À bout de souffle, Made in USA

It's funny to see Richard Gere now, so refined and soft spoken and remember he played the quintesential wild man in "Breatless". I remember when I saw this, I was so young but it blew me away. This isn't a movie that's especially strong no depth nor is it the most original movie-cmon hot bad by, hot bad girl on the run together etc etc. Not original in the slightest but the movie was wholly absorbing. It just worked.

I think this movie was completely decadent and was also a bit ahead of it's time-were it to be released now people wouldn't bat an eye but back then I remember it was pretty raunchy-I didn't know till I read some other reviews on here that Quenten Tarentino was a fan of this movie and there IS something about this movie that's a bit-I don't know-let's just say that I could see him making this.

I think the appeal of this movie was on alot of levels, it was decadent, controversial, featured two leads who even by HOLLYWOOD standards were absolutely incredible looking,besides being fastpaced, action oriented and featuring plenty of sizzling scenes between the two leads. Although this is far from my favorite movie it sure did leave me breathless!

As I had never seen the French original, I don't have nothing to say about it, although the American version is too much underrated by the critics, l spent last night checking out this picture which I had good memories from the early 90's when I'd watched it on TV, indeed Breathless aged very well and holds up at the time, Richard Gere plays Jesse a wild guy car thief, living blithely as hadn't anything on the future, often reading a comic book of his fave hero Silver Surfer as pure escapism.

Jerry had a misfortune to kill inadvertently a cop after committed a mistake on the road, Jerry had plans to your newest French girlfriend Monica (Valérie Kaprisky) at Mexico, henceforth your life turns upside down, whatever he does all things getting worst, although his adventure spirit he goes ahead in randomly, following his own survival instincts, plenty of nudes and sexy scenes notable by the splendorous Monica, also rocked by the Killer Jerry Lee Lewis's Breathless as highlights at fabulous soundtrack.

Richard Gere illustrates that is a multilayer and versatile actor, also Art Metrano in a funny queer character with ice screen at mouth as owner of scrap yard and the recurrent stereotyped John P. Ryan as Lt. Parmental of the L. A. Police who enforces a chase without respite of Jesse, moreover the final sequence is really breathless!!

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 1993 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5.

Richard Gere in a cheesy remake of a '60s French nouvelle vague classic? Sounds like it should really suck, right?

Wrong. Turns out that Jim McBride's "Breathless" one of the best American films of the '80s. Electric performances, superb use of music, and direction with great zip and flair. The fact that this still gets so many negative reviews proves that, even now, most people simply don't get it. The main thing is Gere's performance - you'll either love his preening, irrepressible arrested adolescent, or find him grating. I think it's the performance of his career. This is one of Tarantino's favourite movies, and although it's not really anything like a QT movie, you can see why it appeals to him. I was all set to hate it, but by the end I loved it. Check it out, and decide for yourself.

Oh, and not even LA in the height of summer is anything like as hot as Valerie Kaprisky.

"Breathless" is an unheralded '80s remake of Godard's revolutionary 1960 flick.

In this one, Richard Gere plays the Belmondo role as a dimwitted yet charismatic car-thief who accidentally (or not?) kills a policeman during a traffic stop and goes on the run.

He hooks up with a girl - Valerie Kaprisky playing a French girl in America, just as Jean Seberg played an American girl in France - and they go on the run together.

Nowadays, "Breathless" is remembered mostly, if it is remembered at all, for Kaprisky's nude scenes. Gere is hard to swallow in the lead role; he just seems like an obnoxious idiot. We don't get into his head at all.

Nor do we really understand Kaprisky's motivations. She seems too smart to do what she does, whereas Gere seems too stupid.

I remember when this film was first released. There was much hype since it was an American remake of a fairly renown French film from the 60s. At that point in Richard Gere's career he had portrayed several youthful virile characters (I guess you can say "studs" -- in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "American Gigolo" and "An Officer and a Gentleman"). I think the critics and much of the public at the time saw this film as just another stud role of his. Maybe this is why the film was panned. I myself don't fondly remember it from the first time I saw it -- somehow it seemed empty and vacuous.

I've just now seen this again after many years and Gere's off and on channeling of Jerry Lee Lewis is not something I saw the first time. I agree with another commenter here that Gere actually plays this role of a small time devil-may-care hood to the hilt. He captures the James Dean & Marlon Brando rebel swagger, however minus their brooding or introspection. One endearing aspect of his character here is he's also something of a romantic and I think this is why the young French college student becomes enamored him.

I rated this film a "7" and I think it's worth watching. It is also fairly provocative sexually (hot) and this aspect is tastefully depicted.

After watching this I thought of the song from the late 1970s "Point of No Return," and Gere's character is heading down a very risky path. I don't think anyone affiliated with the making of this film was necessarily searching for a moral to the story -- I guess from the perspective of being older and seeing this now this is what was brought to mind.