Breathless (1960 film)

Breathless French bout de souffle out of breath is a 1960 French film written and directed by JeanLuc Godard about a wandering criminal JeanPaul Belmondo and his American girlfriend Jean Seberg. It was Godards first featurelength work and represented Belmondos breakthrough as an actor.

Michel JeanPaul Belmondo is a youthful criminal who is intrigued with the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest Patricia Jean Seberg, a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. At one point, Patricia says she is pregnant with Michels child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street and, after a prolonged death run, he dies bout de souffle out of breath.Michels death scene is one of the most iconic scenes in the film, but the films final lines of dialogue are the source of some confusion for Englishspeaking audiences. In some translations, it is unclear whether Michel is condemning Patricia, or alternatively condemning the world in general. ........

Source: Wikipedia