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Licensor Information
Genius Entertainment
Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
Featuring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, Henri-Jacques Huet, Roger Hanin, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard
There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, crackling personalities of rising stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and anything-goes crime narrative, Jean-Luc Godard's debut fashioned a simultaneous homage to and critique of the American film genres that influenced and rocked him as a film writer for Cahiers du cinema. Jazzy, free-form, and sexy, Breathless (A bout de soufflé) helped launch the French new wave and ensured cinema would never be the same
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Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Discs:
DVD-9 (2 Discs)
Total: 2 Discs
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.33:1
Audio Options:
French Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Interview, Video Essay, Documentary, Short Film, Theatrical Trailer, Booklet
- Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
- Contemporary interviews with Raoul Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker
- Two video essays, one on Seberg and one on Breathless as film criticism
- Chambre 12, Hôtel de suède, an eighty-minute 1993 documentary about the making of Breathless
- Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short by Godard starring Belmondo
- Trailer
- A booklet featuring an essay by scholar Dudley Andrew, writings by Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut’s original treatment, and Godard’s scenario
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Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Artwork: Rodrigo Corral
Producer: Abbey Lustgarten
Producer: Alexandre Mabilon
Restoration Information
Breathless
Restoration by:
The Criterion Collection
Year: 2006
Scanned at: High-Definition Digital
Restored at: High-Definition Digital
Sources:
35mm Fine-grain master positive
Release Notes on Restoration
Breathless
Breathless is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The picture has been slightly window-boxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and the right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. Approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard, this high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm original fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the 35mm an optical track print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the 35mm an optical track print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.