The French New Wave. That might not mean a lot to someone who goes to the movies once a year. But hear me out: when you do go, you’re probably seeing a Martin Scorcese movie right? Or Quentin Tarantino? Or Spike Lee? All of those filmmakers are the titans they are today because of the giants that influenced them, none bigger than Jean-Luc Godard. Richard Linklater, the new wave’s most direct heir, takes us back to that special time and place, giving us all a glimpse of the making of the most influential film from the era. Now that’s how you make film history fun!
That film was 1960’s Breathless. At this point in Jean-Luc Godard’s (Guillaume Marbeck) life, he was still wallowing at the Cahiers du Cinema being a film critic. I say wallowing, because his compatriots like Eric Rohmer (Côme Thieulin) and Francois Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard) had made their own films, graduating from the magazine. With their successes, Godard convinces producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst) to finance his first feature, “the one with the gun.” The director gets 20 days to make his movie, using his friend Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) as one of the leads, and convincing Georges that he can convince the red hot Hollywood star Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) to be the leading lady, in all his Godardian hubris.
I like this version of the French New Wave: via a Richard Linklater lens. I’ve seen enough interviews from the director to know that he has great love for this era of filmmaking, so he goes to meticulous lengths to recreate it. That means black and white, 4:3 aspect ratio, live shooting on the streets of Paris and Marseille. And incredible makeup, hairstyles, and cosutmes. I’ve seen pictures of all these people and if you’re not looking too close its hard to tell if this was from 1960 or 2025. And, unlike his contemporaries who might use English, Linklater, keeps the movie in French, realizing the language of Nouvelle Vague is part of the reason the movement has so much power and reverie across time.
Linklater’s lone personal contribution is what elevates this film above a well paid for remake. He envisions these kids as no different that the Everybody Wants Some!! baseball players. Or the Dazed and Confused high schoolers. Godard, Rohmer, Truffaut, Agnes Varda (Roxane Rivière), and all those filmmakers when they weren’t shooting were probably hanging out in the Cahiers du Cinema offices, or out at bars/tabacs/cafes talking about their goings on. And what is a fast and loose 20 day movie shoot other than a bunch of people thrown together to hang out? It’s a great conceit, and let’s Linklater’s script just let Zoey Deutch and the unknown French cast cook, throwing barbs, little jokes, bitch, moan, etc. I for one despise Jean Luc Godard, but after watching Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater made me at least understand what appealed so much to the others around him for why Breathless became so revered and beloved.
So Rick, you did good! You made the cinephile nerds like me feel more cool than they ever would be, and for that, I thank you. Also double thank you for doing interviews about this film, saying Truffaut is more your New Wave beer of choice. Makes sense, and that’s why you’re the favorite director child of these pioneers: you took all the great lessons and left behind the really creepy ones.