Breathless

1h 30m
- Crime
- Drama

Release Date: Feb 7, 1961

A small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder of a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.

Releases

2010 Re-release | May 28, 2010

2021 Re-release | Sep 24, 2021

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Director & Top Cast

Jean-Luc Godard
Director

Jean-Paul Belmondo
Michel Poiccard a.k.a. Laszlo Kovacs

Jean Seberg
Patricia Franchini

Van Doude
Self

Jean-Luc Godard
The Snitch

Richard Balducci
Tolmatchoff

Daniel Boulanger

Police Inspector Vital

Gérard Brach

Photographer

Philippe de Broca

A Journalist

José Bénazéraf

Man in a White Car

Jean Domarchi

A Drunk

Jean Douchet

A Journalist

Liliane Dreyfus

Liliane

Michel Fabre

Police Inspector #2

Roger Hanin

Carl Zubart

Henri-Jacques Huet

Antonio Berrutti

Raymond Huntley

A Journalist

André S. Labarthe

Journalist at Orly

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Mono

Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: France

Language: French,English

Summaries

Storyline

Michel Poiccard, an irresponsible sociopath and small-time thief, steals a car and impulsively murders the motorcycle policeman who pursues him. Now wanted by the authorities, he renews his relationship with Patricia Franchini, a hip American girl studying journalism at the Sorbonne, whom he had met in Nice a few weeks earlier. Before leaving Paris, he plans to collect a debt from an underworld acquaintance and expects her to accompany him on his planned getaway to Italy. Even with his face in the local papers and media, Poiccard seems oblivious to the dragnet that is slowly closing around him as he recklessly pursues his love of American movies and libidinous interest in the beautiful American. — duke1029 Michel Poiccard is a Marseilles based hood, who will do whatever he needs to to get what he wants. He models his behavior after the tough guy characters portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in the movies. This behavior includes stealing money and cars wherever and whenever, lying and cheating, and using woman, who allow him to since they are attracted to his charisma. Because of his criminal activities, he works under aliases, such as László Kovács. One day while he is being chased by policemen in the French countryside while he is driving a stolen vehicle, he eventually shoots one of the policemen dead. He heads to Paris to take refuge with who he considers his girlfriend, Patricia Franchini, a twenty-year old American journalism student at the Sorbonne and an aspiring reporter with the Paris based office of the New York Herald Tribune. Having only dated casually over the last month, Patricia is unaware of Michel's criminal activities. She is concurrently dating another American journalist. Michel, who is trying to get money owed to him from some of his associates, wants Patricia to run off with him to Rome, all the while seemingly cavalier about the fact that his name and photograph are in the local media as a cop killer. When Patricia eventually learns about Michel being wanted by the police, she has to decide where her allegiances lie. — Huggo The car thief Michel Poiccard kills a policeman on road RN7 between Marseille and Paris. He continues to Paris, where someone owes him money, and where he has fallen in love with Patricia Franchini, a young American woman, who is going to study at Sorbonne. Michel finds her at Champs-Élysée, where she is selling the New York Herald Tribune. She is not sure whether she loves him or not, and anyway she has an appointment with an American journalist, who has offered her some occasional job as a reporter. When she returns to her hotel room in the evening, she finds Michel lying in her bed. Next morning police detective Vital contacts her, as she has been seen together with Michel Poiccard. The detective shows her a newspaper with a photo of Michel, identifying him as the killer. She is forced to admit that she has met Michel, but says that she has no idea of where he is. Now she knows for sure that she loves Michel. She helps him to continue his flight. — Maths Jesperson {maths.jesperson1@comhem.se} With a cigarette always in his mouth to style himself after Humphrey Bogart , possessing a reckless bravado inspired by the tough characters of Hollywood's film-noir movies, the charming fedora-wearing hoodlum, Michel Poiccard, steals a car. One dead traffic police officer later, and with the entire police force after him, Michel heads to Paris and holes up in the tiny apartment of the gamine young American would-be novelist, Patricia Franchini, intent on keeping a low profile. Now, amid thick cigarette smoke, intimate revelations, unreciprocated seduction, and old debts, freedom and youthful love have the final say, even though Patricia, the beautiful and independent Francophile, still hasn't made up her mind about her feelings for Michel. But, life is short, Rome seems so far away, and Michel has already fallen for Patricia. Yet the question remains. Is Patricia in love with Michel? — Nick Riganas