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"  Turner Classic Movies and host Robert Osborne opened the network&amp;#039;s first Film Festival last night at Hollywood&amp;#039;s Grauman&amp;#039;s Chinese Theater with a restored version of the Judy Garland, George Cukor remake, A Star is Born. Fond as I am of the epic 181-minute Oscar-nommed classic (in large part, because the screenplay for the 1937 version was the only screenplay Dorothy Parker ever completed), what I&amp;#039;m lamenting most about being here and not there is tonight&amp;#039;s headline feature: the original, black and white version of Jean-Luc Godard&amp;#039;s Breathless (\u00C0 bout de souffle).  Celebrating its 50th birthday this year, Breathless captured an era\u2014the precipice of `60s radicalism\u2014with oft tender, oft combative, cigarette-sharing-along-the-Champs-\u00C9lys\u00E9es young lover authenticity. American actress Jean Seberg plays Patricia, a coy, curious (and braless) journalist studying at the Sorbonne. Jean-Paul Belmondo (who will be a special guest at tonight&amp;#039;s screening) plays Michel, a smooth criminal with a reckless adoration of the willful young woman who becomes his lover. The on-screen chemistry between Seberg and Belmondo is as hot and versatile as Scarlett and Rhett&amp;#039;s or Sissy and Bud&amp;#039;s but better, because of that dreamy, lyrical language, and let&amp;#039;s face it\u2014sorry, Mia Farrow\u2014the best pixie cut in cinematic history. Lit solely by natural light, Breathless is thought of, technically, as a filmmaker milestone in that it opened the door to less grandness than mainstream audiences were accustomed to (a result achieved by, among other techniques, shooting with a hand-held camera), and, because of its frenetic pace (Godard edited using jump cuts, not fade-out transitions), sharpened the visual edge of an already controversial storyline. So controversial, in fact, many countries delayed its release for years following the world premiere in Paris in 1960. Restored on the big screen at the TCM Film Festival, at home on DVD, or, starting on May 28th when Breathless enjoys a wider re-release in New York City (Film Forum) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Theatres), the Godard classic is quite simply one of the best film experiences a person who loves film will ever have. See it, and then see it again. . Four-day passes to TCM&amp;#039;s Film Festival are still available for $499, and will grant you admission to all screenings and panel discussions (panelists include actress Kristin Chenowith, critics Leonard Maltin and Anne Thompson, among others). To purchase, call 1-800-TCM-5764. \u2014Johanna Cox   The original French poster for Breathless; Seberg on-set in Paris in 1959  Photos: Getty Images and tcm.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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