Video of the Day: All of Godard’s ‘Breathless’ in Under Four Minutes

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Now that we all have the tools to do so, it seems like everyone’s speeding up or slowing down songs, movies, TV shows, and other works of popular art. Most of the time, these tricks are meaningless, but every once in a while, they actually make us think about the original in a new way — “Justin Bieber 800% slower” is unexpectedly sad and beautiful, for instance, and this Rear Window timelapse video brings an entirely new perspective to the film. We would add to that category experimental filmmaker Gerard Courant’s “Compression de À bout de souffle,” in which he speeds up Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave masterpiece so that it plays from beginning to end in three-and-a-half minutes. With Breathless’ plot and dialogue lost, the edit highlights both the film’s frenetic, youthful energy and its unforgettable iconography: bustling Paris and Jean Seberg in her striped top and Jean-Paul Belmondo smoking cigarettes in bed. Enjoy the cinematic adrenaline rush after the jump.

[via Dangerous Minds]