©-DR-À BOUT DE SOUFFLE de Jean Luc Godard (1960) fin par tellurikwaves blog (75 Paris)

According to Jean-Pierre Melville, Godard asked him for consultation during the post-production stage because the first edit was too long for distribution. Melville suggested Godard remove all scenes that slowed down the action (his own turn as novelist Parvulesco included). But instead of excluding entire scenes, Godard cut little bits from here and there. This led to the "jump cut" technique this movie introduced. Melville declared the result to be excellent.

To give a more detached, spontaneous quality, Jean-Luc Godard fed the actors their lines as scenes were being filmed.

Director Jean-Luc Godard couldn't afford a dolly, so he pushed the cinematographer around in a wheelchair through many scenes of the film. He got the idea from Jean-Pierre Melville, who had used the same low-budget technique in Bob le flambeur (1956) and Le silence de la mer (1949).

Jean-Paul Belmondo was very surprised by the warm reception the film received. Immediately after production he was convinced it was so bad that he thought the film would never be released.

Despite reports to the contrary, Jean-Luc Godard did not shoot the film without a script; however, he did not have a finished script at the beginning, instead writing scenes in the morning and filming them that day. See also Pierrot le fou (1965).

Aside from the film's title, the distribution visa number, and the dedication to Monogram Pictures, there are no other credits or titles on this film. The entire cast and crew is uncredited.

This film is dedicated to Monogram Pictures.

Parvulesco the Writer, the subject of the press interview, is played by Jean-Pierre Melville, "Godfather of the New Wave." There is a reference to Melville's film, "Bob the Flambeur, in "Breathless" when Poiccard asks Tomatchoff how to cash the check he gives him. Tomatchoff responds, "Try Bob Montagne," who is the title character in the Melville film. Poiccard replies, "But he's in jail."

The song playing when Michel goes to visit the first girl in Paris is "Pity Pity" by Paul Anka (released in 1959).

Melville's film, "Bob the Flambeur, in "Breathless" when Poiccard asks Tomatchoff how to cash the check he gives him. Tomatchoff responds, "Try Bob Montagne," who is the title character in the Melville film. Poiccard replies, "But he's in jail."

The character of Michel Poiccard uses the name Laszlo Kovacs as an alias. It is often wrongly assumed this was an homage to the cinematographer of the same name: the film was made long before Kovacs established himself in the movie industry. It was actually a reference to the character played by Jean-Paul Belmondo in Claude Chabrol's À double tour (1959), earlier the same year.

When Patricia and Michel are on the bed, and she is holding the Teddy Bear, the book Michel is reading is 'Photographing The Female Figure' by Bunny Yeager, from 1957. The close-up shots do not come from this book, though; it appears another book was used for these shots.

Spoilers

CINEMA :Les blessures narcissiques d'une vie par procuration

©-DR-À BOUT DE SOUFFLE de Jean Luc Godard (1960) fin