Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless helped launch the French New Wave movement, which challenged norms of the medium. Godard's directorial choices appear intended to increase the realism by paradoxically never letting you forget you are watching a movie. Even half a century later, the results remain fascinating though history has inevitably dulled its full impact. How amazing it must have been able to witness its groundbreaking debut in 1960 from a first-time feature filmmaker as it challenged all comers.
Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a young criminal. As the film opens, he steals a car and murders a cop. He returns to Paris where he reconnects with Patricia (Jean Seberg), an American student. He claims to be in love with her and wants them to run off to Italy. To do this, he is trying to collect on debts. Patricia is seems unsure of their feelings for each other. They have some chemistry but fit together oddly. Her parents want her to enroll at The Sorbonne if she expects them to send more money. She sells the New York Herald Tribune and is working towards becoming a journalist.
Over a few days, we see them together and apart. They spend time in her apartment as he relentlessly badgers her into making love. They go out on dates. Alone, Patricia moves her life forward through work. We see her attend a press conference for author Parvulesco (Jean-Paul Melville). He flounders about almost aimlessly. When they reunite, it's because he is insecure, exhibited through his jealously and neediness, and she has nothing else better to do. The tables are turned in contrast to how we see Michel with another woman earlier in the film.
As the police search for Michel, they eventually talk with Patricia. They inform her of his crimes but she dismisses knowing him well and offers little assistance. But how will this revelation impact their relationship? Will it bring them together or push them apart?
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