Breathless (À bout de souffle) 1960 Jean-Luc Godard

Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard was a rewatch, but film school was a long time ago and the French New Wave got muddled in my brain.  Jean-Paul Belmond says it right up front, “I’m an asshole.”  I don’t know why I didn’t believe him.  I kept thinking he would be redeemed right up to the end.  So, when you are watching…believe him.  He is a chancer, a conman, a Humphrey Bogart wannabe, and a bit of a tramp.  He has decided that Patricia (played by Jean Seberg) is the love of his life even though she seems a bit indifferent.  You see their day to day and hustle.  He is looking for friends and money and cars to steal.  She is hawking the New York Herald Tribune along the Champs-Élysées while trying to break into journalism.  The police are closing in on him, and he seems to only worry if he will get laid. It is a great ending.  Lots of good extras and interviews on the Criterion DVD including a documentary about the lamentable life of Jean Seberg.

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