Breathless (1983) - Cinématographe 4K UHD

Breathless is less of a remake and more of an updating of the French New Wave Classic A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) from one of the best of the best, Jean Luc Godard. It's not quite a shot-for-shot remake, but it gets close. The film follows the same beats, but instead of a hip daddy-o like Jean Paul Belmondo's character in the original (which pays homage to American Noir tropes), Richard Gere plays a hip daddy-o, Jesse, who's obsessed with Jerry Lee Lewis. The film itself plays on expressionistic colors and bright reds and oranges throughout; however, the bones of the two Breathless features are the same. Richard Gere skips his Vegas hustling to drive to LA to find a girl he met while she was on vacation. He steals a Porsche and high tails it out of town, breaking every speeding law imaginable while listening to Jerry Lee Lewis’ song Breathless.

He gets tailed by a police officer, and when he tries to evade, he crashes the Porsche. When the cop approaches, he accidentally shoots the cop. Fearing jail time, he runs for his life. When he makes it to LA, he woos the French girl he fell for in Vegas and tries to goad her into running away with him. She falls for his bad-boy charms as he breaks into her house to surprise her. During this time, she’s in a love triangle with him and one of her professors. He joins him on the run through LA with the cops right on his tail, which excites her until it becomes too real when she discovers her face in the paper associated with Gere. Then there’s practically the same finale as the original film, but with a kind of cringeworthy Jerry Lee Lewis Dance from Gere before the final moment.

I was expecting not to like this film all that much. I love Godard, and while Breathless isn’t my favorite of his films, I was wondering why the remake at all? I was wondering if they would go for the infamous Gus van Sant’s Psycho shot-for-shot remake, but there’s enough difference here for the film to stand alone. I really love the locations in LA where they shoot; there are a lot of the same murals in this as in Agnès Varda’s Mur Murs, which I hope was an homage to Varda, the real queen of the French New Wave. I loved every scene where they were driving and included deliberately bad rear projection, which gives a respite from the real world to make it seem like the two leads are in a comic book.

Comic Books, especially the lead’s love for the Silver Surfer, are the real lynchpin of this remake stylistically. Along with every classic car that features car jacks, his style is incredibly rockabilly, both films harken back to different 50’s styles, Godard noir, to McBride's rockabilly with pop art sensibilities. I did like the homage to classic Bonnie and Clyde style Noir Gun Crazy that’s playing in the theater where Jesse and Monica hide out. There are just so many nice little touches like that in this film. I would recommend this film with the caveat that you don’t take its steadfastness or its deviations from the original; I feel like they can both be appreciated for different reasons.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Vinegar Syndrome's Cinématographe imprint delivers Breathless to 4K UHD with a deluxe-packaged 2-disc set. This release is housed in an absolutely gorgeous fabric-bound case that includes a 4K UHD disk (BD66) and a Blu-ray disc (Region A BD50) with a copy of the film and the supplements. That case is housed in a beautiful hard cardboard case with a pop art cover reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein. This case is worth buying alone. It’s elegant and looks great on the shelf.

This release of Breathless has absolutely stunning visuals. This 4K scan, shown in 2160p Dolby Vision, is gorgeous, taken from the original camera negative, and brings the best version of home video you can buy. The expressionistic lighting in the Vegas scenes and Gere driving through the desert looks insanely good. Obviously, focus the lighting to match comic book imagery. The entire opening of him driving with the rear projected deep orange sunset creates a heightened reality. This trick is used whenever he and Monica are driving around LA, creating a cool, dreamy atmosphere and, obviously, serving as an artistic choice that makes it feel like, when they’re together, reality doesn’t exist. This release is well worth buying for the visuals alone.

The audio of this release is presented in DTS-HD MA 2.0 and sounds great. There is a lot of Richard Gere talking to himself in the first twenty minutes of the movie, and you can hear that well, along with the rest of the dialogue. The soundtrack is also super fun, matching Gere’s character’s obsession with Jerry Lee Lewis; we are treated to a handful of his songs, especially and obviously the song Breathless. This is just a really tremendous release of this film.

This release is chock-full of great supplements. There are two audio commentaries, one in conversation with Director Jim McBride and Justin Laliberty, and another with Film Writer Travis Woods. The first is a great conversation about behind-the-scenes intrigue and the making of the film. The second one, with Travis Wood, is a great prewritten commentary that discusses how the film is not just a remake but an entire reworking of the Godard Version, along with more thoughtful insights into Jesse’s pop culture obsession. There’s also a great video essay that touches on the same themes. The video interview with Jim McBride sometimes overlaps with the commentary; however, it’s still a great watch. There are also deleted scenes, an alternate ending with optional commentary, and a theatrical trailer. The supplements are thoughtful and well worth the price of admission.

• Audio Commentary with director and co-writer Jim McBride, moderated by Cinématographe's Justin LaLiberty
• Audio Commentary with film writer Travis Woods
• Rock N Roll As an Attitude - a new video interview with Jim McBride (HD 23:35)
• A Different Perspective - a new video interview with casting director Jane Jenkins (HD 15:04)
• To Ensnare is to Enshrine: The Ghostly Layers of Jim McBride's Breathless - a new video essay by film historian Daniel Kremer (HD 10:31)
• Deleted Scenes with audio commentary from Jim McBride (HD 5:59)
•  Alternate Ending with audio commentary from Jim McBride (HD 3:39) 
• Theatrical Trailer (HD 2:26)

Breathless certainly scores a worthwhile 4K release from Vinegar Syndrome's Cinématographe imprint. The film is a fun 80’s reworking of a classic French New Wave film that borrows the bones of the original script but makes it something new and fun. I loved the addition of an affable, pop art-obsessed protagonist, as opposed to the noir-obsessed bad boy in the original. The new 4k restoration of the original camera negative is so incredibly gorgeous, and with Dolby Vision HDR, you still get the great, bold expressionistic colors, especially in the car scenes. The film is clear while still retaining the film grain, which is a great touch. The supplements are full of great information and entertaining to boot. The pièce de résistance is the packaging of this release; the discs are housed in an elegant fabric case within a hardy cover featuring great pop art-inspired artwork. This is the definitive physical media release of Breathless and is well worth the money. Highly Recommended. 

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