BREATHLESS 4K Review: Anarchy on Screen

The low-budget indie film redefined cinema as we know it. And it still kicks.

Breathless
The film is now available from the Criterion Collection in three editions, sold separately: 4K UHD+Blu-ray Combo, Blu-ray and DVD.

In 1962, filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard told Cahiers du cinema: "The thing that has always distinguished Cahiers from the rest is our principle of laudatory criticism: if you like a film, you write about it; if you don't like it, don't bother tearing it to pieces."

That principle is also our guiding principle here at Screen Anarchy, as laid out by our founder Todd Brown. I like Godard's A bout de souffle, so I am writing about it.

Shot on location in and around Paris in August/September 1959, the independently-produced film released in France on March 16, 1960, and became an instant sensation. In the home video era, Fox-Lorber released it on DVD in 2001 before the Criterion Collection issued its own edition on DVD in 2007, on Blu-ray in 2016, and now in 2023 on 4K UHD, utilizing a 4K restoration carried out by Studio Canal.

Having not seen the film in its entirety since I saw it at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles in 1979 -- which left me shocked and stumbling at its power -- I watched the Blu-ray first, which also includes the special features. Rather than a revelation, now it strikes me as an incredible touchstone, like meeting your grandfather for the first time and realizing that he had all those characteristics you thought were your own.

The special features, gathered from previous home video editions, consist of an hour or so of interviews with Godard, Belmondo and Seberg from near the time of original release, as well as later, illuminating insights from cinematographer Raoul Coutard and assistant director Pierre Rissient. In addition, an interview with documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker and video essays written by Mark Rappaport and Jonathan Rosenbaum tackle various aspects of Godard's approach to film.

In essence, they all endeavor to grapple with a ground-breaking film and all offer their own individual reactions to and understanding of why Breathless marked a turning point in cinema. (Godard later said he thought he was starting a new cinema but was, in fact, bringing an end to a period of cinema.)

An 80-minute documentary by Claude Ventura follows the journalist and TV host as he visits some of the film's locations and talks with as many of its participants as he can. (He even manages to phone Godard, who curtly rebuffs his inquiries -- twice.) It's a marvelous tapestry of special features. The handsome printed booklet that's included features a very strong scholarly essay by Dudley Andrew, a few articles by Godard at the time, Francois Truffaut's original treatment, and Godard's scenario, which served merely as a guideline for the movie itself; during filming, Godard wrote each day's dialogue before shooting began (?!).

Having in mind that Breathless was a low-budget movie, shot in black and white, the 4K version, which is separated onto its own disc, looks very, very good. In comparison to the Blu-ray version, the sub-titles are noticeably easier to read and look sharper, more distinct. The blacks are true, deep black, the whites providing a lovely contrast.

Jean-Luc Godard was just getting started. Charlotte et son Jules, a short film set in a hotel room between a man and a woman, hints at what he would do; it's better than All the Boys Are Called Patrick and Une histoire d'eau (co-directed with Truffaut), which are available to stream on The Criterion Channel, but it didn't take him long to emerge as a fully-formed artist in the 1960s, completing 15 features (??!!) before exiting commercial cinema after 1967's Weekend to engage more fully in experimental and political works. (That Criterion Channel collection includes a sampling of his early features, short films, and documentaries by and about him.)

Godard returned to commercial cinema in the 1980s before spinning out into his own realm of experimental work in the decades that followed. For now, renewing my acquaintance with the still-fresh, still-startling Breathless has re-ignited my own stagnant desire to get to know Godard much, much better.

Note: this article was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, many movies covered by Screen Anarchy wouldn't exist.