Jean Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ was recently re-released and played in the QFT. Having seen both it and Jim McBride’s poorly reviewed 1983 remake recently, I began to wonder which was better. Godard’s original is regularly hailed as the masterpiece of the French New Wave, slick and cool, while full of subtext and vigorously innovative. To many, McBride’s decision to remake ‘Breathless’ was sheer egotism, on a par with Werner Herzog’s well-meaning remake of Nosferatu. You have to admit, it’s a brave thing to remake a highly regarded masterpiece and, like Herzog, McBride pulls it off.
BY MATTHEW MCKERNAN