless was a valentine to the low-budget American gangster thrillers that Godard enjoyed in his youth (he dedicated the film to the "poverty row" studio Monogram Pictures), but this affectionate homage is filtered through a modern approach (including the use of jump-cutting within a scene) that would influence American movies for the remainder of the 1960s and beyond. Breathless also turned its young costars into cinematic icons: as a charming but ill-fated Parisian hood and the American girl who loves and ultimately betrays him, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg are one of the greatest couples in movie history, combining style and sex appeal (although Seberg's subsequent career would spiral down and eventually end in suicide in 1979). Romantic, tragic, and…well…cool, Breathless has been given the red-carpet treatment in this two-disc Criterion Collection edition, which is loaded with supplemental features, including a "making-of" documentary, Godard's 1959 short Charlotte et son Jules (starring Belmondo), archival interviews, video essays by filmmaker Mark Rappaport and film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, and an 80-page booklet of with an essay, writings by Godard, and the original treatment for Breathless by Truffaut. As important to film history as it is entertaining, Breathless is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (J. Shannon)[Blu-ray Review—Sept. 28, 2010—Criterion, 90 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1960's Breathless sports a nice transfer with a mono soundtrack. Extras include the French documentary “Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède” (79 min.), archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard and costars Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville (27 min.), a video interview with cinematographer Raoud Coutard and assistant director Pierre Rissient (22 min.), a video essay on Seberg by filmmaker Mark Rappaport (19 min.), Godard's 1959 short film “Charlotte et son Jules,” featuring Belmondo (13 min.), the video essay “Breathless as Criticism” by Jonathan Rosenbaum (11 min.), an interview with filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (11 min.), trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by scholar Dudley Andrew, writings by Godard, Francois Truffaut's original treatment, and Godard's scenario. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut of a cinematic classic.][Blu-ray/DVD Combo Review—Feb. 25, 2014—Criterion, 90 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and second appearance on Blu-ray, 1960's Breathless features a great transfer and an uncompressed monoaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras include the French “making-of” documentary “Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède” (79 min.), archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard and costars Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville (27 min.), a 2007 interview with cinematographer Raoud Coutard and assistant director Pierre Rissient (22 min.), a video essay on Seberg by filmmaker Mark Rappaport (19 min.), Godard's 1959 short Charlotte et son Jules, featuring Belmondo (13 min.), the video essay “Breathless as Criticism” by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (11 min.), a 2007 interview with filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (11 min.), trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by scholar Dudley Andrew, writings by Godard, François Truffaut's original treatment, and Godard's scenario. Bottom line: if you own the first Blu-ray release of Breathless, there's no need to add this one; if you don't, however, this combo set offers a great two-fer deal on a landmark film.]