'Breathless' script unveiled at Cannes
Wild modernity
The script of Breathless, written in 1959 by Jean-Luc Godard, is shrouded in mystery. Initially owned by producer Georges de Beauregard and his heirs, it will be showcased for the first time at Cannes on May 19, 20 and 21 during the Festival by Sotheby's, which will auction it on June 4 in Paris. According to the auction catalog, these "72 loose pages handwritten in black and blue ink" feature Godard's first full-length film: the love story between Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a brash fugitive who has committed a murder, and Patricia (Jean Seberg), an American student. Upon its release in 1960, the film was deemed immoral and banned for viewers under 18. With its wild modernity, Breathless is one of the iconic films of the French New Wave.
An element of mystery
Until now, it was believed that the Breathless script was condensed into 26 pages. According to Sotheby's, the manuscript actually comprises "29 A4 pages of script, with some erasures," followed by "38 pages of dialogue and 5 pages of trailer breakdown." The script portion only covers "the first 14 minutes of the film." This suggests that some pages were lost, especially since Godard would sometimes jot down dialogue directly on envelopes and hand them to actors before shooting a scene, and these scraps of paper were likely discarded. However, Anne Heilbronn, vice president of Sotheby's in France, examined the manuscript closely: "The last sheet of the script ends abruptly. Godard probably did not write any additional pages, and the manuscript is as complete as possible."
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