Austin Film Society’s French New Wave short series – curated by Richard Linklater – has been building to this title, one of the defining films of the movement and inspiration for Linklater’s upcoming release, Nouvelle Vague, which dramatizes its 1960 production. In Jean-Luc Godard’s original, Jean-Paul Belmondo (in his breakout role) is a feckless criminal obsessed with Humphrey Bogart, Jean Seberg the American expat who goes on the run with him. Crackling with energy and effortlessly sexy, Breathless still earns the hype. A warning to ex-smokers: This movie will make you ache for a ciggie. – Kimberley Jones
