Artsy for our time
Though older, this movie is a staple for the foundation of movie making. The director approached the film making aspect with creativity and new ideas that broke some boundaries on film making. Here, he worked with moving camera by put the camera man in a cart.
The movie, however, was slow in the middle. I did not like the main character, but still followed his journey. There was a very long, and somewhat mundane scene that I thought could have ended earlier. But this is a movie that anyone can learn from and appreciate.
Brilliant movies don't need your feeling for the character. Why do u need to feel for the character? Isn't it enough that it is engaging you? And, " the movie is slow in the middle". if u are with the loveable character of Michel, nothing is slow.
You call him a loveable character. That means you enjoy watching him and his story. Loveable or not, if I do not enjoy him as a character, why would I enjoy his story. Unless the director makes me care one way or another about the character, I do not want to watch a movie because therefore....I am not involved or engaged into the story.
 |
Jean-Paul Belmondo | Michel Poiccard |
 |
Jean Seberg | Patricia Franchini |
 |
Daniel Boulanger | Police Inspector Vital |
 |
Jean-Pierre Melville | Parvulesco |
|
Henri-Jacques Huet | Antonio Berrutti |
|
Van Doude | The Journalist |
|
Claude Mansard | Claudius Mansard |
 |
Jean-Luc Godard | The Informist |
|
Richard Balducci | Tolmatchoff |
 |
Roger Hanin | Cal Zombach |
|
Jean-Louis Richard | A Journalist |
|
Jean-Luc Godard | An Informer |
| |
Raoul Coutard | Director of Photography |
| |
Jean-Luc Godard | Screenplay |
| |
Georges de Beauregard | Producer |
| |
Martial Solal | Original Music Composer |
| |
Cécile Decugis | Editor |
| |
Lila Herman | Editor |
| |
Jean-Luc Godard | Director |
 |
François Truffaut | Story Contributor |
| |
Lila Herman | Editing |
| |
Cécile Decugis | Editing |
"The film that was banned for 4 years. Why..?"
Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a young petty criminal who models himself on the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to his American girlfriend 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. At one point, Patricia says she is pregnant 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 did. 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).
Freebase: Breathless, licensed under CC-BY
Wikipedia: Breathless, licensed under CC BY-SA
