moonspinner55 Review of Breathless

Breathless (1983)

Americanized Godard against cartoon-colored backdrops...horrendous to contemplate

[3/10 · 11 November 2010]

Bad boy from Las Vegas--into stealing cars and reading comic books--chases after a French college student in Los Angeles after a two-night stand in a hotel room has left him breathless. He's anxious to get to Mexico after (rather abstractly) shooting and killing a police officer, but she's more the responsible type and feels torn. American rewrite of 1960's "À bout de soufflé" with the character's nationalities flip-flopped; trendily irresponsible in 1983, but not a good idea then or now. Richard Gere, frequently lapsing into baby talk (with a cigarette dangling from his mouth), tries acting reckless but it's not in him to be a dumb mug. Newcomer Valérie Kaprisky seems to have all the males panting in her wake, but we are never sure why--she runs hot and cold throughout, and her mincing speech patterns are even more annoying than Gere's. Director Jim McBride encourages his stars to go for broke, but the results are still lethargic. *1/2 from ****