French New Wave with experimentation in new filmmaking techniques like the use of natural light, jump cut editing, and auteurism was a revolution in cinema that left an indelible mark on the medium. One of its most notable creatives was writer/director Jean-Luc Godard whose classic debut Breathless helped launch this new movement and style into international prominence. The latest film from writer/director Richard Linklater documents the making of this landmark film.
Nouvelle Vague follows the 1959 production and Godard’s transition into directing. After writing as a film critic for Cahiers du cinéma, a young Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) decides he is ready to start making films himself. He convinces producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst) to fund a low-budget feature, and creates a treatment with fellow New Wave filmmaker François Truffaut (Adrien Ruyard) about a gangster couple. After convincing young American star actress Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) and amateur boxer and aspiring actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) to star in the film, Godard begins filming and soon finds his unconventional filmmaking methods clashing with both his star and producer.
Nouvelle Vague doesn’t just take the opportunity to document the making of one of the most influential films ever made, though it does do that, it seeks to use Godard and Breathless as a conduit to make a larger point about genius, creativity, and achievement. What made Breathless such a landmark game changer was Godard’s refusal to color inside the lines of conventional filmmaking, instead pursuing his own ideas and methods in producing the film, even if it often put him at odds with the producer funding his debut feature and the star actress who took a chance and signed on as his lead. The aspiring director had a vision to which he remained steadfast and true, no matter the potential costs and opinions of others with the power to stop him. In hindsight, his methods are seen as genius and changed the way movies were made forever but in the moment, Godard required an extreme belief in self in order to achieve what would become legendary. Nouvelle Vague utilizes his humorous, chaotic filming methods to accentuate its point in this regard; to stand out in any given field, one is often first required to stand out on a ledge alone.
The mixture of humor amidst a confusing, jumbled production is reminiscent of another recent film documenting an infamous feature film in 2017’s The Disaster Artist, albeit with more reverence for the production it covers than pure satire and comedy. It makes for an entertaining film that balances its cinephile historical curiosities with a story that keeps the audience interested past just veneration of film legends. You become invested in seeing if Godard can pull this off, if Jean Seberg ever comes to believe in the film, even though the outcome is already known. Making established legends whose stories are well documented feel like characters whose stories aren’t already written is no easy feat, but Linklater is able to pull it off here.
The film is shot in a beautiful, time accurate black and white style that mirrors the French New Wave style it documents as well as mostly in French, transporting the audience to that era just as much as the story and real life people it depicts. Deutch and Marbeck shine as Seberg and Godard, transforming into the pair not only physically but capturing their dynamic as both star and director on a challenging film set and their individual quirks and stories. Dreyfürst is also very good as Beauregard, providing the consistent comedic foil of the exasperated adult in the situation juxtaposed against Godard’s devil-may-care creative genius. All of the characters have a familial bond that makes the creative process of trying to produce art feel real, lived in, and relatable. Nouvelle Vague is interesting in that it documents the making of a classic, but also provides an entertaining take on filmmaking and perspective on what it takes to create something timeless. While cinephiles and French New Wave fans will find this film the most intriguing, there’s enough here to also satisfy casual viewers who want to watch something interesting with quality acting.
Image: Netflix
