Jean Seberg was a movie icon back in the 60s when she co-starred in one of the breakthrough foreign films of the decade, the ground-breaking French New Wave classic Breathless, directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
It is the film for which she will be most remembered. A movie for the ages from an actress whose career began at the age of 18 when Otto Preminger cast her to play Joan of Arc in Saint Joan in 1957. Breathless came three years later and she, in turn, became an international star.
Seberg tells the off-screen story of Jean Seberg. It is an American tragedy set in the turbulent years of the 60s and the civil rights movement. It was a cause that she believed in from an early age and it was her support of civil rights and her association with the radical Black Panther movement that drew the attention and anger of J. Edgar Hoover and set in motion the FBI’s plan to destroy her career.
I’ll let the movie tell the story-- a story based on the real-life events that ended with Seberg’s shocking death at the age of 40.
Seberg is an Amazon Original movie starring Kristen Stewart in the title role. Yes, the same Kristen Stewart who was introduced to mainstream movie audiences when she starred in the Twilight series.
In Seberg, Stewart delivers an intense performance physically and emotionally, channeling Jean Seberg’s “60s Sexy” persona and riveting eyes that so often stared so daringly and directly into the camera lens in Godard’s Breathless. In Seberg, Stewart really begins to show us what she’s capable of.
It is a performance worth watching.
Along with additional accolades for the writing and direction, I want to mention the praiseworthy cinematography in Seberg. The shots are rich and beautiful and nostalgic. The beautifully composed images perfectly evoke the time frame of the story. The credit here goes to cinematographer Rachel Morrison whose previous credits include: Black Panther (2018), Mudbound (2017) and Fruitvale Station (2013). She’s a gifted artist, and so is the star of Seberg. I’m a fan, and I will be tracking them both to see where their blossoming careers take them.