Breathless (1960 film)

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Breathless

À bout de souffle (movie poster).jpg

Theatrical release poster

Directed by

Jean-Luc Godard

Produced by

Georges de Beauregard

Screenplay by

Jean-Luc Godard

Story by

François Truffaut

Claude Chabrol (uncredited)

Starring

- Jean-Paul Belmondo

- Jean Seberg

Music by

Martial Solal

Cinematography

Raoul Coutard

Edited by

Cécile Decugis [fr]

Distributed by

UGC (France)

Films Around The World (United States)

Release date

- 16 March 1960

Running time

87 minutes

Country

France

Languages

French

English

Budget

FRF 400,000[1]

(US$80,000)[2]

Box office

2,082,760 admissions (France)[3]

Breathless (French: À bout de souffle; "out of breath") is a 1960 French crime drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a wandering criminal named Michel, and Jean Seberg as his American girlfriend Patricia. The film was Godard's first feature-length work and represented Belmondo's breakthrough as an actor.

Breathless is one of the earliest and more influential examples of French New Wave (nouvelle vague) cinema.[4] Along with François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Alain Resnais's Hiroshima, Mon Amour, both released a year earlier, it brought international attention to new styles of French filmmaking. At the time, Breathless attracted much attention for its bold visual style, which included unconventional use of jump cuts.

Upon its initial release in France, the film attracted over 2 million viewers. It has since become considered one of the best films ever made, appearing in Sight & Sound magazine's decennial polls of filmmakers and critics on the subject on multiple occasions. In May 2010, a fully restored version of the film was released in the United States to coincide with the film's 50th anniversary.

Contents

- 1Plot

- 1.1Closing dialogue

- 2Cast

- 3Themes

- 4Production

- 4.1Background and writing

- 4.2Filming

- 4.3Editing

- 5Reception

- 6Awards

- 7Legacy

- 8References to other films

- 9In popular culture

- 10See also

- 11References

- 12External links

Plot[edit]

Michel is a youthful, dangerous criminal who models himself on the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest, Patricia, a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the boulevards of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. Patricia says she is pregnant, probably with Michel's child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive, she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street, and after running along the block, he dies "à bout de souffle" ("out of breath").

Closing dialogue[edit]

Michel's death scene is an iconic scene in the film, but the film's final lines of dialogue are the source of some confusion for English-speaking audiences. The original French plays with ambiguity; it is unclear whether Michel is condemning Patricia or condemning the world in general, and it is unclear whether Patricia is questioning his scorn, questioning the meaning of a French word as elsewhere in the film, or unable to understand the concept of shame.[citation needed]

As Patricia and Detective Vital catch up with the dying Michel, they have the following dialogue:

MICHEL: C'est vraiment dégueulasse.

PATRICIA: Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?

VITAL: Il a dit que vous êtes vraiment "une dégueulasse".

PATRICIA: Qu'est-ce que c'est "dégueulasse"?[5][6]

This translates as:

MICHEL: It's really disgusting.

PATRICIA: What did he say?

VITAL: He said you are really disgusting.

PATRICIA: What is "disgusting"?

In French, "dégueulasse" also has the connotation of "nauseating", or making one want to throw up; in reference to a person, it can be loosely translated as a "disgusting person", i.e. a "louse", "scumbag", or "bitch".

In the English captioning of the 2001 Fox-Lorber Region One DVD, "dégueulasse" is translated as "scumbag", producing the following dialogue:

MICHEL: It's disgusting, really.

PATRICIA: What did he say?

VITAL: He said "You're a real scumbag".

PATRICIA: What's a scumbag?

The 2007 Criterion Collection Region One DVD uses a less literal translation:

MICHEL: Makes me want to puke.

PATRICIA: What did he say?

VITAL: He said you make him want to puke.

PATRICIA: What's that mean, "puke"?

This translation was used in the 2010 restoration.

Cast[edit]

Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Breathless

- Jean-Paul Belmondo as Michel Poiccard

- Jean Seberg as Patricia Franchini

- Daniel Boulanger as Police Inspector Vital

- Henri-Jacques Huet [fr] as Antonio Berruti

- Roger Hanin as Carl Zumbach

- Van Doude as Van Doude

- Liliane Dreyfus as Lilane

- Michel Fabre as the other inspector

- Jean-Pierre Melville as Parvulesco

- Claude Mansard as the used car salesman

- Jean-Luc Godard as an informer

- Richard Balducci as Tolmachoff

- Philippe de Broca as an extra

- Jean Domarchi as an extra

- Jean Douchet as an extra

- Jean Herman as an extra

- Andre S. Labarthe as an extra[7]

- Jacques Rivette as the body of the man hit by a car

Themes[edit]

American philosopher Hubert Dreyfus saw the film as exemplifying Friedrich Nietzsche's conception of ("active" versus "passive") nihilism. On this reading, Michel and Patricia are attracted to each other because both live life as essentially meaningless. As an active nihilist, Michel responds to this condition with "cheerfulness, intensity, and style" (modelled on Bogart, whose humorous gestures he adopts), throwing himself fully into momentary engagements, including reckless crime and his love for Patricia. Patricia, as a passive nihilist, however, rejects all engagements, dissatisfied with and afraid of the very meaninglessness that Michel enjoys. In the end, she turns him in to the police so that he will be forced to leave and the love affair will end; but he instead throws himself into death with undiminished gusto. Her puzzled reaction to his final performance leaves its impact on her attitude open.[8]

Production[edit]

Background and writing[edit]

Breathless was based loosely on a newspaper article that François Truffaut read in The News in Brief. The character of Michel Poiccard is based on real-life Michel Portail and his American girlfriend and journalist Beverly Lynette. In November 1952, Portail stole a car to visit his sick mother in Le Havre and ended up killing a motorcycle cop named Grimberg.[9]

Truffaut worked on a treatment for the story with Claude Chabrol, but they dropped the idea when they could not agree on the story structure. Godard had read and liked the treatment and wanted to make the film. While working as a press agent at 20th Century Fox, Godard met producer Georges de Beauregard and told him that his latest film was not any good. De Beauregard hired Godard to work on the script for Pêcheur d'Islande. After six weeks, Godard became bored with the script and instead suggested making Breathless. Chabrol and Truffaut agreed to give Godard their treatment and wrote de Beauregard a letter from the Cannes Film Festival in May 1959 agreeing to work on the film if Godard directed it. Truffaut and Chabrol had recently became star directors, and their names secured financing for the film. Truffaut was credited as the original writer and Chabrol as the technical adviser. Chabrol later claimed that he only visited the set twice and Truffaut's biggest contribution was persuading Godard to cast Liliane David in a minor role.[9] Fellow New Wave director Jacques Rivette appears in a cameo as the dead body of a man hit by a car in the street.[10]

Godard wrote the script as he went along. He told Truffaut "Roughly speaking, the subject will be the story of a boy who thinks of death and of a girl who doesn't."[11] As well as the real-life Michel Portail, Godard based the main character on screenwriter Paul Gégauff, who was known as a swaggering seducer of women. Godard also named several characters after people he had known earlier in his life when he lived in Geneva.[9] The film includes a couple of in-jokes as well: the young woman selling Cahiers du Cinéma on the street (Godard had written for the magazine), and Michel's occasional alias of Laszlo Kovacs, the name of Belmondo's character in Chabrol's 1959 film Web of Passion.

Truffaut believed Godard's change to the ending was a personal one. "In my script, the film ends with the boy walking along the street as more and more people turn and stare after him, because his photo's on the front of all the newspapers.[12]...Jean-Luc chose a violent end because he was by nature sadder than I.... he had need of [his] particular ending. At the end, when the police are shooting at him one of them said to his companion, 'Quick, in the spine!' I told him, 'You can't leave that in.'"[11]

Jean-Paul Belmondo had appeared in a few feature films before Breathless, but he had no name recognition outside France at the time Godard was planning the film. In order to broaden the film's commercial appeal, Godard sought a prominent leading lady who would be willing to work in his low-budget film. He came to Jean Seberg through her then-husband Francois Moreuil, with whom he had been acquainted.[13] Seberg agreed to appear in the film on 8 June 1959 for $15,000, which was one-sixth of the film's budget. Godard ended up giving Seberg's husband a small part in the film.[9] During the production, Seberg privately questioned Godard's style and wondered if the film would be commercially viable. After the film's success, she collaborated with Godard again on the short Le Grand Escroc, which revived her Breathless character.[13]

Godard initially wanted cinematographer Michel Latouche to shoot the film after having worked with him on his first short films. De Beauregard instead hired Raoul Coutard, who was under contract to him.[14]

The 1958 ethno-fiction Moi, un noir has been credited as a key influence for Godard. This can be seen in the adoption of jump-cuts, use of real locations rather than constructed sets and the documentary, newsreel format of filming.[15][16]

Filming[edit]

Godard envisaged Breathless as a reportage (documentary), and tasked cinematographer Raoul Coutard to shoot the entire film on a hand-held camera, with next to no lighting.[17] In order to shoot under low-light levels, Coutard had to use Ilford HP5 film, which was not available as motion picture film stock at the time. He therefore took 18-metre lengths of HP5 film sold for 35mm still cameras and spliced them together to 120-metre rolls. During development he pushed the negative one stop from 400 ASA to 800 ASA.[18] The size of the sprocket holes in the photographic film was different from the sprocket holes for motion picture film, and the Cameflex camera was the only camera that worked for the film used.[19]

The production was filmed on location in Paris during the months of August and September in 1959,[17] during the September 1959 visit to Paris of President Eisenhower using an Eclair Cameflex. Almost the whole film had to be dubbed in post-production because of the noisiness of the Cameflex camera[20] and because the Cameflex was incapable of synchronized sound.[14]

Filming began on 17 August 1959. Godard met his crew at the Café Notre Dame near the Hôtel de Suède and shot for two hours until he ran out of ideas.[9] Coutard has stated that the film was virtually improvised on the spot, with Godard's writing lines of dialogue in an exercise book that no one else was allowed to see.[9] Godard gave the lines to Belmondo and Seberg while having a few brief rehearsals on scenes involved, then filming them. No permission was received to shoot the film in its various locations (mainly the side streets and boulevards of Paris) either, adding to the spontaneous feel for which Godard was aiming.[21] However, all locations were selected before shooting began, and assistant director Pierre Rissient has described the shoot as very organized. Actor Richard Balducci has stated that shooting days ranged from 15 minutes to 12 hours, depending on how many ideas Godard had that day. Producer Georges de Beauregard wrote a letter to the entire crew complaining about the erratic shooting schedule. Coutard said that de Beauregard bumped into the director at a cafe and the two got into a fist fight on a day that Godard had called in sick.[14]

Godard shot most of the film chronologically, with the exception of the first sequence, which was shot toward the end of the shoot.[9] Filming at the Hôtel de Suède for the lengthy bedroom scene between Michel and Patricia included a minimal crew and no lights. This location was difficult to secure, but Godard was determined to shoot there after having lived at the hotel after returning from South America in the early 1950s. Instead of renting a dolly with complicated and time-consuming tracks to lay, Godard and Coutard rented a wheelchair for the film that Godard often pushed himself.[14] For certain street scenes Coutard hid in a postal cart with a hole in it for the lens and stamped packages piled on top of him.[9] Shooting lasted for 23 days and ended on 12 September 1959. The final scene where Michel is shot in the street was filmed on the rue Campagne-Première in Paris.[9]

Writing for Combat magazine in 1960, Pierre Marcabru observed: "It seems that, if we had footage of Godard shooting his film, we would discover a sort of accord between the dramatized world in front of the camera (Belmondo and Seberg playing a scene) and the working world behind it (Godard and Raoul Coutard shooting the scene), as if the wall between the real and projected worlds had been torn down."[citation needed]

Editing[edit]

Breathless was processed and edited at GTC Labs in Joinville with lead editor Cécile Decugis and assistant editor Lila Herman. Decugis has said that the film had a bad reputation before its premiere as the worst film of the year.[9]

Coutard said that "there was a panache in the way it was edited that didn't match at all the way it was shot. The editing gave it a very different tone than the films we were used to seeing."[14] The film's use of jump cuts has been called innovative. Andrew Sarris analyzed it as existentially representing "the meaninglessness of the time interval between moral decisions."[22] Rissient said that the jump cut style was not intended during the film's shooting or the initial stages of editing.[14]

Reception[edit]

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In his 2008 biography of Godard, Richard Brody wrote: "The seminal importance of the film was recognized immediately. In January 1960 – prior to the film's release – Godard won the Jean Vigo Prize, awarded 'to encourage an auteur of the future' ... Breathless opened in Paris ... not in an art house but at a chain of four commercial theaters, selling 259,046 tickets in four weeks. The eventual profit was substantial, rumored to be fifty times the investment. The film's success with the public corresponded to its generally ardent and astonished critical reception ... Breathless, as a result of its extraordinary and calculated congruence with the moment, and of the fusion of its attributes with the story of its production and with the public persona of its director, was singularly identified with the media responses it generated."[23]

The New York Times critic A. O. Scott wrote in 2010, 50 years after the release of Breathless, that it is both "a pop artifact and a daring work of art" and even at 50, "still cool, still new, still – after all this time! – a bulletin from the future of movies".[24] Roger Ebert included it on his "Great Movies" list in 2003, writing that "No debut film since Citizen Kane in 1942 has been as influential", dismissing its jump cuts as the biggest breakthrough, and instead calling revolutionary its "headlong pacing, its cool detachment, its dismissal of authority, and the way its narcissistic young heroes are obsessed with themselves and oblivious to the larger society."[25]

As of 6 December 2019, the film holds a 97% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 8.71/10. The site's critical consensus says, "Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema – and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard's paradigm shifting classic remains every bit as vital."[26]

Awards[edit]

- 1960 Prix Jean Vigo

- 1960 Berlin International Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Director[27]

Legacy[edit]

Godard said the success of Breathless was a mistake. He added "there used to be just one way. There was one way you could do things. There were people who protected it like a copyright, a secret cult only for the initiated. That's why I don't regret making Breathless and blowing that all apart."[28] In 1964, Godard described his and his colleagues' impact: "We barged into the cinema like cavemen into the Versailles of Louis XV."[29]

Breathless ranked as the No. 22 best film of all time in the decennial British Film Institute's 1992 Sight and Sound Critics' Poll. In the 2002 poll, it ranked 15th.[30] Ten years later, in 2012, Breathless was the No. 13 best film of all time in the overall Sight and Sound poll,[31] and the 11th best film in the concurrent Directors' Poll.[32] In 2018 the film ranked 11th on the BBC's list of the 100 greatest foreign-language films, as voted on by 209 film critics from 43 countries.[33]

References to other films[edit]

- Forty Guns, directed by Sam Fuller, had a POV shot through a barrel of a gun that cuts to a couple kissing.[34]

- Pushover, directed by Richard Quine[34]

- Where the Sidewalk Ends, directed by Otto Preminger[34]

- Whirlpool, directed by Otto Preminger, is the film playing when Patricia attempts to lose the police officer that is following her.[34]

- Bonjour tristesse, directed by Otto Preminger. Godard said that Patricia was a continuation of Seberg's character Cécile.[34]

- The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston. Michel paraphrases a line of dialogue from the film about always falling in love with the wrong women.[34]

- The Glass Key, a novel by Dashiell Hammett. A character criticizing Michel for wearing silk socks with a tweed jacket is a reference to the Hammett novel.[34]

- Bob le flambeur, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Michel makes reference to the lead character Bob Montagné being in jail.[34]

- The Harder They Fall, directed by Mark Robson, the lobby card of Humphrey Bogart that Michel imitates is from this film.[34]

- The film is dedicated to Monogram Pictures, which Jonathan Rosenbaum called "a critical statement of aims and boundaries."[34]

In popular culture[edit]

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- The film is frequently referenced in the Youth in Revolt book series, being a favorite of female protagonist Sheeni Saunders, including her dreams of running off to France and her fascination for Jean-Paul Belmondo.

- In The Doom Generation, characters play the "smile or I'll choke you" game, and the film's semi-general theme is of a "nihilistic road movie".

- The Australian band The Death Set named their album from 2011 after main character Michel Poiccard.[35]

- The final scene is mentioned (and later alluded to visually) in The Squid and the Whale.[36]

- In the third episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, "Android and I", a 35mm reel of this film can be seen on a table, beneath a reel of Alphaville, as Togusa and Batou are investigating the house of a suspect. Other Godard works are also scattered through the scene. Dialog from this film is recited by two other characters throughout the episode. Themes from this episode parallel themes from both this movie and Godard's complete oeuvre. The climax of the episode hinges on the final lines, including one additional line, from the final scene of the film.

- In an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Sergeant Jeffords mentions Breathless when the detectives are discussing their favorite cop movies. Jeffords identifies the film as "François Truffaut's Breathless", despite the fact that only the director's name is generally used in such a way. In reference to this error, Jeffords is seen later in the season at a party, defending his statement by saying "it's a writer's film".

- In The Dreamers one of the protagonists re-enacts a scene from the film.

- The final scene is recreated in Romeo Void's "Never Say Never" video.

- In issue #30 of IDW's ongoing comic book series Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, Whirl votes for repeat showings of the film during the crew's movie night.

- The Canadian band The Tragically Hip made a music video for the song "In View" that pays homage to the film.

- In the 2001 Novel The Incorrigible Optimists Club by Jean-Michel Guenassia, the main character sees the film in the cinema with his family. The theater is empty and the woman working the ticket stand advises against seeing it. Nonetheless, he loves the film.

- The 2017 Malayalam language movie Mayaanadhi (Mystic River), directed by Ashiq Abu, draws inspiration from Breathless.[37]

- The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde contains numerous visual references to Breathless, including an early shot of Warren Beatty wearing a fedora slanted over his eyes and with a match tilted upward held in his lips, echoing Jean-Paul Belmondo's hat and cigarette in the opening scenes of Breathless. Later Beatty also wears a pair of round-rim black sunglasses with one lens missing, an exact visual reference to Belmondo wearing the same sunglasses with a missing lens later in Breathless. Bonnie and Clyde also shares a general storyline with Breathless, involving a handsome, nihilistic young killer who steals cars and who connects with a beautiful, free-spirited young woman. Pauline Kael, in her 1967 review of Bonnie and Clyde in The New Yorker, wrote that "If this way of holding more than one attitude toward life is already familiar to us—if we recognize the make-believe robbers whose toy guns produce real blood, and the Keystone cops who shoot them dead, from Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player and Godard’s gangster pictures, Breathless and Band of Outsiders—it’s because the young French directors discovered the poetry of crime in American life (from our movies) and showed the Americans how to put it on the screen in a new, 'existential' way."

- Daryush Shokof makes the all female movie Breathful with reference to Breathless.

- In A Very Secret Service, the characters go to see Breathless in a movie theater, and are shown watching the iconic final scene.

See also[edit]

- Breathless, the 1983 American remake starring Richard Gere in the Belmondo role and Valerie Kaprisky in the Seberg role

- List of French language films

- List of films considered the best

References[edit]

1. ^ Marie, Michel (2009). La nouvelle vague: Une école artistique. Armand Colin. ISBN .

2. ^ Marie, Michel (2008). The French New Wave: An Artistic School. Translated by Neupert, Richard. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN .

3. ^ Box office information for film at Box Office Story

4. ^ Film: Video and DVD Guide 2007. London: Halliwell's. 2007. p. 1. ISBN .

5. ^ Dudley Andrew (1987). Breathless, chapter: Continuity script for the film. Rutgers Films in Print series. Rutgers University Press. p. 146. ISBN .

6. ^ "Breathless (1960) - FAQ". IMDb. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

7. ^ The Criterion Collection. Breathless DVD. Additional book. 2007. pp. 6.

8. ^ "Professor Dreyfus lecture - Breathless (À bout de souffle) Active & Passive Nihilism". YouTube. 17 June 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2021.

9. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Ventura, Claude; Villetard, Xavier (2016). Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède [fr] (DVD) (in French). The Criterion Collection. OCLC 960384313.1993 French television documentary (78 minutes). The documentary (with English subtitles) is included as a special feature of the Criterion Collection DVD releases of Breathless.

10. ^ Brody, Richard (2008). Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard. New York, New York: Metropolitan Books. p. 74. ISBN .

11. ^ Jump up to:a b Fotiade, Ramona (28 May 2013). A Bout de Souffle: French Film Guide. I.B.Tauris. pp. 29–30. ISBN . Retrieved 17 November 2017.

12. ^ "Francois Truffaut on 'Breathless'" (PDF). Breathless 50th Anniversary Restoration. Rialto Pictures Pressbook. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2017.

13. ^ Jump up to:a b "The Jean Seberg Enigma: Interview with Garry McGee" Archived 25 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Film Threat, 28 March. 2008

14. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Criterion. Coutard and Rissient.

15. ^ CinemaTyler (3 February 2015), What I Learned From Watching: Breathless (1960) [INTERACTIVE VIDEO], retrieved 2 July 2019

16. ^ "CIP-IDF > Projections du 4 juin". www.cip-idf.org. Retrieved 2 July 2019.

17. ^ Jump up to:a b Begery, Benjamin. Reflections: Twenty-one cinematographers at work, p. 200. ASC Press, Hollywood.

18. ^ Salt, Barry (2009). Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis (3 ed.). Starword. p. 287. ISBN .

19. ^ The Criterion Collection. Breathless DVD. Special Features, disc 2. Coutard and Rissient. 2007.

20. ^ Begery, Benjamin. Reflections: Twenty-one cinematographers at work, p. 201. ASC Press, Hollywood.

21. ^ Solomons, Jason (6 June 2010). "Jean-Luc Godard would just turn up scribble some dialogue, and we would rehearse maybe a few times". The Observer.

22. ^ The Criterion Collection. Breathless DVD. Special Features, disc 2. Breathless as Criticism. 2007.

23. ^ Brody, Richard (2008). Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard. Henry Holt & Co. p. 72.

24. ^ Scott, A. O. (21 May 2010). "A Fresh Look Back at Right Now". The New York Times. p. AR10. Retrieved 29 May 2010.

25. ^ Ebert, Roger (20 July 2003). "Breathless". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 14 June 2017.

26. ^ "Breathless (1961)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 December 2019.

27. ^ "Berlinale: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 14 January 2010.

28. ^ The Criterion Collection. Breathless DVD. Special Features, disc 1. Interviews. 2007.

29. ^ Brody, Richard, Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard, Henry Holy & Co., 2008, p. 72

30. ^ "Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002". Archived from the original on 15 May 2012.

31. ^ "Sight & Sound Poll 2012: Top 10 Films of All Time". Awards Daily. August 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

32. ^ "Directors' top 100". bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

33. ^ "The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films". British Broadcasting Corporation. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2021.

34. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Criterion. Breathless as Criticism.

35. ^ "The Death Set: Michel Poiccard". Retrieved 12 March 2020.

36. ^ "Breathless reference in The Squid and the Whale". Retrieved 12 March2020.

37. ^ "Is Mayaanadhi a copy of Godard's French classic Breathless?". January 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2020.

External links[edit]

- Breathless at IMDb

- Breathless at AllMovie

- Breathless at Rotten Tomatoes

- Why Breathless (Essay on ThoughtCatalog.com)

- Breathless on NewWaveFilm.com

- Breathless Then and Now an essay by Dudley Andrew at the Criterion Collection

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Jean Seberg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the musical, see Jean Seberg (musical).

Jean Seberg

Camorra Jean Seberg.png

Seberg in Gang War in Naples (1972)

Born

Jean Dorothy Seberg

November 13, 1938

Marshalltown, Iowa, U.S.

Died

August 30, 1979 (aged 40)

Paris, France

Cause of death

Probable suicide[1]

Body discovered

September 8, 1979

Resting place

Montparnasse Cemetery

Nationality

American

Alma mater

University of Iowa

Occupation

Actress

Years active

1957–1979

Spouse(s)

François Moreuil

( 1958;  1960)

Romain Gary

( 1962;  1970)

Dennis Charles Berry

( 1972)

Partner(s)

Ahmed Hasni (1979)

Children

2

Jean Dorothy Seberg (/ˈsiːbɜːrɡ/;[2] French: [ʒin sebɛʁɡ];[3] November 13, 1938 – August 30, 1979) was an American actress who lived half her life in France. Her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film Breathless immortalized her as an icon of French New Wave cinema.[4][5]

She appeared in 34 films in Hollywood and in Europe, including Saint Joan, Bonjour Tristesse, Lilith, The Mouse That Roared, Moment to Moment, A Fine Madness, Paint Your Wagon, Airport, Macho Callahan, and Gang War in Naples.

She was also one of the best-known targets of the FBI COINTELPRO project.[6][7] Her targeting was in retaliation for her support of the Black Panther Party and was a smear directly ordered by J. Edgar Hoover.[8][9]

Seberg died at the age of 40 in Paris, with police ruling her death a probable suicide.[1] Romain Gary, Seberg's second husband, called a press conference shortly after her death where he publicly blamed the FBI's campaign against Seberg for her death. Gary noted that the FBI planted false rumors with U.S. media outlets claiming her 1970 pregnancy was a Black Panther's child, and how the trauma led to the child's miscarriage. Romain Gary stated that Seberg had attempted suicide on numerous anniversaries of the child's death, August 25.[10]

Contents

- 1Early life

- 2Film career

- 2.1Otto Preminger

- 2.2Breathless and French career

- 2.3Return to Hollywood

- 2.4Later career

- 3FBI COINTELPRO operation

- 3.1Possible Hollywood blacklisting

- 3.2Family reaction to FBI abuse of Seberg

- 4Personal life

- 5Death

- 6Aftermath

- 7In popular culture

- 8Filmography

- 9See also

- 10References

- 11Further reading

- 12External links

Early life[edit]

Jean Dorothy Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy Arline (b. Benson), a substitute teacher, and Edward Waldemar Seberg, a pharmacist.[11][12][13] Her family was Lutheran and of Swedish, English, and German ancestry.[13][14][15]

Her paternal grandfather, Edward Carlson, arrived in the U.S. in 1882 and observed, "there are too many Carlsons in the New World". He decided to change the family's last name to Seberg in memory of the water and mountains of Sweden.[16] Jean had a sister, Mary-Ann, and two brothers: Kurt and David, the youngest of whom was killed in a car accident at the age of eighteen in 1968.[17]

In Marshalltown, Seberg babysat Mary Supinger, some eight years her junior, who would later become the stage and film actress known as Mary Beth Hurt. After high school, Seberg enrolled at the University of Iowa to study dramatic arts, but took up movie making instead.[18]

Film career[edit]

Otto Preminger[edit]

Seberg made her film debut in the title role of Saint Joan (1957) as Joan of Arc, from the George Bernard Shaw play, after being chosen from 18,000 hopefuls by director Otto Preminger in a $150,000 talent search. Her name was entered by a neighbor.[17][19]

When she was cast on October 21, 1956, her only acting experience had been a single season of summer stock performances.[20] The film was associated with a great deal of publicity about which Seberg commented that she was "embarrassed by all the attention".[19] Despite a big build-up, called in the press a "Pygmalion experiment", both the film and Seberg received poor notices.[21] On the failure, she later told the press:

I am the greatest example of a very real fact, that all the publicity in the world will not make you a movie star if you are not also an actress.[17]

And,

I have two memories of Saint Joan. The first was being burned at the stake in the picture. The second was being burned at the stake by the critics. The latter hurt more. I was scared like a rabbit and it showed on the screen. It was not a good experience at all. I started where most actresses end up.[22]

Preminger, though, promised her a second chance,[21] and he cast Seberg in his next film Bonjour Tristesse (1958), which was filmed in France. Regarding his decision, Preminger told the press: "It's quite true that, if I had chosen Audrey Hepburn instead of Jean Seberg, it would have been less of a risk, but I prefer to take the risk. [..] I have faith in her. Sure, she still has things to learn about acting, but so did Kim Novak when she started."[21] Seberg again received atrocious reviews and the film nearly ended her career.[22]

She renegotiated her contract with Otto Preminger, and signed a long-term contract with Columbia Pictures. Preminger had an option to use her services on another film, but they never worked together again. Her first Columbia film was the successful comedy The Mouse That Roared (1959), starring Peter Sellers.[23]

Breathless and French career[edit]

During the filming of Bonjour Tristesse Seberg met François Moreuil, the man who was to become her first husband, and she then based herself in France, finally achieving success as the free-love heroine of French New Wave films.[22]

She appeared as the main lead in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (French title: À bout de souffle, 1960) as Patricia, co-starring with Jean-Paul Belmondo. The film became an international success and critics praised Seberg's performance; film critic and director François Truffaut even hailed her "the best actress in Europe".[24] Despite her achievements, Seberg did not identify with her characters or the film plots, saying that she was "making films in France about people [I'm] not really interested in."[22] Back in the US, she made another film for Columbia, Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960).

In France, after appearing in Time Out for Love (Les grandes personnes, 1961), Seberg took on the lead role in her then-husband François Moreuil's directorial debut, Love Play (La Recréation, also 1961). By that time, Seberg had become estranged from Moreuil, and she recollected that production was "pure hell" and that he "would scream at [her]."[22] She followed it with Five Day Lover (1962) and Congo vivo (1962). In the French Style (1962) was a French-American film featuring Stanley Baker released through Columbia. Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (1963) was an anthology movie and Backfire (1964) reunited her with Jean-Paul Belmondo.

In the United States, she starred with Warren Beatty in Lilith (1964) for Columbia, which prompted the critics to acknowledge Seberg as a serious actress.[24] She returned to France to make Diamonds Are Brittle (1965).

Return to Hollywood[edit]

In the late 1960s she based herself increasingly in Hollywood. Moment to Moment (1965), was shot for the most part in Los Angeles; only a small part of the film was shot on the French Cote d'Azur.[25] In New York, she acted in A Fine Madness (1966), alongside Sean Connery and under the direction of Irvin Kershner.[26]

In 1966 and 1967 Seberg had the leading roles in two French films directed by Claude Chabrol and co-starring Maurice Ronet: in February and March, 1966, she starred in Line of Demarcation, shot around Dole, Jura, in France;[27] and in May and June, 1967, she had the lead role in the French-Italian Eurospy film The Road to Corinth, shot in Greece.[28]

After making Pendulum (1969), Seberg appeared in her only musical film: Paint Your Wagon (also 1969), based on Lerner and Loewe's stage musical, and co-starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. Her singing voice was dubbed by Anita Gordon.[29] Seberg also starred in the disaster film Airport (1970).

Later career[edit]

Seberg was François Truffaut's first choice for the central role of Julie in Day for Night (1973) but, after several fruitless attempts to contact her, he gave up and cast British actress Jacqueline Bisset instead.[30]

Her last US film appearance was in the TV movie Mousey (1974). Seberg remained active during the 1970s in European films. She appeared in Bianchi cavalli d'Agosto (White Horses of Summer) (1975), Le Grand Délire (Die Große Ekstase) (1975, with husband Dennis Berry) and Die Wildente (1976, based on Ibsen's The Wild Duck[31]).

At the time of her death she was working on the French film Operation Leopard (La Légion saute sur Kolwezi, 1980). She had scenes filmed in French Guiana and returned to Paris for additional work in September. After her death, the scenes were reshot with actress Mimsy Farmer.[32]

FBI COINTELPRO operation[edit]

FBI inter-office memo: "... cause her embarrassment and cheapen her image"

FBI inter-office memo: "Usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau"

During the late 1960s, Seberg provided financial support to groups supporting civil rights, such as the NAACP as well as Native American school groups such as the Meskwaki Bucks at the Tama settlement near her home town of Marshalltown, for whom she purchased US$500 worth of basketball uniforms.[8][33]

As part of its 'dirty tricks' aimed at black liberation and anti-war groups, which began in 1968, the FBI became aware of several gifts Seberg had made to the Black Panther Party, totaling US$10,500 (estimated) in contributions; these were noted among a list of other celebrities in FBI internal documents later declassified and released to the public under FOIA requests.[8][33]

The FBI operation against Seberg, directly overseen by J. Edgar Hoover, used COINTELPRO program techniques to harass, intimidate, defame, and discredit her.[8][9] The FBI's stated goal was an unspecified "neutralization" of Seberg with a subsidiary objective to "cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the public", while taking the "usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau".[34] FBI strategy and modalities can be found in FBI inter-office memos.[35]

In 1970, the FBI created the false story from a San Francisco-based informant that the child Seberg was carrying was not fathered by her husband, Romain Gary, but by Raymond Hewitt, a member of the Black Panther Party.[36][37] The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the Los Angeles Times, with Seberg thinly disguised,[38] and was also printed by Newsweek magazine in which Seberg was directly named.[39] Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a 4 lb (1.8 kg) baby girl. The child died two days later.[40] She held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin, which disproved the rumors.[41]

Seberg and Gary later sued Newsweek for libel and defamation, asking for US$200,000 in damages. She contended she became so upset after reading the story, that she went into premature labor, which resulted in the death of her daughter. A Paris court ordered Newsweek to pay the couple US$10,800 in damages and ordered Newsweek to print the judgment in their publication, plus eight other newspapers.[42]

The investigation of Seberg went far beyond the publishing of defamatory articles. According to her friends interviewed after her death, she reportedly experienced years of aggressive in-person surveillance (constant stalking), as well as break-ins and other intimidation-oriented activity. These newspaper reports make clear that Seberg was well aware of the surveillance. FBI files show that she was wiretapped, and in 1980, the Los Angeles Times published logs of her Swiss wiretapped phone calls.[35] U.S. surveillance was deployed while she was residing in France and while travelling in Switzerland and Italy. Per FBI files the FBI cross-contacted the "FBI Legat" (legal attachés) in U.S. Embassies in Paris and Rome and provided files on Seberg to the CIA, U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Military intelligence to assist monitoring while she was abroad.

FBI records show that J. Edgar Hoover kept U.S. President Richard Nixon informed of FBI activities related to the Jean Seberg case through President Nixon's domestic affairs chief John Ehrlichman. John Mitchell, then Attorney General, and Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst were also kept informed of FBI activities related to Seberg.[35] The FBI made its initial admission about targeting Seberg (via the spreading of a false rumor) shortly after her death was announced.[43]

Possible Hollywood blacklisting[edit]

At the peak of her career, Seberg suddenly stopped acting in Hollywood films. Reportedly, she was not pleased with the roles she had been offered, some of which, she said, bordered on pornography.[44] Conversely, she was not offered any great Hollywood roles, regardless of their size.[44] Experts in the FBI's actions in the COINTELPRO project suggest that Seberg was "effectively blacklisted"[45] from Hollywood films.

Family reaction to FBI abuse of Seberg[edit]

Her father reacted strongly to the story of FBI abuses, stating that "if this is true, why in the dickens didn't they just shoot her, instead of having all this travail that's gone on. I have this flag in the corner, that I used to put out every morning, and I haven't put it out since."[46]

Personal life[edit]

On September 5, 1958, aged 19, Seberg married François Moreuil, a French lawyer (aged 23) in her native Marshalltown, having met him in France 15 months earlier.[47] They divorced in 1960. Moreuil had ambitions in movies and directed his estranged wife in Love Play. According to Moreuil he said the marriage was a "violent" one and said that she "got married for all the wrong reasons."[22]

On living in France for a period of time, Seberg said in an interview:

I'm enjoying it to the fullest extent. I've been tremendously lucky to have gone through this experience at an age where I can still learn. That doesn't mean that I will stay here. I'm in Paris because my work has been here. I'm not an expatriate. I will go where the work is. The French life has its drawbacks. One of them is the formality. The system seems to be based on saving the maximum of yourself for those nearest you. Perhaps that is better than the other extreme in Hollywood, where people give so much of themselves in public life that they have nothing left over for their families. Still, it is hard for an American to get used to. Often I will get excited over a luncheon table only to have the hostess say discreetly that coffee will be served in the other room. ... I miss that casualness and friendliness of Americans, the kind that makes people smile. I also miss blue jeans, milk shakes, thick steaks and supermarkets.[22]

Despite extended stays in the United States, she remained Paris-based for the rest of her life. In 1961 she met French aviator, French resistance member, novelist and diplomat Romain Gary, who was 24 years her senior and married to author Lesley Blanch. Seberg gave birth to their son, Alexandre Diego Gary, in Barcelona on July 17, 1962.[48] The child's birth and first year of life were hidden from even close friends and relatives. Romain Gary's divorce from Blanch took place on September 5, 1962, and he married Seberg on October 6, 1962. The marriage in Corsica was secret.[49]

During her marriage to Gary, Seberg lived in Paris, Greece, Southern France and Majorca.[50] She filed for divorce in September 1968, and it was final on July 1, 1970. As of 2009, their son resides in Spain, where he runs a bookstore and oversees his father's literary and real estate holdings.[51]

Seberg reportedly had affairs with co-stars Warren Beatty (Lilith), Clint Eastwood (Paint Your Wagon) and Fabio Testi (Gang War in Naples).[52][53] She also had an affair with writer Carlos Fuentes, according to him.[54]

While filming Macho Callahan in Durango, Mexico in the winter of 1969–70, Seberg became romantically involved with a student revolutionary named Carlos Ornelas Navarra. She gave birth to Ornelas's daughter, Nina Hart Gary, on August 23, 1970. The baby died two days later, on August 25, 1970, as a result of complications sustained from Jean overdosing on sleeping pills during her pregnancy. Ex-husband Romain Gary had assumed responsibility for the pregnancy, but Seberg acknowledged that Ornelas was the father.[55] Nina is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown.

On March 12, 1972, she married director Dennis Berry. The couple separated in May 1976, but never divorced.[56] Her next lover was aspiring French filmmaker Jean-Claude Messager, who later spoke to CBS's Mike Wallace for a 1981 profile of the actress.

In 1979, while still legally married to her estranged husband Berry, Seberg went through "a form of marriage" to an Algerian, Ahmed Hasni.[57] Hasni persuaded her to sell her second apartment on the Rue du Bac, and he kept the proceeds (reportedly 11 million francs in cash), announcing that he would use the money to open a Barcelona restaurant.[58] The couple departed for Spain, but she was soon back in Paris, alone, and went into hiding from Hasni, who she said had grievously abused her.[59]

Death[edit]

Grave of Jean Seberg

On August 30, 1979, Seberg disappeared. Hasni told police that they had gone to a movie that night and when he awoke the next morning, Seberg was gone.[60] After Seberg went missing, Hasni told police that he had known she was suicidal for some time. He claimed that she had attempted suicide in July, 1979, by jumping in front of a Paris subway train.[61]

On September 8, nine days after her disappearance, her decomposing body was found wrapped in a blanket in the back seat of her Renault, parked close to her Paris apartment in the 16th arrondissement. Police found a bottle of barbiturates, an empty mineral water bottle and a note written in French from Seberg addressed to her son. It read, in part, "Forgive me. I can no longer live with my nerves."[62] In 1979, her death was ruled a probable suicide by Paris police,[1] but the following year additional charges were filed against persons unknown for "non-assistance of a person in danger."[63]

Romain Gary, Seberg's second husband, called a press conference shortly after her death where he publicly blamed the FBI's campaign against Seberg for her deteriorating mental health. Gary claimed that Seberg "became psychotic" after the media reported a false story that the FBI planted about her becoming pregnant with a Black Panther's child in 1970. Romain Gary stated that Seberg had repeatedly attempted suicide on the anniversary of the child's death, August 25.[10]

Seberg is interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.[64]

Aftermath[edit]

Six days after the discovery of Seberg's body, the FBI released documents under Freedom of Information Act admitting the defamation of Seberg,[65][66] while making statements attempting to distance themselves from practices of the Hoover era. The FBI's campaign against Seberg was further explored at this time by Time magazine in a front-page article, "The FBI vs. Jean Seberg."[67]

Media attention surrounding the abuse Seberg had undergone at FBI hands led to examination of the case by the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a.k.a. "the Church Committee," which noted that notwithstanding FBI claims of reform, "COINTELPRO activities may continue today under the rubric of investigation."[68][69]

In his autobiography, Los Angeles Times editor Jim Bellows described events leading up to the Seberg articles, in which he expressed regret that he had not vetted the Seberg articles sufficiently.[69] He echoed this sentiment in subsequent interviews.[70]

In June 1980, Paris police filed charges against "persons unknown" in connection with Seberg's death. Police stated that Seberg had such a high amount of alcohol in her system at the time of her death, that it would have rendered her comatose and unable to get into her car without assistance. Police noted there was no alcohol in the car where Seberg's body was found. Police theorized that someone was present at the time of her death and failed to get her medical care.[63]

In December 1980, Seberg's former husband Romain Gary committed suicide. Gary's suicide note, which was addressed to his publisher, indicated that he had not killed himself over the loss of Seberg, but over the fact that he felt he could no longer produce literary works.[10]

In popular culture[edit]

The Talent Scout by Romain Gary (1961) features a recognizable portrait of Seberg.

In 1983 a musical, Jean Seberg, by librettist Julian Barry, composer Marvin Hamlisch, and lyricist Christopher Adler, based on Seberg's life, was presented at the National Theatre in London.

In 1986, pop singer Madonna recreated Jean Seberg's iconic Breathless look in her music video for "Papa Don't Preach," sporting a pixie blonde haircut, French striped jersey shirt and black capri pants in her interpretation of the New Wave ingenue that Seberg played in Breathless.

In 1991, actress Jodie Foster, a fan of Seberg's performance in Breathless, purchased the film rights to Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story, David Richards' biography of Seberg.[71] Foster was set to produce and star in the film, but the project was cancelled two years later.[citation needed]

In 1995, Mark Rappaport made a documentary of her life, From the Journals of Jean Seberg. Mary Beth Hurt played Seberg in a voice-over. Hurt had been born in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1948, had attended the same high school as Seberg, and had been babysat by Seberg.[citation needed]

The 2000 short film Je t'aime John Wayne is a tribute parody of Breathless, with Seberg played by Camilla Rutherford.[72]

In 2004, the French author Alain Absire published Jean S., a fictionalized biography. Seberg's son, Alexandre Diego Gary, brought a lawsuit, unsuccessfully attempting to stop publication.[73]

Since 2011, Seberg's hometown, Marshalltown, Iowa, has held an annual "Jean Seberg International Film Festival."[74]

In 2019, Amazon released an original film based on Seberg's life. Seberg focuses on the actress' battle against the FBI, with the title role played by Kristen Stewart.

Filmography[edit]

Year

Title

Role

Language

Notes

1957

Saint Joan

St. Joan of Arc

English

1958

Bonjour Tristesse

Cecile

English

1959

The Mouse That Roared

Helen Kokintz

English

1960

Breathless

Patricia Franchini

French

1960

Let No Man Write My Epitaph

Barbara Holloway

English

1961

Time Out for Love

Ann

French

1961

Love Play

Kate Hoover

French

1961

Five Day Lover

Claire

French

1962

Congo vivo

Annette

Italian

1963

In the French Style

Christina James

English

1964

The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers

Patricia Leacock

French

(segment "Le Grand Escroq")

(scenes deleted)[75]

1964

Backfire

Olga Celan

French

1964

Lilith

Lilith Arthur

English

1965

Diamonds Are Brittle

Bettina Ralton

French

1966

Moment to Moment

Kay Stanton

English

1966

A Fine Madness

Lydia West

English

1966

Line of Demarcation

Mary, comtesse de Damville

French

1967

The Looters

Colleen O'Hara

French

Alternate title: Revolt in the Caribbean

1967

The Road to Corinth

Shanny

French

Alternate title: Who's Got the Black Box?

1968

Birds in Peru

Adriana

French

1968

The Girls

English

Documentary

1969

Pendulum

Adele Matthews

English

1969

Paint Your Wagon

Elizabeth

English

1970

Airport

Tanya Livingston

English

1970

Dead of Summer

Joyce Grasse

Italian

1970

Macho Callahan

Alexandra Mountford

English

1972

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

Emily Hamilton

English

1972

This Kind of Love

Giovanna

Italian

1972

Gang War in Naples

Luisa

Italian

1972

Plot

Edith Lemoine

French

Alternate title: The French Conspiracy

1973

The Corruption of Chris Miller

Ruth Miller

Spanish

1974

Les hautes solitudes

—

Silent film without named characters

1974

Mousey

Laura Anderson / Richardson

English

Television film

1974

Ballad for the Kid (Short film)

La star

French

Director, writer, producer

1975

White Horses of Summer

Lea Kingsburg

Italian

1975

The Big Delirium

Emily

French

1976

The Wild Duck [de]

Gina Ekdal

German

(Final film role)

See also[edit]

- P vip.svg Biography portal

- Video-x-generic.svg Film portal

- List of solved missing person cases

- Flag of the United States.svg United States portal

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Coates-Smith, Michael; McGee, Garry (2012). The Films of Jean Seberg. McFarland. p. 8. ISBN . Retrieved November 26,2016. Final cause of death was left as 'probable suicide,' ...

2. ^ "Say How: S". National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS).

3. ^ "Breathless / À bout de souffle (1960) - Trailer (english subtitles)". UniFrance. November 20, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2019.

4. ^ Sharf, Zack (March 14, 2018). "Kristen Stewart to Play 'Breathless' Star and French New Wave Icon Jean Seberg in 'Against All Enemies'". IndieWire. Retrieved February 11, 2019.

5. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (March 14, 2018). "Kristen Stewart To Play Icon Jean Seberg In Political Thriller 'Against All Enemies'; Jack O'Connell, Anthony Mackie Also Star". Deadline. Retrieved February 11, 2019.

6. ^ "The Jean Seberg Affair Revisited". Los Angeles Times. March 22, 2009.

7. ^ "FBI 'persecution led to suicide' of actress Jean Seberg". The Australian. August 24, 2009.

8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Jallon, Allan M. (April 14, 2002). "A journalistic lapse allowed the FBI to smear actress Jean Seberg". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 12,2020.

9. ^ Jump up to:a b Maslin, Janet (July 12, 1981). "Star and Victim". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2020.

10. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Jean Seberg not reason for novelist's suicide, note says". Lakeland Ledger. December 4, 1980. p. 12D. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

11. ^ "Jean Seberg Found Dead in Paris; Actress Was Missing for 10 Days; A Life of Personal Tragedy". The New York Times. September 9, 1979. Retrieved May 6, 2010.

12. ^ Gussow, Mel (November 30, 1980). "The Seberg Tragedy; Jean Seberg". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2010.

13. ^ Jump up to:a b Lindwall, Bo (August 24, 1998). "Fler kända svenskamerikaner". Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012.

14. ^ Millstein, Gilbert (April 7, 1957). "Evolution of a New Saint Joan; Jean Seberg, 18, unknown and barely tried, illustrates how a star is made, if not born". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2010.

15. ^ "Preface to From Rage to Courage". Alice-miller.com. Retrieved October 14, 2017.

16. ^ "Movie Star". Movie Star. Retrieved October 14, 2017.

17. ^ Jump up to:a b c "The Shocking True Story Behind Kristen Stewart's Seberg Is Stranger Than Fiction". E! Online. May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2021.

18. ^ "At the time I was due to audition for Preminger, I was enrolled to study dramatic art at the State University of Iowa, my eventual goal being stardom on Broadway, hopefully."

Seberg in Films and Filming, p. 13, June 1974.

19. ^ Jump up to:a b "Seberg: Real-life Cinderella" by Peer J. Oppenheimer, The Palm Beach Post, April 28, 1957, p. 11

20. ^ "'Saint Joan' Chosen", The Spokesman-Review, October 22, 1956, p. 1

21. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Second Chance for Jean", The Age, October 8, 1957, p. 13

22. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g "Jean Seberg Failed As Saint On Screen, Scores Success In France As A Sinner" by Bob Thomas, The Blade, August 6, 1961, p. 2

23. ^ Michael Coates-Smith, Garry McGee, The Films of Jean Seberg (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2014), 28-33. ISBN 9780786490226

24. ^ Jump up to:a b Charles Champlin. "Jean Seberg: A Hollywood tragedy", The Modesto Bee, September 16, 1979, pg. F6

25. ^ Coates-Smith, Michael; McGee, Garry (2014). The Films of Jean Seberg. McFarland. p. 77. ISBN . Retrieved February 24, 2019.

26. ^ Coates-Smith, Michael; McGee, Garry (2014). The Films of Jean Seberg. McFarland. ISBN . Retrieved February 24, 2019.

27. ^ Coates-Smith, Michael; McGee, Garry (2014). The Films of Jean Seberg. McFarland. p. 107. ISBN . Retrieved February 24, 2019.

28. ^ Coates-Smith, Michael; McGee, Garry (2014). The Films of Jean Seberg. McFarland. p. 116. ISBN . Retrieved February 24, 2019.

29. ^ Tyler, Don (2008). Music of the Postwar Era. United States of America: Greenwood Press. p. 152. ISBN . Retrieved June 25, 2010. Marvin and Eastwood sang, but Miss Seberg's vocals were dubbed by Anita Gordon.

30. ^ McGee, Garry (2008). Jean Seberg – Breathless. Albany, GA: BearManor Media. p. 238. ISBN .

31. ^ "The Wild Duck". IMDb.com. April 28, 1977. Retrieved October 14, 2017.

32. ^ p. 40 Coates-Smith, Michael & McGee, Garry The Films of Jean SebergMcFarland, 10 Jan 2014

33. ^ Jump up to:a b Richards, David (1981). Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story. Random House. p. 204. ISBN .

34. ^ Brodeur, Paul (1997). A Writer in the Cold War. Faber and Faber. pp. 159–65. ISBN .

35. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ronald Ostrow, "Extensive probe of Jean Seberg Revealed", The Times via jfk.hood.edu, January 9, 1980.

36. ^ Richards 234–38

37. ^ Munn, p. 90

38. ^ Richards, p. 239

39. ^ Richards, p. 247

40. ^ Richards, p. 253

41. ^ Friedrich, Otto (1975). Going crazy: An inquiry into madness in our time. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 230. ISBN .

42. ^ "Seberg awarded $20,000 in Newsweek libel suit". The Telegraph-Herald. October 26, 1971. p. 18. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

43. ^ Rawls, Wendell, Jr (September 15, 1979). "F.B.I. Admits Planting a Rumor To Discredit Jean Seberg in 1970". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12,2020.

44. ^ Jump up to:a b "The Jean Seberg Enigma: Interview With Garry Mcgee". Film Threat. Retrieved July 17, 2011.

45. ^ FBI Secrets: An Agent's Expose. by M. Wesley Swearinge

46. ^ Mike, Wallace (1981). "1981 Special Report: "Jean Seberg"". CBS: Mike Wallace Presents. Retrieved September 21, 2020.

47. ^ Adam-Affortit, Marie (February 28, 2011). ""Romain Gary a séduit mon épouse Jean Seberg". Par François Moreuil". Paris Match (in French). Retrieved November 8, 2015.

48. ^ Ralph Schoolcraft: Romain Gary: The Man Who Sold His Shadow, Chapter 3, p. 69. On-line (retrieved 10 August 2012)

49. ^ "Le "oui" secret de jean Seberg et Romain Gary", Le Monde, August 15, 2014.

50. ^ "What makes Jean Seberg Run?", Tri-City Herald, June 21, 1970, p. 8

51. ^ "Where in the World is Alexandre Diego?". Movie Star. Retrieved October 14, 2017.

52. ^ https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/06/flashback-when-clint-eastwood-was-challenged-to-a-real-life-duel-over-an-affair/

53. ^ Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland & Company. ISBN .

54. ^ https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-12-17-9512170022-story.html

55. ^ Richards 234–8

56. ^ Paul Donnelley (2000). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus. p. 530. ISBN .

57. ^ Richards, p. 367

58. ^ Richards, p. 368

59. ^ Richards, p.369

60. ^ "Police Rule Out Violence In Death of Actress Seberg". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 10, 1979. p. 21. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

61. ^ "Forgive me, Seberg wrote in suicide note to her son". Edmonton Journal. September 10, 1979. p. A2. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

62. ^ Raith, Mark Alan (July 19, 1981). "The Life and Death of Jean Seberg". Reading Eagle. p. 36. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

63. ^ Jump up to:a b "Charges filed in Seberg death". The Montreal Gazette. June 23, 1980. p. 41. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

64. ^ Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs

65. ^ "FBI Admits Spreading Lies About Jean Seberg", Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1979.

66. ^ "The Jean Seberg Affair Revisited". Los Angeles Times. March 22, 2009.

67. ^ Nation: The FBI vs. Jean Seberg, time.com, September 24, 1979.

68. ^ Cointelpro: The FBI's Covert Action Programs Against American Citizens, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities. United States Senate, April 23, 1976.

69. ^ Jump up to:a b Bellows, Jim. The Last Editor, Andrews McMeel Publishing (May 2011).

70. ^ Kevin Roderick, "Bellows, Jean Seberg and the FBI", LA Observed, March 13, 2009.

71. ^ "Flashes: September 20, 1991". Entertainment Weekly. September 20, 1991. Retrieved July 12, 2010.

72. ^ DC Merryweather, comment on https://letterboxd.com/film/je-taime-john-wayne/

73. ^ "Le tombeau de Jean Seberg". L'Express. November 2004.

74. ^ "Jean Seberg International Film Festival is Nov. 10–13, 2011". iavalley.edu. Archived from the original on July 6, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

75. ^ This episodic film was originally a collaboration of five directors. Despite being directed by Jean-Luc Godard and shot by Raoul Coutard, Seberg's 20-minute episode was cut from the final release (McGee, p.110). It was resurrected and partly shown in From the Journals of Jean Seberg (1995)

Further reading[edit]

- Bellos, David (2010). Romain Gary: A Tall Story. London: Harvill Secker. ISBN 978 1843431701.

- Coates-Smith, Michael, and McGee, Garry (2012). The Films of Jean Seberg. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6652-8.

- Guichard, Maurice (2008). Jean Seberg: Portrait francais. Paris: Editions Jacob-Duvernet. ISBN 978 2 84724 194 5. (in French)

- McGee, Garry (2008). Jean Seberg – Breathless. Albany, GA: BearManor Media. ISBN 1-59393-127-1.

- Moreuil, Francois (2010). Flash Back. Chaintreaux: Editions France-Empire Monde .ISBN 978-2-7048-1097-0. (in French)

- Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-790-X.

- Richards, David (1981). Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story. Random House. ISBN 0-394-51132-8.

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