1001 Movies Club - Breathless (1960)

#348. Breathless (1960)

Why It's In The Book: "Surprisingly, from an artistic iconoclast whose evolution was so rapid and ambitious, Breathless is a modest debut by Godard... there is a lovely but conventional film noir jazz score by Martial Solal...Whether through accident or design, Godard's low-budget, on-the-fly shooting style produced remarkable innovations. Eschewing direct sound recording and using total postsychronization not only led to an Orson Welles-style speed and inventiveness in the dialogue delivery but also paved the way for a radical sound mix in which one can no longer spot the difference between "real" sound happening within the story and sound imposed by the cinematic contemplation: the "visual study," in which a sequence of just slightly different views offers a cubist mosaic of the many moods and aspects of these extraordinary star presences. But it is as a modern love story that Breathless retains its immense appeal for members of generation X and beyond. The children of existentialist reflection, postwar affluence, Beat culture cool, and pop culture flip, these antiheroes treat love as a game, and their own identities as makeshift masks." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Member Ratings

Jaime Grijalba - 10/10
"a deconstruction of film language itself."
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Michaël Parent - 10/10
"I have to admit that the first time I watched À bout de souffle I hated it to its deep core."
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Shubhajit Lahiri - 10/10
"One of the greatest movies ever made, Breathless, upon its release, revolutionized motion pictures forever, and has established itself as a cinematic as well as a cultural icon."
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Adolytsi - 9/10
"This is designed to make you love the process of filmmaking and what it can do, and it is quite a successful film at that."
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Doug Tilley - 8/10
"It all still feels startlingly fresh - and hen viewed in the context of the films immediately before it seems like something beamed back from the future."
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Klaus Ming - 8/10
"...the spontaneous photographic style and the charismatic performances of the lead characters, who widely discuss life, love, art, music and culture, provide the basis for a self-conscious and surprisingly engaging film."
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Movie Guy Steve - 8/10
" For a film with such a small story with surprisingly few twists and turns, it is remarkably watchable, and holds up very well."
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Squish - 8/10
"I am after all, an asshole."
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SDG - 7/10
"Breathless has to be the movie that I respect and appreciate the importance of, but personally do not get the appeal of."
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Overall Rating: 8.7/10