À bout de souffle (1960)

Jean-Luc Godard’s cock-of-the-walk calling card, mixing pulp pastiche and upstart rebellion with Jean-Paul Belmondo’s footloose Parisian delinquent.

“The moment when cinema and cinephilia first consummated their marriage. Two becoming one. Amen.” Katie Rife

“The plot may suggest a classic thriller – a story of gangsters and a toxic passion between a criminal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and an American student in Paris (Jean Seberg) – but the form is just revolutionary. The narration, the editing, the dialogue, the way the shooting interacts with the city and the people of Paris, all its spontaneity and improvisation: it prefigured a new cinema, movies as manifesto.” Mustapha Benfodil

“This masterpiece of modern French cinema liberated filmmakers from a lot of constraints and began a new era of playfulness. Without it, cinema today would not be what it is.” András Bálint Kovács

1960 France
Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard
Produced by
Georges de Beauregard
Written by
Jean-Luc Godard
Featuring
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Henri-Jacques Huet
Running time
90 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for À bout de souffle

Critics

Mohammed Hashem Abdel-Salam
Egypt
Raphael Abraham
UK
Javier Angulo
Spain
Sharofat Arabova
Tajikistan
Anjelika Artyukh
Russia
Luciano Barisone
Switzerland/Italy
Mustapha Benfodil
Algeria
Nandana Bose
India
Paul Buck
UK
José Cabrera
Spain
Anchalee Chaiworaporn
Thailand
Susan Charlton
Australia
V.K. Cherian
India
Peggy Chiao
Taiwan/China
Agnes Devictor
France
Nenad Dukić
Serbia
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
India
Klaus Eder
Germany
Joseph Fahim
Egypt
Caroline Fournier
Switzerland
Jean-Michel Frodon
France
Oli Harbottle
UK
Maggi Hurt
UK
Caryn James
USA
Marcel Jean
Canada/France
Nebojša Jovanović
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tobias Kniebe
Germany
Nino Kovačić
Croatia
András Bálint Kovács
Hungary
Helena Lindblad
Sweden
João Lopes
Portugal
Antonio Mariotti
Switzerland
Emily Maskell
UK
Charles Musser
USA
Amitava Nag
India
Jugoslav Pantelić
Serbia
Sanjin Pejković
Bosnia and Herzegovina/Sweden
Xavier Pérez
Spain
José Quental
Brazil
Esteve Riambau Möller
Spain
Katie Rife
USA
Beat Schneider
Switzerland
Elena Smolina
Russia/USA
Janet Staiger
USA
Marko Stojiljković
Serbia/Croatia/Slovenia
Matthew Sweet
UK
Anne Thompson
USA
Gulbara Tolomushova
Kyrgyzstan
Susan Vahabzadeh
Germany
Marjan Vujovic
Serbia
Armond White
USA
Mike Williams
UK
Geoffrey Wong
Hong Kong

Directors

Faouzi Bensaïdi
Morocco
Jack Bond
UK
Charles Burnett
USA
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
India
Yinan Diao
China
Saul Dibb
UK
Alex Gibney
USA
Srdan Golubović
Serbia
Peter Greenaway
UK
Rajko Grlić
Croatia
John Hay
UK
Jack Hazan
UK
Rainer Kohlberger
Germany/Austria
Milcho Manchevski
Macedonia
Shahram Mokri
Iran
Radu Muntean
Romania
Călin Peter Netzer
Sir Horace Ové
UK
Asli Özge
Turkey
Sumitra Peries
Sri Lanka
Mani Ratnam
India
Camilo Restrepo
Colombia
Walter Salles
Brazil
Lone Scherfig
Denmark
Subrata Sen
India
Rudolf Thome
Germany
Bing Wang
China
Claudia Weill
USA

Articles related to À bout de souffle

The Greatest Films of All Time

The Greatest Films of All Time

The Greatest Films of All Time
The Greatest Films of All Time

Directors’ 100 Greatest Films of All Time

Directors’ 100 Greatest Films of All Time
Obituaries

Jean-Luc Godard obituary: a filmmaker of seismic impact and influence

By Ginette Vincendeau

Jean-Luc Godard obituary: a filmmaker of seismic impact and influence
Load more

Rent new and acclaimed films, including those in cinemas now

Features from as little as £2.50, become a BFI Member to get a discount.

Explore rentals on BFI Player