Ready for His Close-up
December 07, 2012
Film Info
- France
- 1960
- 90 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- French
- Spine #408
There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du cinéma. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured cinema would never be the same.
Cast
| Patricia Franchini | Jean Seberg |
| Michel Poiccard | Jean-Paul Belmondo |
| Inspector Vital | Daniel Boulanger |
| Antonio Berruti | Henri-Jacques Huet |
| Carl Zumbach | Roger Hanin |
| Van Doude | Van Doude |
| Liliane | Liliane David |
| Other inspector | Michel Fabre |
| Parvulesco | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Used car dealer | Claude Mansard |
| Informer | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Tolmachoff | Richard Balducci |
Credits
| Director | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Producer | Georges de Beauregard |
| Screenplay | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Based on an original treatment by | François Truffaut |
| Cinematography | Raoul Coutard |
| Camera assistant | Claude Beausoleil |
| Assistant director | Pierre Rissient |
| Script supervisor | Suzon Faye |
| Makeup | Phuong Mattret |
| Music | Martial Solal |
| Sound | Jacques Maumont |
| Editing | Cécile Decugis |
| Assistant editor | Lila Herman |
| Technical advisor | Claude Chabrol |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
- New video interviews with Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker
- Two video essays: filmmaker Mark Rappaport’s Jean Seberg and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum’s “Breathless” as Criticism
- Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède, an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew
- Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short film by Godard featuring Belmondo
- French theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by scholar Dudley Andrew, writings by Godard, François Truffaut’s original treatment, and Godard’s scenario
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