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Rutgers Films in Print
Breathless
Breathless, a low-budget film, came to be regarded as one of the major accomplishments of the French New Wave cinema of the early sixties. It had a tremendous influence on French filmmakers and on world cinema in general. Beyond its significance in film history, it was also a film of considerable cultural impact. In Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard captured the spirit of a disillusioned generation and fashioned a style, which drew on the past, to parade that disillusionment.
In his introduction, Dudley Andrew brilliantly explains what Godard set out to accomplish in Breathless. He illuminates the intertextual and cultural references of the film and the tensions within it between tradition and innovation. This volume also features, for the first time in English, the complete and accurate continuity script of Breathless, together with Francois Truffaut's surprisingly detailed original treatment. Also included are an in-depth selection of reviews and criticism in French and English; a brief biographical sketch of the director's life that covers the development of his career, as well as a filmography and selected bibliography.
In his introduction, Dudley Andrew brilliantly explains what Godard set out to accomplish in Breathless. He illuminates the intertextual and cultural references of the film and the tensions within it between tradition and innovation. This volume also features, for the first time in English, the complete and accurate continuity script of Breathless, together with Francois Truffaut's surprisingly detailed original treatment. Also included are an in-depth selection of reviews and criticism in French and English; a brief biographical sketch of the director's life that covers the development of his career, as well as a filmography and selected bibliography.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
Jean-Luc Godard
95 books254 followersJean-Luc Godard is a French and Swiss filmmaker and one of the founding members of the Nouvelle Vague, or "French New Wave".
Godard was born to Franco-Swiss parents in Paris. He attended school in Nyon, Switzerland, and at the Lycée Rohmer, and the Sorbonne in Paris. During his time at the Sorbonne, he became involved with the young group of filmmakers and film theorists that gave birth to the New Wave.
Many of Godard's films challenged the conventions of Hollywood cinema, and he was often considered the most extreme New Wave filmmaker. His films often expressed his political ideologies as well as his knowledge of film history. In addition, Godards' films often cited existential and Marxist philosophy.
Godard was born to Franco-Swiss parents in Paris. He attended school in Nyon, Switzerland, and at the Lycée Rohmer, and the Sorbonne in Paris. During his time at the Sorbonne, he became involved with the young group of filmmakers and film theorists that gave birth to the New Wave.
Many of Godard's films challenged the conventions of Hollywood cinema, and he was often considered the most extreme New Wave filmmaker. His films often expressed his political ideologies as well as his knowledge of film history. In addition, Godards' films often cited existential and Marxist philosophy.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 9, 2016
گاهی وقتها یه اتفاق چنان موجی بلند میکنه که خود اتفاق رو هم با خودش میبره. سرنوشت فیلم از نفس افتاده هم انگار همین بوده. چه موقع نمایش فیلم برای اولین بار و چه حالا جوری موج «موج نویی» بودن این فیلم بلند میشه که دیگه وقتی قراره کسی از این فیلم صحبت کنه چارهای نداره که گریزی هم بزنه به ویژگیها و نمونههای دیگهی این موج و همینجاست که قصهی خود فیلم کمرنگ میشه. چهارصد ضربهی تروفو تونسته از چنگال شوم این موج خودش رو رها کنه؛ اما انگار از نفس افتاده همچنان مهر شوم موج نویی بودن رو باید رو پیشونیش داشته باشه. انتشار فیلمنامهی از نفس افتاده بهترین اتفاقیه که برای پاک کردن این مهر شوم میتونه بیافته
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چهار پنج سالی بود که منتظر انتشار فیلمنامه یا در واقع فیلمنوشت از نفس افتاده بودم. دوست داشتم این بار قصهی عجیب و غریب دوستی دختر و پسر داستان رو این بار روی کاغذ با تمانینه تجربه کنم. ضرباهنگ تند فیلم حتی اگه چندباره ببینیش باز اجازه نمیده که بازیهای این دختر و پسر رو کامل دنبال کنی. برای همینه که فیلمنامه رو برمیداری و موقع خوندن تصاویر فیلم رو نه با سرعت 24 فریم در ثانیه، که با سرعت دوستداشتنی فریم خیالهات هماهنگ میکنی و پیش میری. گاهی دوست داری برگردی، گاهی دوست داری تصویر دیگهای بذاری، گاهی دوست داری آرومتر از همیشه بری، گاهی بیحوصله میشی و دوس داری فقط رد شی. این بار تویی که فرصت چیدن راشهای خیالت رو داری و چه فرصتی بهتر از «از نفس افتاده»؟
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کتاب جز فیلمنوشت شامل طرح اصلی تروفو برای این فیلم، مصاحبههای گدار، نظرات دستاندرکاران فیلم و چند نقد و تحلیل هم میشه که به نظرم مصاحبههای خود گدار بهترین قسمت ضمیمه هست.
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اگه «از نفس افتاده» رو دوست دارین این فیلمنوشت رو هم حتما تجربه کنین
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چهار پنج سالی بود که منتظر انتشار فیلمنامه یا در واقع فیلمنوشت از نفس افتاده بودم. دوست داشتم این بار قصهی عجیب و غریب دوستی دختر و پسر داستان رو این بار روی کاغذ با تمانینه تجربه کنم. ضرباهنگ تند فیلم حتی اگه چندباره ببینیش باز اجازه نمیده که بازیهای این دختر و پسر رو کامل دنبال کنی. برای همینه که فیلمنامه رو برمیداری و موقع خوندن تصاویر فیلم رو نه با سرعت 24 فریم در ثانیه، که با سرعت دوستداشتنی فریم خیالهات هماهنگ میکنی و پیش میری. گاهی دوست داری برگردی، گاهی دوست داری تصویر دیگهای بذاری، گاهی دوست داری آرومتر از همیشه بری، گاهی بیحوصله میشی و دوس داری فقط رد شی. این بار تویی که فرصت چیدن راشهای خیالت رو داری و چه فرصتی بهتر از «از نفس افتاده»؟
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کتاب جز فیلمنوشت شامل طرح اصلی تروفو برای این فیلم، مصاحبههای گدار، نظرات دستاندرکاران فیلم و چند نقد و تحلیل هم میشه که به نظرم مصاحبههای خود گدار بهترین قسمت ضمیمه هست.
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اگه «از نفس افتاده» رو دوست دارین این فیلمنوشت رو هم حتما تجربه کنین
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August 23, 2021
Although I absolutely love Le Mépris this is undoubtedly my favourite Godard film which would also get in my top ten of all time. And now I can add this book to the three copies of the film I own - VHS/DVD/Blu-ray - two framed posters and the Original Soundtrack. On first viewing back in my 20s I wanted nothing more than to run away with Jean Seberg and never come back! Have lost count on the number of times I've seen it over the years.
April 10, 2022
Breathless is one of those films, like Citizen Kane, that divides the history of cinema into "before Breathless" and "after Breathless." There aren't too many of those... (I'm thinking...). I love The 400 Blows, but this was the film that really had an explosive effect on the movies. Not only are the editing and casually wild style revolutionary, but the film essentially introduced the idea of "meta-commentary" into cinematic language. I can't think of a movie before it where the characters were seemingly aware that they were in a movie, and behaved accordingly. Plus, the whole "meta" aspect is effortlessly folded into the film, because Michel worships Humphrey Bogart. So the "meta" stuff masquerades (in part) as just the way a guy trying be Bogart would act. It's not my *favorite* Godard, but it's the most *important* one. Belmondo was PERFECT in it. A true loss, Happy birthday to him in the afterlife It was his birthday yesterday. Fortunately, he's been immortalized — if for no other reason than having been in that movie. Brilliant.
December 13, 2025
اینکه به این کتاب چه نمره ای بدی بیشتر به ان بستگی داره که فیلم رو چقدر دوست داشته باشی در کل کتاب مفیدیه
March 31, 2012
Published in 1987 in the Rutgers Films in Print series, this book by Dudley Andrew is an ample introduction to Jean-Luc Godard's classic 1959 film À bout de souffle (Breathless). Andrew has written an introductory essay and collected interviews, reviews and commentaries from French and US publications of the early Sixties. There's also François Truffaut's three-page treatment that Godard transformed into this, his first feature film. The largest portion of the book is a continuity script that Andrew produced from the film print, ignoring the subtitles and translating the spoken French dialogue. into English.
While À bout de souffle (Breathless) is no opaque intellectual film that requires some special education to follow and enjoy, Andrew's book will prove informative to those wanting a greater appreciation of the script and the film's reception. English subtitles, even on recent releases like the Criterion Collection's, necessarily make compromises and leave some of the dialogue untranslated. Andrew's continuity script gives readers the film's full dialogue and occasionally points out instances of the late 1950s slang employed by character Michael Poiccard. The reason for the film's great impact is less easy to understand today, after the film's innovations have become an everyday part of filmmaking, but the contemporary reviews show what particular details shocked the first filmgoers to see Godard's work.
Only the lack of the original French dialogue (which could have been presented facing-page) and the scant commentary (as opposed to the many reviews) keep this good book from being a great one. However, those who loved Godard's work and want to read more about it will find Andrew's treatment highly informative.
While À bout de souffle (Breathless) is no opaque intellectual film that requires some special education to follow and enjoy, Andrew's book will prove informative to those wanting a greater appreciation of the script and the film's reception. English subtitles, even on recent releases like the Criterion Collection's, necessarily make compromises and leave some of the dialogue untranslated. Andrew's continuity script gives readers the film's full dialogue and occasionally points out instances of the late 1950s slang employed by character Michael Poiccard. The reason for the film's great impact is less easy to understand today, after the film's innovations have become an everyday part of filmmaking, but the contemporary reviews show what particular details shocked the first filmgoers to see Godard's work.
Only the lack of the original French dialogue (which could have been presented facing-page) and the scant commentary (as opposed to the many reviews) keep this good book from being a great one. However, those who loved Godard's work and want to read more about it will find Andrew's treatment highly informative.
April 12, 2008
Wow the actual film script or at the very least dialogue from Jean-Luc Godard's 'Breathless." Voted no. 1 as the best film ever made. Voted no. 1 over everyone else's number 1. Better then the film you are thinking about right at this moment. Way better! But think harder. Is there something better then 'Breathless?" The sequal? No? How about....? Still no! "Breathless" is the best film ever.
May 18, 2025
Godard, one of my favorite directors, has deepened my admiration for the French language! Of all his works, Pierrot le Fou stands out as my favorite.
May 3, 2017
Goddard's hip, 1960's romance Breathless was the catalyst for the movement known as French New Wave. The film approaches storytelling in a non-linear postmodern manner that had never been considered before. The film tells the story of a murderer on the run and the woman who helplessly falls in love with him. The story itself is unremarkable, but the manner in which Goddard tells the story is unique in cinema, and often replicated to varying degrees of success.
This 80-page book that accompanies the film explores the genesis and style of Goddard's work – mainly in his own words from interviews, essays, and treatments for the original script. This book is almost required reading to accompany the film, as the incredible thought process and manner in which Goddard approached his art is startlingly purist and bare bones. Considering the work of art that the film is, these essays highlight not only the remarkable execution of the production of the film (when one reads the back story, one is shocked at how wholly unplanned and shot-from-the-hip the film actually is) but also the absolute vision it took to break just about all the rules of filmmaking and make something completely different. I found it beautifully satisfying that as an artist he knew exactly how new, different, and genius his work was...but that he also knew how very reluctant the establishment was going to be to accept until it was his film's time to be accepted. The book is a testament to recording the story of the film in the filmmaker's own words, and ultimately an examination of how one of the greatest films of all time came to be, unapologetically, just that.
Reading this book was a part of watching the film for the blog I co-write with my wife, from which the following portion of our review of Breathless originated. Visit http://www.beforewediefilms.com to read this and hundreds more of our movie reviews!
Selection from BeforeWeDieFilms.com Review of Breathless...
Godard's style in this film is incredible. From the costumes, to the cars, to the incredible dialogue that is impossible to believe that it was written and shot on the spot, to the editing, to the absolutely true story about its minimal funding and shoestring production, it would have been truly earth-shattering to have seen this film come out in 1960 and not been absolutely agape at what was playing on the screen. There is no doubt in my mind that he knew exactly what he was doing as he threw this together - in a manner both haphazard and also with such extreme vision - to create an almost definitive new genre, new technique, new wave of filmmaking. I have seen something so pure with such the minimum of action and dialogue and budget before in a variety of early-nineties low-budget films, but in hindsight, each of these were just sorry attempts to do what Godard does so perfectly in this piece. Essentially, what we got in this film was the beauty of a lazy new relationship where the feelers touch down, and around every corner, a new twist of language and fun moment is contrasted with the weight of something really terrible crashing down around the next corner.
The music, the dialogue, the style, the cuts, the edits, and the sexiness of the young, fresh characters in their stupendous performances make this piece unforgettable. We also watched the special featurettes on Criterion. Most notable were the featurettes about Godard's style and approach to filming this piece, as well as the story of Jean Seberg's troubled and sad life after her early films. If you watch Breathless, the featurettes are highly recommended to add some context to the genius of the piece and the strange avenues the cast and crew traveled after the film exploded into the public as something completely before its time.
This 80-page book that accompanies the film explores the genesis and style of Goddard's work – mainly in his own words from interviews, essays, and treatments for the original script. This book is almost required reading to accompany the film, as the incredible thought process and manner in which Goddard approached his art is startlingly purist and bare bones. Considering the work of art that the film is, these essays highlight not only the remarkable execution of the production of the film (when one reads the back story, one is shocked at how wholly unplanned and shot-from-the-hip the film actually is) but also the absolute vision it took to break just about all the rules of filmmaking and make something completely different. I found it beautifully satisfying that as an artist he knew exactly how new, different, and genius his work was...but that he also knew how very reluctant the establishment was going to be to accept until it was his film's time to be accepted. The book is a testament to recording the story of the film in the filmmaker's own words, and ultimately an examination of how one of the greatest films of all time came to be, unapologetically, just that.
Reading this book was a part of watching the film for the blog I co-write with my wife, from which the following portion of our review of Breathless originated. Visit http://www.beforewediefilms.com to read this and hundreds more of our movie reviews!
Selection from BeforeWeDieFilms.com Review of Breathless...
Godard's style in this film is incredible. From the costumes, to the cars, to the incredible dialogue that is impossible to believe that it was written and shot on the spot, to the editing, to the absolutely true story about its minimal funding and shoestring production, it would have been truly earth-shattering to have seen this film come out in 1960 and not been absolutely agape at what was playing on the screen. There is no doubt in my mind that he knew exactly what he was doing as he threw this together - in a manner both haphazard and also with such extreme vision - to create an almost definitive new genre, new technique, new wave of filmmaking. I have seen something so pure with such the minimum of action and dialogue and budget before in a variety of early-nineties low-budget films, but in hindsight, each of these were just sorry attempts to do what Godard does so perfectly in this piece. Essentially, what we got in this film was the beauty of a lazy new relationship where the feelers touch down, and around every corner, a new twist of language and fun moment is contrasted with the weight of something really terrible crashing down around the next corner.
The music, the dialogue, the style, the cuts, the edits, and the sexiness of the young, fresh characters in their stupendous performances make this piece unforgettable. We also watched the special featurettes on Criterion. Most notable were the featurettes about Godard's style and approach to filming this piece, as well as the story of Jean Seberg's troubled and sad life after her early films. If you watch Breathless, the featurettes are highly recommended to add some context to the genius of the piece and the strange avenues the cast and crew traveled after the film exploded into the public as something completely before its time.
July 8, 2013
I was lucky enough to get the chance to actually read the original script of "Breathless".
It's a brilliant achievement that is bold and experimental yet simple and pure,with a feeling of being casually thrown together yet also carefully crafted.
I'm always surprised by how raw this film seems even today. Can't imagine how it would have been to see it back in 60's,something so "real" and imediate unfolding in front of you. So much of it feels like you're seeing things you shouldn't be - voyeuristic in a way. In general,it's a great flick. I bet a lot of people have started rubbing their lips after watching it.
Godard is not my favourute director,but those people who dig him,really dig him. But now everyone talks about how "difficult" Godard is,which is all fine and good,but too-clever people overvalue this shit while pretty much ignoring that Godard is amongst the most romantic artists of all time.
The most beautiful dialogues EVER. I live for that 25-minute bedroom scene!
Praise GOD(ard).
It's a brilliant achievement that is bold and experimental yet simple and pure,with a feeling of being casually thrown together yet also carefully crafted.
I'm always surprised by how raw this film seems even today. Can't imagine how it would have been to see it back in 60's,something so "real" and imediate unfolding in front of you. So much of it feels like you're seeing things you shouldn't be - voyeuristic in a way. In general,it's a great flick. I bet a lot of people have started rubbing their lips after watching it.
Godard is not my favourute director,but those people who dig him,really dig him. But now everyone talks about how "difficult" Godard is,which is all fine and good,but too-clever people overvalue this shit while pretty much ignoring that Godard is amongst the most romantic artists of all time.
The most beautiful dialogues EVER. I live for that 25-minute bedroom scene!
Praise GOD(ard).
January 6, 2008
The treatment is my favorite part of this; clearly, I prefer prose to drama by a margin of approximately 244 percent.
July 21, 2012
I liked the basis of the story. It just didn't flow for me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews