À bout de souffle, Made in USA

To me Richard Gere carried the movie--he managed to make Jesse LuJak a character both repulsive and likeable. LuJak is a petty criminal, car-thief and then a murderer, not very bright (he reads comic books and seems to model himself on The Silver Surfer). LuJak moves in a world of cheap motels and seedy bars, and has a torrid and obviously doomed affair with an art student. But in the end he comes off as somehow admirable--we believe that he loves the Kapinsky character, that he might even be a good father to her child, given the chance. LuJak comes mighty near what I would call a tragic hero--flaws and all.

As for the look of the movie, I find that equally well done--just for example, at one point the hero and heroine make love in torrid red lights, with a black-and white 30s movie in the background, also dealing with doomed lovers. The juxtaposed images were very nicely handled.

Both thumbs up!

"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.

A Bout De Soufflé is closely related to the portrait of a generation shaped by Beatnik and Existencialist philosophies. Kerouak and Salinger in USA, Sartres and Camus in France, were among the intellectuals who inspired this generation.

A generation whose "malaise" is embedded in Paris atmosphere. Paris which was the very center of occidental culture by that time.

The American version of this story, Breathless, directed by Jim McBride, missed the point because the portrait of a generation of the sixties in Paris, cannot be transplanted to a context of the eighties in California.

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!

Richard Gere is quite simply the whole show in Breathless. To this day, this remains his most flamboyant performance of them all. He's immoral, yet charming and by sheer enthusiasm you can't help but root for this tragic character. The story seems to be a mere excuse to showcase Gere's charisma and sex appeal and he carries this movie as far as it can go.

Although this is hardly groundbreaking stuff, director Jim McBride seems to be an ample filmmaker. The film is filled with nice location photography and some flashy angles here and there.

I also dug the music score, shame there's no soundtrack album available anywhere. I recommend this film to anyone. Probably seen it over 20 times and I never get tired of it. Granted, I am a Richard Gere fan, but I also think this movie is truly entertaining.