Breathless

Godard's first and most accessible film is many things: a studied homage to his beloved Hollywood gangster films; a pioneering piece of guerilla film-making; a showcase for innovative techniques which directors are still plundering; a masterclass in effortless Gallic cool; and the director's first salvo in his life-long war with what he saw as the lazy provincialism of European cinema. Most of all, it is a film that anyone who loves cinema must see.

The extras that come with this remastered edition include an archive documentary in which Godard proves to be a willing and witty interviewee with some wry analogies for the film-making process. Worth the price alone is an imagined dialogue in which, having compared filming to war, he explains to an actor that he should stop complaining because, unlike a soldier, he won't be killed. Also included is an introductory film in which Jefferson Hack inadvertently reveals just how far style and substance have diverged. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]