Jesse Lujack (Richard Gere) is caught up in a spectacular self-destructive spiral but he doesn’t know it yet. He has to get from Vegas to LA to collect some money so he steals a Porsche.
By the time he reaches LA there’s a dead cop lying by the side of the highway.
He collects his money but to his horror it’s a cheque, not cash. If you’re a regular law-abiding citizen and it’s clean money a cheque is no problem. If you’re a gambler who has not always been on the right side of the law and it’s dirty money a cheque can be a huge drama.
Within a few hours he’s carried out a minor robbery and stolen another car. He should be keeping a law profile but Jesse is just not capable of doing that. He’s extravagant and wild and crazy and he attracts attention everywhere he goes.
He’s intending to head for Mexico with Monica (Valérie Kaprisky) but Monica doesn’t know that yet. He and Monica had a brief but exciting fling in Vegas. Jesse just knows that Monica is the girl for him. Monica is not at all sure that Jesse is the man for her. She’s about to take her degree and begin a successful career. The last thing she needs is to get involved with a crazy irresponsible loser like Jesse.
On the other hand Jesse is a very good-looking sexy bad boy and what girl can resist a guy like that?
Jesse qualifies as an authentic film noir protagonist. He’s a bit of a bad boy but he’s not really evil. He thinks his problems are due to bad luck but in fact they’re the result of his character flaws. The key to Jesse’s character is that he’s a loser who thinks he’s a winner. He’s ludicrously over-confident. He thinks his charm and his confidence will keep him out of serious trouble. He makes one bad decision after another and he has no idea just how deep a hole he is digging for himself.
Richard Gere’s hyperactive charisma-overload performance is perfect. He captures Jesse’s obliviousness to reality very neatly.
Jesse is not conventionally likeable. Having Jesse in your life would be a nightmare. We care what happens to him not because we like him but because he is a hunted animal and all the odds are stacked against him and we know he’ll just keep doing dumb things. He can’t help it. He’s not so much breathless as hopeless and clueless. He’s so dumb and hopeless that we feel that it’s cruel to hunt him down like a feral dog. And somehow Gere manages to persuade us to be on his side.
Monica is not a femme fatale in a conventional sense (she is not scheming or manipulative) but she is a disastrous choice for Jesse. She is way out of his league. He should just head to Mexico without her. Rich respectable girls will always get guys like Jesse in trouble. And Monica is at heart respectable.
Valérie Kaprisky has had a lengthy successful career in France but Breathless seems to have been her only significant Hollywood role.
This movie is as hyperactive as Jesse. This is the only Jim McBride-directed movie I’ve seen but based on this the man knows how to make a wild rollercoaster of a crime thriller. There are definitely touches of dark humour. It’s like Jesse himself. It dares us not to enjoy ourselves.
I love that at one point our couple on the run end up in a movie theatre and the movie that is playing is Gun Crazy, the greatest couple-on-the-run movie ever made.
Jesse lives in a fantasy world in which he’s the hero. He loves comic books and the world of the Silver Surfer is more real to him than the real world. And the movie to an extent takes us into Jesse’s fantasy world. We’re seeing the world the way Jesse sees it. We’re seeing Jesse trying to be a comic-book hero. The movie takes place in a kind of heightened reality.
Apart from that interesting detached from reality vibe this is also a hugely entertaining movie.
Breathless is great stuff. Very highly recommended.
The Blu-Ray includes an appreciation by Mark Kermode which is very worthwhile. I love his enthusiasm for this movie and I share it.
Within a few hours he’s carried out a minor robbery and stolen another car. He should be keeping a law profile but Jesse is just not capable of doing that. He’s extravagant and wild and crazy and he attracts attention everywhere he goes.
On the other hand Jesse is a very good-looking sexy bad boy and what girl can resist a guy like that?
Jesse qualifies as an authentic film noir protagonist. He’s a bit of a bad boy but he’s not really evil. He thinks his problems are due to bad luck but in fact they’re the result of his character flaws. The key to Jesse’s character is that he’s a loser who thinks he’s a winner. He’s ludicrously over-confident. He thinks his charm and his confidence will keep him out of serious trouble. He makes one bad decision after another and he has no idea just how deep a hole he is digging for himself.
Jesse is not conventionally likeable. Having Jesse in your life would be a nightmare. We care what happens to him not because we like him but because he is a hunted animal and all the odds are stacked against him and we know he’ll just keep doing dumb things. He can’t help it. He’s not so much breathless as hopeless and clueless. He’s so dumb and hopeless that we feel that it’s cruel to hunt him down like a feral dog. And somehow Gere manages to persuade us to be on his side.
Monica is not a femme fatale in a conventional sense (she is not scheming or manipulative) but she is a disastrous choice for Jesse. She is way out of his league. He should just head to Mexico without her. Rich respectable girls will always get guys like Jesse in trouble. And Monica is at heart respectable.
This movie is as hyperactive as Jesse. This is the only Jim McBride-directed movie I’ve seen but based on this the man knows how to make a wild rollercoaster of a crime thriller. There are definitely touches of dark humour. It’s like Jesse himself. It dares us not to enjoy ourselves.
I love that at one point our couple on the run end up in a movie theatre and the movie that is playing is Gun Crazy, the greatest couple-on-the-run movie ever made.
Apart from that interesting detached from reality vibe this is also a hugely entertaining movie.
Breathless is great stuff. Very highly recommended.
The Blu-Ray includes an appreciation by Mark Kermode which is very worthwhile. I love his enthusiasm for this movie and I share it.
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