Breathless – Cinématographe (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1983
Director: Jim McBride
Writers: L. M. Kit Carson, Jim McBride
Cast: Richard Gere, Valérie Kaprisky, Art Metrano, John P. Ryan, Robert Dunn, Lisa Persky, James Hong, Georg Olden, Miguel Pinero, Sunny Ade 

Release Date: May 27th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 100 Minutes 19 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $59.98

"Jesse (Richard Gere, American Gigolo), a restless and cocky common criminal with a penchant for fast cars, rock ‘n roll music, and comic books, finds himself obsessed with Monica (Valérie Kaprisky, La Femme Publique), a French exchange student at UCLA. On the run for car theft and the accidental slaying of a highway patrolman, Jesse finds himself on the streets of Los Angeles, passing time in swimming pools, making love with Monica, and dodging the law that is closing in on him." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Cinématographe is proud to present Jim McBride’s illustrious neo-noir in its world UHD debut of a new 4K restoration from its original camera negative."

Breathless comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 61 GB

Feature: 60.8 GB

The source is in excellent shape; flesh tones look healthy, nicely saturated colors at times look vivid, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. That said, this transfer is easily the best this film has ever looked on home media.

Breathless comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.3 GB

Feature: 27.4 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds and the score sound appropriately robust.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with director and co-screenwriter Jim McBride, moderated by Cinématographe's Justin LaLiberty and an audio commentary with film writer Travis Woods.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 26 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), deleted scenes with audio commentary with Jim McBride (5 minutes 59 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), an alternate ending with optional audio commentary with Jim McBride (3 minutes 59 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), a video essay by film historian Daniel Kremer titled To Ensnare is to Enshrine: The Ghostly Layers of Jim McBride's Breathless (10 minutes 31 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with casting director Jane Jenkins titled A Different Perspective (15 minutes 4 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Jim McBride titled Rock N Roll As an Attitude (23 minutes 35 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Jim McBride, and Justin LaLiberty and an audio commentary with Travis Woods.

Other extras include a fold-out poster, a J-card MediaBook slipcase, and a 60-page book with an essay titled Breathless ‘83: Don’t Call it a Remake written by Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, an essay titled Business and Pleasure: The Neo-Noir Cinema of Jim McBride written by Justin LaLiberty, an essay titled “I Don’t Know if I’m Unhappy or Not Free Because I’m Unhappy” written by Justine Smith, original production notes, and lobby cards.

Summary:

Jim McBride directed Breathless. He's known for The Big Easy and Great Balls of Fire!.

On his way to Mexico, a fugitive car thief on the run for killing a cop gets sidetracked in Los Angeles by a French girl he met in Las Vegas that he has fallen madly in love with.

Although Jim McBride’s Breathless uses Jean-Luc Godard’s film of the same name as its starting point, the result is not a remake; it is a completely new entity. The other significant influence on Jim McBride’s Breathless is the Neo-noir aesthetic, particularly regarding its visual style and overall vibe. The film's visuals are characterized by vibrant colors, reflecting a style that is emblematic of 1980s U.S. crime films.

The opening setup does a phenomenal job establishing what type of man the protagonist is in a credits sequence where he swaggers and the subsequent jarring scene where he kills a police officer. From that point, a well-structured narrative unfolds, filled with unexpected twists and turns, along with a significant amount of tension that escalates to a thrilling finale.

Richard Gere was riding high after the success of films like American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman, and his casting in the role of the protagonist, a car thief named Jesse, is perfect casting. The tenor of his performance flawlessly captures his character's selflessness and stubbornness. Valérie Kaprisky (The Public Woman) is cast opposite Richard Gere in the role of Monica, a French college student who Jesse has fallen in love with. They have a tremendous amount of chemistry, and the moments they share are electrifying.

Jim McBride’s Breathless is overflowing with tension, and it all derives from Jesse’s refusal to flee. The combination of the visuals, the score, and a soundtrack filled with vintage rock and roll greatly enhances the mood. An interesting aspect of the visuals is how they employ background plates for all of the driving sequences, instead of filming the actors actually driving in traffic. Ultimately, Jim McBride’s Breathless is an intense thrill ride that does an excellent job building to its exemplary climax.

Cinématographe gives Jim McBride’s Breathless an exceptional release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of informative extras; highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer