Anniversary of the Breathless
On March 16, 1960, the movie "À bout de souffle (Breathless)" was released on the screens of French cinemas. It was the first full-length film in the directorial career of Jean-Luc Godard.
The plot of the movie was based on a newspaper article read by François Truffaut, the author of the script for the movie. The article talked about a petty thief named Michelle Portale and his American girlfriend. In 1952, Portale stole a car to visit his sick mother in Le Havre in northern France, but ended up killing a police motorcyclist.
28-year-old Jean-Luc Godard, as a debutant in full-length cinema, invited Jean-Pierre Melville, who by then had the reputation of being the master of French cinema, for consultations. But the circumstances were such that Melville had to not only advise, but also play one of the episodic roles, which was originally intended for Roberto Rossellini.
According to the great chansonnier Charles Aznavour, Francois Truffaut wanted him, Aznavour, to play a major role in the film and organize a meeting of Godard and Aznavour for this purpose. But the singer during the meeting rejected this offer and, in turn, proposed the candidacy of Jean-Paul Belmondo.
As for the performer of the main female role - Jean Seberg, Godard never hid the fact that he attracted this actress for purely commercial purposes, since shortly before that she had gained great popularity in America, playing in the film "Bonjour Tristesse" by Otto Preminger. To create a comfortable conditions for this actress, Godard gave one of the episodic roles in the film to her then husband, François Moreuil.
Another reason for inviting Jean Seberg to the movie was her willingness to play for a very modest fee. Although her fee of approximately 13.5 thousand dollars became the most significant item in the movie's budget. For comparison: a year earlier the film “Voulez-vous danser avec moi (Come Dance with Me!)” was released, in which Brigitte Bardot played the main role. Her fee was 200 thousand dollars.
Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo were confident in the failure of the movie. But they were mistaken. The film was a success in all respects.
First, financial success. The budget of the picture was only 400 thousand French francs, or 81.5 thousand dollars (the equivalent of the current 737 thousand dollars). But only in North America, the film raised 363 thousand dollars (More than 3.2 million dollars today). It is hard to say what the box office movie was at home: there is no such data. But it is known that in the first year of the demonstration in French cinemas, more than 2.2 million people watched it.
Secondly, as the real success of the debutant can be considered the Silver Bear prize of Berlin International Film Festival awarded to Jean-Luc Godard. The film was also nominated for the Golden Bear, but the jury, chaired by the American comedian Harold Lloyd, preferred the Spanish film "El Lazarillo de Tormes". Has anyone seen this movie? Share your impressions. However, Stanley Kramer’s film “Inherit the Wind” made up the company of losers for Godard’s film. And Russian film critic Sergei Kudryavtsev, who rated the film as high as possible with 10 points, commented on this incident:
“But as if apologizing for such an underestimation, the French director was awarded the Golden Bear for the less significant film “Une femme est une femme (A Woman Is a Woman)” at the next Berlin International Film Festival".
Thirdly, the overwhelming majority of film critics gave the film “Breathless” the highest rating. Not only Sergei Kudryavtsev rated the film to the maximum, but Roger Ebert, who gave the film a maximum of 4 stars and included it in his list of "Great Movies", wrote about the Godard's movie:
"Modern movies begin here, with Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" in 1960. No debut film since "Citizen Kane" in 1942 has been as influential".
And finally, ordinary moviegoers praised Godard's film, and not only in dollars and francs. Despite the complexity and experimentality of the film, 66% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film ratings from 8 to 10.
Based on the foregoing, the rating of the film according to the version of FilmGourmand was 8.338, due to which it took 401st Rank in the Golden Thousand.
