TRUFFAUT'S EARLY SCENARIO for A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (2nd version)

BREATHLESS
original screenplay by François Truffaut
(Full Text)
 
                                                We will talk about very bad things ...
                                                 STENDHAL.
 
 
MARSEILLES, on a Tuesday morning.
Lucien is pretending to read a porno journal, Paris-flirt, on the terrace of a cafe on the Cannebière, the street along the harbor in Marseilles, in fact, he is monitoring the movement of cars in front of the Old Harbor.
Near the boats that take tourists visit the lf Castle across the sea channel, a girl is signaling something to Lucien. She shows him a car registered "U.S. Army" trying to park. The occupants, an American officer, his wife and their children, are here to purchase tickets for the trip to the Château d'If. They are monitored by Lucien and the girl who, by the way, is pretending not to know him.
As soon as the boat with the tourists moves away, Lucien approaches the car - a De Soto Convertible - he is pretending to inspect it as if it belonged to him, checking the tires and oil.
The girl asks Lucien to take her with him, but he refuses, and he gets behind the wheel and starts it after connecting the starter under the dashboard,
A FEW HOURS LATER Lucien is driving the American car on a lovely French country road. Driving a stolen car has to be in his habits as it seems in excellent spirit and singing along French popular songs (Georges Brassens).  
At one point he tries to pass an Alfa-Romeo driven by a pretty woman. He slows down and asks her if, by chance, her name is not "Lady Lucien Poiccard". She shakes her head. Lucien think it's a shame, because Lucien Poiccard, it's him.
A little further along on the road, we see Lucien slow down to take two young women who are hitchhiking. But passing them, he found them too ugly and accelerates harder.
Again and again he monologues to himself, aloud. So we can learn, what Lucien projects at the present time
 1) Get some money in Paris as reward for a more or less shady business (as the film continues, we will from time to time receive details of Lucien’s activities by the people he meets and brief dialogue they exchange. Basically, Lucien is a "con man and a petty thief". But what is his line of traffic? Even for Patricia, for most of the film, that will be a mystery.)
2) Lucien wants to go to Paris mostly to get reacquainted with a girl named Patricia that he hopes to convince to elope with him and go to Italy.
But a third problem will complicate Lucien’s two projects. While driving to Paris, near Sens, annoyed by a 2CV car that dare not pass a truck, he tries to pass two vehicles on a curve in a side in second position.
 His tires pass well beyond the yellow line. A whistle is heard. A State Trooper on his motorbike is lurking out of a side road, he motions Lucien to pull over to the side of the road.
 But Lucien, who is in a stolen car, refuses to stop  and pushes his speed to escape away.

Lucien is then pursued by the State Trooper and the pursuit ends in a small village. Lucien took a side street. It's a dead end. The engine stalled, Lucien takes out a gun that he had found earlier under a cigar box in the glove compartment. The State Trooper pulls out his revolver. Everything happens very quickly. Lucien kills the cop without really realizing it. He is furious against himself. He did not really needed this type of complication!
 LUCIEN ARRIVES IN PARIS, early morning. He's has been doing hitchhiking as he comes in a small Danish car that drops him in the St-Michel area (Latin quarter). .
 Lucien enters a phone booth, then changes his mind and hangs up without having phoned. He goes out and starts walking toward the streets. He's in a shirt, having forgotten his jacket in the car after shooting the cop.
 He buys a morning newspaper. There is yet no sign of his murder. Lucien enters into a small hotel overlooking the Seine. He asks if Miss Patricia Franchini is there. The watchman, trying to wash the porch, said no. Lucien insists. But Patricia is not there, as shown by the key that is on the board. Lucien said he will leave a word. While the watcher does not look, Lucien takes the key. He enters the room of Patricia, the bed is not even open. Lucien searches the room right and left, he tries a jacket. Too small. He finds money in a drawer. But these are American coins. He appears again out from the room, he has washed his face.  
Lucien is near the Boulevard Saint-Germain, in a bar-restaurant, he asks the price of a fried egg ham. He counts his money : he does not have enough. He asks for two fried eggs and ham and says to the server that he has to go somewhere and that he will be back immediately.   Lucien crosses the Boulevard Saint-Germain, passes the Hune bookstore and goes into the courtyard of a building next to the Flore cafe. He enters the hallway and walk along small individual apartments.
Behind a door, Lucien hears a female voice singing one of the tunes of "La belle Hélène". Lucien enters quietly without knocking.
A girl in pajama pants is trying to dry her hair. She turns, did not seem surprised. We understand that she and Lucien lived together in St-Germain there a while ago for seven or eight months. She now does commercials and T.V. and has abandoned the "neighborhood." Lucien is less explicit about himself. It is not doing too badly. It should receive two millions and a half francs at noon. Meanwhile, she need to give him two or three thousand francs so that he could circulate in Paris? She says she does not have them. Lucien invites her to join him for breakfast, hoping that she will pay. But she is in hurry. Lucien take advantage of the fact that she passes a jersey shirt over her head to extract a few thousand francs out of her bag. Then he says goodbye and leaves. It is eight in the morning on Wednesday.

AT TEN, Lucien enters a Champs Elysees Travel Agency. He bought a used jacket and dark glasses. Lucien asks one of the employees if Michael is there. She says that Michael is not there before eleven. Lucien says he will come back and asks for the address of the American newspaper, the "New York Herald Tribune".
We follow Lucien going to the office of the "New York Herald". He enters the hall, talk to a girl in a yellow jersey behind the counter information and asks if a young lady Patricia Franchini still works here. The girl says that she must be on the Champs-Elysées in the process of selling the newspaper. Lucien rushes out towards the Champs Elysees.
He sees a girl in a yellow jersey. She tells him that Patricia is on the opposite sidewalk, at the level of the Pam-Pam bar.
Lucien crosses the Champs-Elysées. He dismisses a student who sells brochures by asking: "You have nothing against youth? Right?"
Lucien snubs her saying that, in fact, he hates youth and loves everything old.
Lucien sees Patricia walking ahead of him. He follows her for a while. Sensing that she is followed, Patricia turns around. She wears a yellow jersey with the initials of the “NY Herald” on her chest. She also has an American sailor's cap tilted on her forehead.
She wears blue jeans. Lucien buys a newspaper issue. She opens her eyes: why did Lucien came secretly to Paris for? She thought he was still in Nice?
Lucien said he came to do business in Paris. It offers to Patricia to take her with him to Italy. We understand that they have lived together in the last few weeks on the French Riviera, where Patricia was on vacation. She said neither yes nor no to Lucien. We must see. She had to enroll at the Sorbonne and perhaps write articles for the "NY Herald"
They will meet up for the evening in a cafe on the big Paris Boulevards where she will be.
The camera stays with Lucien who returns to the Travel Agency. In the small street in front of the Biarritz film theater, he witnessed a fatal accident : a scooter driver is hit by a car. The blood on the face of the scooter driver reminds Lucien of the face of the State Trooper he killed. He buys the newspaper "France-Soir" where, on the second page, he discovers that the police has made  the relationship between him and the cop’s killing. The State Trooper is in hospital, between life and death. Police have many clues, says the article, footprints, personal items, etc. a jacket that they found had in it several bills of ten thousand francs.
Lucien keeps the newspaper under his arm and walks into the travel agency on time. Michel, the man he knows, has arrived. He gives an envelope to Lucien. All seem to be o.k.. But Lucien is not happy. He expected cash and he received a check, what is more, a crossed check that has to be endorsed in a bank. Michel said he is not aware of any other arrangement, he is only the go-between. He told Lucien to contact Berruti, one of their friends, who is  in Paris at this moment as he saw him yesterday. Berruti surely will discount him his check for cash and perhaps even without commission because a few years ago, Lucien saved his life.
Lucien is very annoyed but he has to go through it. He dares not, in fact, present the check to a bank as a result of the shooting of the State Trooper his identity will be recognized. He uses the phone to call Michel Berruti who is not there. He is in Paris, but his maid does not know where.

Lucien leaves the Agency. On leaving, he passes two men. The camera stays on them. They enter the Agency and ask the teller if they have not seen a man named Lucien Poiccard who once worked in this agency. Michael is forced to tell them that Lucien came there five minutes ago. Policemen check around  and find no Lucien in the Agency.
Never mind, said one of the cops, we will have his photo and his fingerprints this afternoon sent by Interpol. The other said that Lucien is perhaps gone to the subway to have disappeared so suddenly.
They rush into the George V métro. We follow them. One goes on the platform in the direction of "Vincennes", the other in the opposite direction of "Neuilly". We leave them to see  as Lucien emerges on the Champs-Elysées by the subway exit in front of the "Normandy" film theater. He enters the cinema which displays a Humphrey Bogart film. Lucien lingers before a picture of Bogart.
WEDNESDAY EVENING. The light comes in through the city lights on the Grands Boulevards. Lucien joins Patricia in a milk bar. They eat a snack. As soon they are served, they go elsewhere. Lucien would like to spend the night with Patricia. She agrees. But suddenly, she remembers that she has already something and goes to a phone.
When she comes back she gives Lucien a long  kiss, very sweet. "So, we go to bed," said Lucien. But Patricia says it's impossible. She cannot stay with him tonight. She must see an editor of the "N..Y Herald" who promised her to give her an assignment for a nice article; she explains that tomorrow there is a famous novelist who is arriving in Paris and who has to be  interviewed and, as the woman who usually does these interviews is not there, Patricia can take her place. For Patricia it is very important and it is imperative that she meets with her newspaper editor tonight.
l.ucien asks if she will  sleep tonight with the editor to get the assignment,  Patricia says it does not concern him. She asks Lucien to drive her where she needs to go. If Lucien does not want to do it, she will simply take a taxi. Lucien accepts to drive her to her meeting.
They ride in a 403. Patricia asks Lucien if he sold his big Ford. Lucien says she's in the garage. The garage has loaned the 403 until his car  is ready.
Lucien leaves Patricia in front of the Pergola bar-restaurant at the top of the Champs-Elysées. The camera follows Patricia who joins the journalist in the room on the second  floor looking at the Champs-Elysees below. They discuss the assignment by eating a dessert, over coffee. It is understood that Patricia wants to sleep with him, a bit by reason of sexual interest, but mostly by professional interest. She hopes to write articles in the section “Culture” of the newspaper and he is the page editor.  He confirms that he wants her tomorrow to interview a famous novelist who is coming to Paris. The writer will grant an interview at a press conference at his hotel. Does Patricia want to go? Patricia said yes. The reporter asks if she will stay with him the night. Patricia said yes too.
They descend on the Champs Elysees where the journalist's car is parked. Night has fallen completely. Patricia realizes that Lucien is spying on them from the bar where he was drinking. Lucien follows them when they get in the journalist’s car.
The camera stays on Lucien buying the latest edition of "France-Soir" while watching Patricia and the journalist leave in his English car. The article in "France-Soir" explains that the Police has tracked down Lucien, but the Police does not know what name he now lives under as it has several passports. He had no problem with the Police in France but he has arrest for different petty crimes  in New York and in Italy.
While reading the article, Lucien returns to his Peugeot 403 and follows the English car.

At a red light Lucien’s car stops parallel to the English car. Patricia gives him a fast passing look. She looks sad. Then she makes a small sign of indifference.
THURSDAY MORNING. The camera follows Patricia crossing the Pont du Louvre as she is walking back home. Her key is not in its space at her hotel. She goes up to her room. The key is in the door. Patricia discovers Lucien listening to the radio, lying in bed; he says that all hotels are full because of the tourists.
She lies down next to him. They establish the program for the day. He will accompany her to the press conference and then resume their relationship. Meanwhile, he will take care of his own business which, we know, means that he has to find  Berruti as soon as possible so that he can endorse his check. As Patricia knows nothing of Lucien’s real identity, Lucien, for her, is just a guy the guy who has plenty of money and drives nice cars.
They go out to take their breakfast. While she is eating, he tells her that he is going to get his car at the garage and that he will be back in five minutes. It must therefore find a nice car to steal within five minutes. He sees a white convertible Ford Thunderbird which is parking in the street. The driver gets out and enters a building. Lucien follows him up in the elevator, without saying a word. He sees that he is entering into an office.
Immediately, Lucien goes back down, jumps into the car, starts the engine and starts to go get Patricia. WHILE PATRICIA attends the press conference, Lucien has to sell the Thunderbird in a garage in the suburbs. There is no agreement possible with the dealer. The owner of the garage shows Lucien the page in "France-Soir" where Lucien recognizes his face and reads the title of the article "The murderer of the State Trooper still running." The dealer wants to buy the car but will not give the money within days.
Lucien is trying to steal money from a drawer. Brawl between him and the garage owner. Lucien is clearly overpowered.
When he leaves in a hurry, the garage owner calls the police and he tells the police that Lucien was just in his garage and that he heard Lucien on the phone contacting a young American lady, Patricia, who works at the  "NY Herald"
This explains why the police, seen at the travel agency, in the next shot, is waiting at the office of the “Herald Tribune” for Patricia to bring brings her  article to the newspaper’s editor.
The police  shows her the photo of Lucien. Patricia said that yes she recognizes him; she went out with him two or three times, but she does not know where he is.
The police gives her their phone number. If she sees him, she should immediately call the police to say where he is at that time. Patricia agrees to the deal.
She goes out. She realizes that the police is following her. She goes into a cinema after seeing Lucien that is following her and the cop. She leaves the cinema by the secondary exit door, rejoins with Lucien and they enter in a cinema on the other Champs-Elysees sidewalk, while the cop is lost, bewildered, still in the first cinema.
THURSDAY EVENING. On leaving the cinema where they saw a western, Patricia and Lucien are looking for a hotel to spend the night because it seems that Patricia’s hotel room is monitored by the Police. But all hotels are full, again because of the tourists.

Lucien is getting anxious to get in touch with Berruti to discount his check. He sees various characters in various neighborhoods (girl in Strasbourg-Saint-Denis - Bar Patron at the Opera and St-Germain).
He and Patricia now obviously ride in a stolen car. Lucien told Patricia that now he has nothing to loose, and they are better circulating in Paris with a stolen the car rather than on foot.
To avoid too much risks he explains to her the “con” of the garage : he drove his old car in a garage monitored by a single old watchman; he parks it on the third floor, takes another fancy car and make Patricia drive it while she was hidden when they entered the parking . The watchman sees a pretty woman driving a nice car and says nothing since it seems natural that a nice girl should drive a nice car. .
Finally, Lucien finds Berruti who was in Montparnasse. Berruti promises to help, tomorrow probably, he will give Lucien the money of the negotiated check.
Meanwhile, Lucien had explained his troubles in finding a place for the night; Berruti gives him the address of a model who is never home and where Patricia and Lucien can spend the night.
THE NEXT MORNING, while Lucien is preparing to pack up for Italy with the money that Berruti will bring him, Patricia announces that she has changed her mind; she is not leaving with him after all. She has called the police and they should be here in ten minutes.
Lucien is raving mad, but he is forced to flee. He jumps into the car with Berruti who brought his money. Slamming shut the door of the car he screams insults at Patricia.
The last shot shows Patricia watching Lucien leave with Berruti in the car and not understanding what Lucien is saying because her French is still imperfect.