A BOUT DE SOUFFLE

Written and Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Staring
- Jean Paul Belmondo as Laszlo Kovaks
- Jean Seberg as Patricia Franchini
- Danielle Boulanger as Police Inspector

If you tell me that Breathless starring Richard Gere is a great movie, I will seek you and destroy you. If you tell me the Gere movie's actually better than the Godard movie, I will torture you for a month until you beg me to kill you and then I'll make you watch all of Gere movies, in slow motion and without the naked women. Breathless (1983) is an insulting remake of of this Godard Masterpiece.

That A Bout De Souffle is one of Godard's best movie while being his first one is not surprising when you realize that the story is by Truffaut and Chabrol helped Godard. And then there's the really pretty Jean Seberg and the always great Belmondo.

The story is rather simple: a man shoots a cop and is then wanted by the police.

But if this movie is so famous, it's not because of the story, it's because Godard introduced The French New Wave to the world with his (at the time) revolutionary methods. Such methods as having the actors improvise their scenes and film them. Such as having jump-cuts all over the film (which at first were actually a mistake), having a hand held camera, recording the sound AFTER filming (yes, everything's dubbed but you wouldn't guess it), using natural lights, etc.

This movie looks just so fucking cool, from the jazz soundtrack to the Belmondo character talking to us, that it's a riot. Yes, there is plenty of humor and there is plenty of action (kinda) and there are plenty of dialogue, making everybody happy. And then? Then there are the not so hidden details that make this movie great to watch over and over. Like Melville doing a cameo, or Godard himself doing a cameo and all the freakin' references to American movies. I found a lot of them, but I'm sure I'm missing some. I got the white convertible, the same as the one in Kiss Me Deadly. There are all the Bogart references and the shots which are direct homages to Fuller (in the apartment) and many other things. It's just great to try to find them all.

A Bout De Souffle is one of those movies that makes you want to be in Paris in the 60's. And it's one of those movies that make you realize that the French can be cool when they try. Once you watched the movie, listen to Dimitri From Paris' Sacrebleu, which uses a few quotes from Godard's film. Especially the hidden track.

Ruthless Ratings

• Directing: 10. For the free style and all.
• Acting: 10. Belmondo and Seberg, without much of a screenplay come out as a great couple.
• Rewatchability: 10. Watch it again and again. Start annoying your friends by quoting from it ("Paaa paaaa Paatriciiiaaaaa" or "Quel pays est le plus intelligent du Monde? La France.") and try to see how many references to other movies Godard makes.
• DVD Extra: There's an audio commentary by a critic. Never listened to it. But you don't need extra with this movie.

Special Ruthless Ratings

• Number of times you wished Jean Seberg was gonna be naked: 4
• Number of times you felt sorry that Jean Seberg killed herself: 9