France10 Essential French FilmsStop 3 of 10

Breathless

À bout de souffle

1960 · 90 min · Drama

A cocky small-time crook on the run after killing a policeman hides out in Paris with an American girlfriend, playing at being Bogart even as the net tightens around him. Jean-Luc Godard's jazzy, jump-cut debut that helped detonate modern cinema.

Why it’s here

Jean-Luc Godard's French-language New Wave breakthrough and a core work of French cinema.

Runtime

90 min

Genre

Drama · Crime · Romance

Mood

tense · romantic · thoughtful

Entry

easy entry

Best for

first visit · shorter watch · film history

Content notes: violence or threat Non-exhaustive