Breathless (1983)
MGM DVD (region 1)
d. Jim McBride; pr. Martin Erlichman; scr. Jean Luc-Godard, LM Kit Carson, Jim McBride; ph. Richard H. Kline; m. Jack Nitzsche; ed. Robert Estrin, Rachel Igel; cast. Richard Gere, Valerie Kaprisky, Art Metrano, John P. Ryan, James Hong, Miguel Pinero (101 mins)
Jean-Luc Godard’s original 1960s film of Breathless is hailed as one of the masterpieces of the French New Wave and a monument that is thus critically unassailable. When director Jim McBride announced his intention to remake and Americanize this cinema classic, many were duly outraged. Indeed, whatever the merits of this remake, it will forever be compared to the original and, sadly, usually by the people who resent Americanizations of international films. McBride was an untried talent at that point and eagerly sought to attract a major actor for the lead role. Amongst the actors so wanted were Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Gary Busey and John Travolta. None of these choices eventuated and the role went to Richard Gere, then a proverbial “hot property” thanks to the enormous success of American Gigolo. Gere would work extensively on his character and the script, so much so that McBride refers to the film as a collaboration. For an added sensuality in what was intended as a sexual and sultry movie, nineteen year-old French model Valerie Kaprisky was selected. Her scenes with Gere, and the full frontal nudity, caused an outcry amongst conservative groups and the film became something of a controversial talking point upon release. Still, it could not shake the lingering debt to Godard, even if the majority of audience members the remake connected with were unfamiliar with its borrowings and revisions.
In Breathless, Richard Gere stars as a drifter in Las Vegas, obsessed with Marvel Silver Surfer comic books and the rock ‘n roll music of Jerry Lee Lewis. One day, Gere steals a car, intending to drive to Los Angeles. As he drives and looks through the owner’s possessions, he discovers a gun in the vehicle. Soon, as he has been speeding, a police car tails him and he pulls over. His attempt to hide the gun, however, has disastrous consequences and he flees the scene of what is now a crime. In Los Angeles, he seeks to re-acquaint himself with a college girl (Valerie Kaprisky) he met in Vegas. She is captivated by this reckless American and resumes her affair with him. However, she has plans for a job and Gere resents the implication that her potential employer may sneak her sexual favors away from him. His jealous instability is tempered by his growing realization that his crime has been reported in the media and that he is now a wanted murderer, the police already on his trail of associates. Indeed, soon the police trace his involvement to Kaprisky and begin to question her. She is somewhat conflicted, aware of Gere’s instability but drawn to his sense of risk and danger. Thus, when Gere proposes to her that the two of them go off to Mexico she is tempted to throw her beckoning “normal” life away and pursue a prolonged romantic / sexual fantasy with this reckless man. read more