Breathless

Jesse (Richard Gere, American Gigolo), a restless and cocky common criminal with a penchant for fast cars, rock ‘n roll music and comic books, finds himself obsessed with Monica (Valérie Kaprisky, La Femme Publique), a French exchange student at UCLA. On the run for car theft and the accidental slaying of a highway patrolman, Jesse finds himself on the streets of Los Angeles, passing time in swimming pools, making love with Monica and dodging the law that is closing in on him.

A controversial remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic staple of the French New Wave, À bout de souffle (1960), BREATHLESS is a decidedly 80s updating of the tried-and-true merging of romance and crime, giving way to the sex and violence expected from its era. Directed by American iconoclast Jim McBride (David Holzman’s Diary, The Big Easy), who co-wrote the script with L.M. Kit Carson (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2; Paris, Texas), BREATHLESS is a potent blast of pop-culture idolation, eschewing the gritty monochrome of its source for a vibrant, colorful, Los Angeles, gorgeously captured by director of photography Richard H. Kline (Body Heat, The Fury). Cinématographe is proud to present Jim McBride’s illustrious neo-noir in its world UHD debut of a new 4K restoration from its original camera negative.