Breathless Reviews
The cold demeanor of Breathless isn’t very effective and as a result, it feels conceited and in a word; fake.
| Original Score: B- | Aug 19, 2024
Nine years ago, I fell in love with Breathless. Time has aged her since, but poems of chaos, having little structure, are gloriously free from decay.
| May 2, 2024
In an era before social media, Breathless presages the hyper-narcissistic age we embody where everyone with a phone and an Instagram account can create and curate whatever type of existence they choose.
| Feb 27, 2024
The camera in Breathless, which was wielded by Raoul Coutard, is jumpy, fluid, irritable, and comic -- alive with glimpses, sudden turns, rude stares, and angry changes of mood.
| Jan 22, 2024
Breathless seems to me the most original, insolently gifted and shattering work the young French directors have, yet produced.
| Jan 22, 2024
Breathless, the most important New Wave film which has reached the United States, is a frightening little chase comedy with no big speeches and no pretentions.
| Oct 17, 2023
Dedicated to Monogram films, Breathless (originally released in France under the name À bout de souffle) is [Jean-Luc] Godard’s B-movie tribute, a crime movie taken apart and rebuilt from the ground up.
| Feb 4, 2023
Godard is constantly calling attention to the artifice and reminding you that you’re watching a movie. Much like its protagonist, 'Breathless' can't stop looking at itself in the mirror.
| Oct 10, 2022
There are so many filmmaking devices in “Breathless” that have influenced directors for years and still do today. And even though the storytelling structure may feel a bit jarring, the film is hypnotic and its mark on cinema cannot be overstated.
| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 19, 2022
It is a thin story, filled to the brim with extraordinary character of the modem, wild, criminal youth, as exemplified by Belmondo.
| Aug 11, 2022
In spite of the undeniable brilliance of form and style, it remains no more than a superb pattern; a pattern of dried leaves cast on the surface of water. There is a closer approach to human truth in the nonsense of The Singing Fool.
| Aug 10, 2022
Godard's breezy vision and freestyle execution marked a generation. Always on the move and fun, Breathless's magic is still shining. [Full review in Spanish]
| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 15, 2021
Make no mistake about it, this film still deserves its place in the canon of cinema.
| Oct 13, 2021
Breathless made my world when I first encountered it. Decades later, I still love it.
| Original Score: 10/10 | May 11, 2021
Despite its unlikable characters, Breathless doesn't lack feeling. It is a compelling story to watch with a satisfying ending.
| Mar 24, 2021
An irreverent French spin on Godard's affection for American gangster movies...
| Nov 11, 2020
It's an upbeat, jazzy, cops-and-robbers crime drama with the tone of a romantic comedy and the plot progression of an unfocused documentary.
| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 24, 2020
Godard's camera lingers on movement, and on the spaces between people. In one instance, he cuts from Michel and Patricia's flirtations to a close-up of their locked lips, where the space between them has been suddenly and irrevocably shattered.
| Apr 1, 2020
Breathless must have seemed amazing in 1960, a movie obsessed with youth and motion. The problem with youth is it doesn't last.
| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 13, 2020
Exhilarating... Godard uses his camera with the freedom of the gifted amateur who is innocent of all the conventions that the professionals have developed to take the edge off visual reality.
| Jul 12, 2019