Breathless 

Selected by the Film Editors Branch. Special guest: Introduction by Film Editor Joe Walker.

Selected by the Film Editors Branch. 

Jean-Luc Godard dedicated his game-changing thriller to the American B-movie studio Monogram Pictures, and this tale of an American student who falls for a Parisian thief is not only one of the defining films of the French New Wave but one of cinema’s most influential films. Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo’s career-defining performances made them icons of cinematic cool, while Raoul Coutard’s striking black-and-white, hand-held cinematography captures the chaotic elegance of the city of lights. The film editing of Cécile Decugis—a filmmaker and activist in her own right—incorporated groundbreaking techniques, such as jump cuts, that forever changed the way cinematic stories are told. 

DIRECTED BY: Jean-Luc Godard. WRITTEN BY: François Truffaut. WITH: Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Henri-Jacques Huet, Liliane David. 1960. 90 min. France. B&W. French. DCP.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 
Theater accessibility accommodations available upon request. Learn more about our accessibility initiatives.