Dig the shirt, Richard!
Jim McBride’s remake of Jean-Luc Godard‘s French new wave classic ”À bout de souffle” was universally panned on release in 1983 . This partly explains why I’ve only just gotten round to seeing it . It shows that you should never trust the critics.
It may not work as an art movie but as pulp cinema it is brilliant and, call me superficial, but I have to agree with Quentin Tarantino and say that it surpasses the original.
Ok, it hasn’t got any of Godard’s then revolutionary directorial touches but McBride is no slouch as a filmmaker and knows exactly what look and feel he is going for.
While Godard’s movie now looks horribly dated and pretentious, McBride’s is hilariously absurd and highly watchable. The casting of Richard Gere as flashy Jesse Lujack was the masterstroke. Gere’s over the top performance is compelling in its exaggeration. He’s a jerk with no fashion sense but he has the swagger to carry off the part of the ‘live fast die young’ rebel to perfection.
Jean Paul Sartre was an intellectual existentialist while Jesse gets his live for the now philosophy from Marvel Comics . The Silver Surfer is his role model. At one point, très jolie but très wooden French girlfriend Monica (Valérie Kaprisky) throws a William Faulkner quote at him: “Given a choice between grief and nothing, I’d choose grief.”. Which would you choose, she asks . “I’d choose nothing” says Jesse without a second thought , “All or nothing , baby”.
One mystery is why no soundtrack album ever got released. The choice of music is perfect for the brash feel of the movie. There is Jerry Lee Lewis’ rip-roaring ‘Breathless’ plus a great cover version of this by X. There’s also the highly Tarantino-esque Jack The Ripper by Link Wray (a track used in the film Desperado by Quentin’s pal Robert Rodriguez) plus The Pretenders’ Message of Love. On a slightly more elevated level there’s some incidental music by Brian Eno and Monica’s theme is Openings by Philip Glass (to show how high-minded she is) .
Arty French cinema 0 Trashy American movies 1
Links:
In defence of Breathless – Celluloid Highways
Cinema’s crankiest philosopher and his abstract new film refuse to entertain (search.japantimes.co.jp)
