Only known manuscript of Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic to go on auction

The film helped usher in the highly influential French New Wave movement

Jean-Luc Godard and Jean Seberg on set of 'À Bout de Souffle’ (Raymond Cauchetier)

The only known manuscript of Jean-Luc Godard’s highly influential 1960 film Breathless will go on auction at Sotheby’s in June, the auction house has announced.

Godard’s feature-length debut, whose French title is À Bout de Souffle, is considered one of the most important films in cinema history for helping usher in the French New Wave, which introduced a slick and innovative style of filmmaking.

The crime drama also created stars out of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, the latter of which became a fashion icon thanks to the role.

Breathless follows a wanted criminal who tries to convince an American student to run away with him, and is a favourite of notable directors including Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. An English language remake, starring Richard Gere and Valérie Kaprisky, was released in 1983.

Godard’s previously unseen and rare manuscript of the film, which consists of 70 pages of every iconic moment and quote, will be placed on auction courtesy of the family of the film’s producer Georges de Beauregard.

The document also contains a detailed breakdown of the film’s trailer as well as a number of photographs from De Beauregard’s archive, a further insight into the golden age of French cinema.

Jean-Paul Belmondo & Jean Seberg (Cauchetier)

The producer worked with many of the great French filmmakers of the period including Jean-Pierre Melville, Agnès Varda, Jacque Rivette, Éric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol and Jacques Demy.

Any sort of manuscript for Godard’s films is considered to be extremely rare, a testament to his avant-garde working style. For example, À Bout de Souffle’s manuscript does not contain a synopsis or script. Instead, Godard would write up the dialogue just moments before the actors would begin filming their scenes. His vision was for the actors to react as naturally as possible, and he would often even destroy these written records after they were used.

De Beauregard, who died in 1984, first met Godard through another icon of French cinema, François Truffaut. The producer was convinced to work with Godard, who was a complete unknown at this point, after reading a loosely-written four-page synopsis of the film, penned by Truffaut and fellow director Claude Chabrol.

A selection of pages from the manuscript for sale (Sothebys)

Godard, whose other landmark films include Alphaville and Pierrot le Fou, died in 2022, aged 91.

The lot will be placed on sale for the first time, with an estimate of €400,000 –600,000, as part of Sotheby’s Paris online auction of books and manuscripts. Bidding will be open from 4-18 June.