Breathless
Tags: comedy, murder

Plot synopsis:
Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a youthful criminal who is intrigued with the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest Patricia (Jean Seberg), a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. Patricia says she is pregnant, probably with Michel's child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street and, after a prolonged death run, he dies “à bout de souffle” (out of breath).
=== Closing dialogue ===
Michel's death scene is one of the most iconic scenes in the film, but the film's final lines of dialogue are the source of some confusion for English-speaking audiences. In some translations, it is unclear whether Michel is condemning Patricia, or alternatively condemning the world in general.
As Patricia and Detective Vital catch up with the dying Michel, they have the following dialogue:
MICHEL: C'est vraiment dégueulasse.
PATRICIA: Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?
VITAL: Il a dit que vous êtes vraiment "une dégueulasse".
PATRICIA: Qu'est-ce que c'est "dégueulasse"?
In the English captioning of the 2001 Fox-Lorber Region One DVD, "dégueulasse" is translated as "scumbag", producing the following dialogue:
MICHEL: It's disgusting, really.
PATRICIA: What did he say?
VITAL: He said, "You're a real scumbag".
PATRICIA: What's a scumbag?
The 2007 Criterion Collection Region One DVD uses a less literal translation:
MICHEL: Makes me want to puke.
PATRICIA: What did he say?
VITAL: He said you make him want to puke.
PATRICIA: What's that mean, "puke"?
This translation also was used for the 2010 restoration print.

Review: "Raising Arizona" type humor but the movie isn't as funny.
A movie you laugh at even though you know you shouldn't.
"We are in Texas there are no accidents.
There's alive and there's dead." Lorna (Gershon) is very upset with her husband Dale (Kilmer) after years of prison for robbing convenience stores he is free.
She finds out that he has robbed a bank and she is upset because he isn't sharing with her.
She calls her friend "Tiny" (Giddish) over to help her though her problem but things go from bad to worse.
I have to say that for the most part this was a pretty entertaining movie and it made me laugh a few times but it is not anything really good.
The humor is the "redneck" type of humor like the kind in "Raising Arizona" but it's not quite as funny.
I've said for a while now that Val Kilmer has really gone downhill for some reason.
While this is his best (and by that I mean only watchable) movie in a while his acting is terrible.
Ray Liotta has been going down that road too but his acting is actually decent in this movie.
This is nothing amazing but it is pretty funny in a very dark & I shouldn't be laughing at this kind of way.
Overall, not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.
Nothing, just watch this movie please!!!.
I can't believe there's only ONE review for this movie!
I just saw it and have so much fun from beginning to end that it's almost impossible to describe!Within its genre this movie is a masterpiece, this movie is...PERFECT!
Black humor from the word GO, relentless, suspenseful, hilarious...
On top of that its script is so clever, SO CLEVER that you don't have an idea.Everything came out as round and smooth as that crystal skull they found in Perú (or some place like that) and it's --they say-- several thousand years old, but with a surface so smooth that only could have been polished with a laser beam.
This is exactly the impression I got from this film, sheer perfection!!!Convoluted script, because it consists of several layers, layers the director peels away, one by one, like a superb magician and you look like a dumb child, the trick being performed in front of your naked eyes but you don't see the obvious tricks until towards the end when the whole puzzle starts getting its pieces in the right places and you close your open mouth saying: "Well...
I'll be darn...
so that was the way it happened"...I tell you, incredible.As incredible as the acting, because the idea is quite difficult to put through and make it believable --truly believable-- otherwise, with mediocre actors, this film would have crumbled from the very beginning, and these crew was superb (maybe with a small reservation for Val Kilmer, over the top in his overacting bit, fortunately in a cameo part) but the two women were fantastic.Yet you get to know the characters little by little, small gestures, ticks, reactions to one another according to the dialog, situations, doubts, a myriad things, and yet, you are fooled from beginning to end, one step unfolding its real meaning until the next step unfolds a new, unexpected surprise, till the very last frame!!!One of the best movies I've ever seen, and I hate movies with this kind of characters that speak with those accents and live in those places and listen to that kind of music!!!Granted, it isn't "Pantaleón y las visitadoras" (2000), "Barry Lyndon" (1975), "Death in Venice" (1971), "L'ínnocente" (1976), "Tous les matins du monde" (1991), "Blade Runner" (1982), "Le scaphandre et le papillon" (2007), "Los otros" (2001), "Tom Jones" (1963) -- I just mentioned a few of the many movies I admire and will stay with me forever more, but again, considering the characters, their place under the sun, their music and their speaking accents...
this movie is TOP DRAWER.
(And I myself have the nerve to talk about accents in English...!!!)..
Imagine if Thelma and Louise had settled down.
Given the nature of the film, a very smart pick for the lead character, but the rest of the character choices end up being one of the few problem areas of the film.
80 of 100.What if the younger character in Thelma and Louise had followed the normal path, remained a waitress, grown old, and become a deteriorating middle-aged housewife?
This film provides one amusingly satirical answer to that question.Destined to be a cable and cult classic where big name actors and a big ad budget isn't necessary.
The lying and counter lying mixed with the Texas setting makes it something worth repeat viewings..
Definitely worth a watch..
Refreshing, funny, entertaining, great performances by a great cast.
Good story with a talented director as well.
I truly enjoyed this movie from beginning to end.
I did not realize what a talented actress Gina Gershon was until I watched this little gem-sleeper.
I have a new appreciation for her skills.
The rest of the cast was great as well, no matter how small there part..I think that was the beauty of it, these legendary seasoned actors with these small parts added so much to them.
I truly made me laugh out loud...especially Val Kilmer's lines..he was great!
The story kept me interested from the beginning to the end of the movie.
Good fun, great acting, great direction and great cast with a unique, funny script..
Breathless Is Out of Breath.
The main problem with Jesse Baget's 'Breathless' is that it takes itself too seriously thinking that it's slicker, cleverer and funnier than it actually is.
The weak script is perforated with holes.
The dialogues try to be clever and funny but they hardly impress.
A movie like this really needs to sustain its tension and element of suspense but every breath that 'Breathless' takes is predictable.
Moreover, the pacing drags especially the dialogue ridden scenes that after a point sounds like mumbo jumbo.
Of the performances, Gina Gershon does a fine job.
Kelli Giddish performs adequately.
Val Kilmer is funny in a brief role.
Ray Liotta is far from his best.
Production value looks quite good.
All in all, 'Breathless' is lacks the life to sustain the viewer's attention.
For a dark comedy, its just not that funny..
High ambitions.
The movie starts off pretty good, but descents fast too.
Still it is nice to see Val Kilmer in a decent role (does not happen that often, but then again he is not the main actor here and he doesn't have a lot to do either, so that might help the fact), plus Gina Gershon can show some things she might have learned during "Bound".
Ray Liotta is a side note and the whole thing is very predictable.Funny enough (or not): While the movie tries to be clever, the coincidences and other things that just happen conveniently, really destroy the whole thing and make you wonder, what they were thinking.
The basic idea was nice and the accents are interesting too (though some might say this is a bit of a one sided look at Texas), but the overall movie fails to impress.
An extra point for trying though ....
So slow, you'll think that time runs backwards.
You really have to be a fan of the actors, to sit thru the whole movie.
It's just so slow and predictable.
I wasn't really hyped and didn't expect much when i watched the trailer ...
but damn was i ever so right.
The movie wants to be smart but fails with long, pointless dialogues.
Twist?
Let's say that it looks like Captain Obvious wrote the whole thing.Scenery?
Two locations.
Seriously.
Acting is fair.
Val Kilmer does a good job in a brief funny role.
Ray Liotta and Gina Gershon are decent but far from their best.And all the gore that wants to be "over the head" is unnecessary.
It just makes movie even more shallow.
Watch it if your life depends of it...
But rather just pass..
DOES BLOOD MAKE ME LOOK FAT?.
I enjoyed the opening credits with bright use of the color red and showing the painted hands of a women preparing dinner.
Gina Gershon stars as Lorna in this dark comedy that takes place in Texas in 1981.
Dale (Val Kilmer) her husband of 17 years, is laid out on the floor as Gina's girlfriend Tiny (Kelli Giddish looking like a young Jane Curtin) walks in.As things go on Val Kilmer, who is now tied up in a chair and has confessed to a bank robbery, is accidentally killed.
The women suppose the money is hidden somewhere in the trailer.
They decide to look for the loot and dispose of the body using household appliances.
As the story goes on, the plot takes a number of twists, so much so that the final twist becomes easy to figure out.This is a Coen style comedy, but falls short of the masters.
I enjoyed this quirky film in spite of some of the predictability.
Several laugh out loud moments as Gina creates a memorable character.PARENTAL GUIDE: No F-bombs, sex, or nudity.