Nouvelle Vague, meaning New Wave, was a movement born in the 1950s and 60s from the compulsion of a group of French filmmakers to break free from the typical story structure, filmmaking techniques and narrative themes of the day. These films were hugely influential on filmmaking as an art form, opening doors for indie writers and directors to make compelling, low budget, character driven stories. The French New Wave is full of incredible movies like The 400 Blows, Le Bonheur and Hiroshima Mon Amour.
None of these films, arguably, were more influential on modern filmmaking than Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. After a petty thief impulsively kills a policeman, he tries to convince an aspiring journalist with whom he falls in love to run away to Italy with him. The extremely low budget, existential conversations and meandering pace encapsulate the New Wave perfectly, so what better movie to dramatize the making of?
Legendary filmmaker Richard Linklater returns to the silver screen with Nouvelle Vague, a peek behind the curtain of Breathless’ creation. Guillame Marbeck plays Godard, the neurotic grouch who’s never seen without a pair of sunglasses as he decides to stop just writing criticisms of films and finally get up and make one. Securing an old colleague Jean-Paul Belmondo (played by Aubry Dullin) as his leading man and famous American actress Jean Seberg (played by Zoey Deutch) as his heroine. With the greenlight from irritable producer Georges De Beauregard, Godard has 23 days to create the greatest movie of all time.
As the opener of the Perth Lotterywest Film Festival, there were opening speeches on the night and a very entertaining welcome to country by Alton Walley. There was also a prepared video introduction by Madeline Bates, the festival’s curator whom I was lucky enough to interview last year. She spoke about how the films showing at Perth Festival this year afford an “opportunity for us all to discover the world through cinema” as the line-up contains a variety of genres, styles and points of view.
Nouvelle Vague, 2025 Directed by Richard Linklater.
The film is brilliantly cast, when I first saw Aubry Dullin and Zoey Deutch I thought they must be using archival footage because of the striking similarity to their 1950s counterparts. Deutch wonderfully plays Seberg as she pokes the bear that is Jean-Luc Godard during filming out of her own frustration due to Breathless’ lack of script and unconventional shooting schedule. While Linklater clearly holds Godard in extremely high regard, Nouvelle Vague doesn’t pull any punches in portraying him as a difficult curmudgeon.
I saw Nouvelle Vague with my sister, who I had to fill in on the basics on the New Wave and Breathless, and I was conscious of the fact that she was essentially going into a movie about a cinematic movement that she has little to no interest in, so she might be bored out of her mind. However, she thoroughly enjoyed it. This is in part thanks to the Nouvelle Vague resisting the urge to gush over how amazing the New Wave is. It explains its ethos and emulates its style while remaining a markedly modern film. There was a particular scene that was made for the film nerds though, in which Roberto Rossellini, a prolific director and producer at the time, as well as the father of the great Isabella Rossellini, is speaking to a room filled with every New Wave writer and director you could imagine. I explained the scene to my sister as “The Avengers but for losers”, with utmost affection of course.
The slow motion of the camera following the film’s events and matter-of-fact dialogue imitate Breathless perfectly, but it also sprinkles in a few flashy camera moves and subtitled vignettes when introducing a new character to set itself apart. Nouvelle Vague stays true to its homage, if you could call it that, also with its casual, bouncy pacing. Moving from scene to scene without a definite end or beginning, you feel like a passive observer of real events.
Whether you’re a seasoned film buff or a casual moviegoer, Nouvelle Vague offers a little lesson in film history and celebrates the most important movement in movie history. It’s funny, entertaining and simply delightful.