Having spent a number of years as a film critic for the influential Cahiers du Cinéma, writer Jean-Luc Godard decided that instead of just criticising the state of French cinema, he would do something about it.

So in 1959 he hit the streets of Paris to shoot his debut feature, Breathless. It was a film that would not only cement the existence of French New Wave, but challenge the standard model of filmmaking as a whole.

Charming rogue Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) gets into some serious bother after stealing a car, so heads back to Paris to hide out. His notion of hiding out however is quite a loose interpretation, as he walks around the streets of the city almost carefree.

It’s there where he meets young American Patricia (Jean Seberg), who is in Paris training to be a journalist. Michel is smitten with her, as is Patricia with him, as he continues to woo her in the city of love.

But Michel’s actions haven’t gone unnoticed, as the police go about tracking him down with every intention of making him pay for his crime.

It’s no wonder Godard’s debut is hailed as a classic, considering the new techniques in filmmaking it embraces. One of the most notable is the free roaming camera. Godard got his hands on the latest camera technology that was so much more compact than it had ever been before, allowing it to be picked up and taken anywhere. Which is exactly what Godard did, literally taking to the streets of Paris.

For the majority of the film, especially when outside, the camera is constantly moving, shadowing its protagonist and his lover. This constant movement almost becomes quite dizzying, as the audience is almost forced into the position of gooseberry, following Michel and Patricia’s every move.

And with the new found freedom of the lightweight cameras, Godard also captured slices of real life on the streets of the French capital, rejecting extras for real life passer-bys. In doing so, Godard weaves his fictional tale into the fabric of real life, resulting in a vibrant and startling blend.

He also mixed things up in the editing suite, by often ignoring traditional methods in favour of jarring jump cuts. Add to that a chic jazz soundtrack, and enigmatic performances from its two leads, and you’re left with a truly remarkable debut.

This 4K restoration then celebrates the film’s 60th anniversary, maintaining its visual integrity for audiences to enjoy for years to come. It isn’t the cleanest of restorations, with the print still remaining fairly noisy, which is no doubt to it being transferred from the two types of film that it was used to shoot it, Gevaert Belgium and Ilford Pancromatic. Still, the fuzzy, hazy nature of the print adds to the overall charm and sass the film exudes, adding to the rawness of it all.

It is film that is often cited by filmmakers as being a game changer, and quite rightly so. Godard’s film is remarkable for taking a relatively basic crime plot, and delivering it in such a unique way, the likes of which had never been seen before.

On one level, Breathless is an enjoyable crime caper that effortlessly captures cool on film, but it’s also a hugely important piece of art in the history of cinema that deserves its restorative treatment, serving as a distinctive reminder of what can be achieved outside of traditional means of the medium.