Breathless (Treatment)
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1956 Treatment by François Truffaut.
Synopsis: A young car thief kills a policeman and tries to persuade a girl to hide in Italy with him.
Notes: This treatment was published in L’Avant-Scène Cinéma, no. 79 (March 1968). The translation is by Dory O’Brien.
Source: Digital – Pages: 10 – Size: 66 kb – IMDb
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François Truffaut composed this treatment in 1956. After the success of his 400 Blows, when he had other projects to pursue, he handed the idea to Godard who submitted it, along with three other treatments, to Georges de Beauregard. Doubtless Truffaut’s name, recently made famous, impressed the producer enough for him to accept it.
Part of the mythology surrounding Breathless has it that Godard took nothing from the treatment save Truffaut’s name, which he parlayed into backing for the film. Enlarging on some of Godard’s own statements, virtually all the initial reviews of the film mention that Truffaut lent his name but little more. Some suggest that he handed Godard not a treatment but a snippet from the newspaper. We will now be able to see just how faithful Godard was to Truffaut’s rather detailed idea. Even small “throwaway” moments, such as the motorcyclist being knocked down as Michel meanders toward the Inter-America Travel Agency, are foreseen in the treatment. Godard’s major addition to the script, it is quickly apparent, is the tremendous enlargement of the scene in Patricia’s bedroom, which Truffaut renders in a single paragraph.
This treatment was published in L’Avant-Scène Cinéma, no. 79 (March 1968). The translation, the first in English, and long overdue, is by Dory O’Brien.
Article taken from the book: Breathless (Rutgers Films in Print)
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