By:Dominic La-Viola
Nouvelle Vague is the perfect film for anyone who truly loves movies. I mean down to their core. Cinephiles whose obsession with movies is borderline addictive. The desire to see movies, not necessarily watch them.
I am without question one of those people, to which is why I think this film spoke to me in such a way, no other film has in quite some time.
The film is shot in black and white, with a 1.37:1 ratio. The same ratio that the film in which it was inspired did. “Breathless”, the 1960 film, that did not necessarily start The French New Wave. Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly one of the most influential films of the movement.
Going into this film, I was quite excited because I knew a decent amount about director Jean-Luc Goddard before seeing the film, and was familiar with his work and his background as a film critic.
Not to mention, I know from watching commentaries that director Richard Linklater was also a huge fan of his. Along with being a true cinephile. Knowing an extended amount of the French New Wave, along with various other New Wave movements in film history.
One of the things that I find most interesting about the film is the attention to detail about Goddard himself. For the film is just as much about him as it was about the making of “Breathless”.
Covering, without going too deep into detail about his time as a critic as Cashiers du Cinema. The impact he had on the film industry as a critic before moving on to become a filmmaker.
For he was to the French at the time as Roger Ebert was in America, during his career as a film critic. Someone’s opinion whom everyone not only respected but admired.
Having that on the forefront of the film, I think really helps show not only the rise but the amount of knowledge and influence Goddard already had in the world of cinema, prior to making his debut film.
Of course, there were a lot of Easter eggs, so to speak. Names being dropped and showing whom he hung out with, filmmakers who were once critics with him at Cashiers du Cinéma prior to making the transition into directing. People who just happened to also be some of the most influential filmmakers of the French New Wave.
Guillaume Marbeck gives an outstanding performance as Jean-Luc Goddard. Embodying him in a sense that I can only imagine to be the most authentic version of him.
Having seen interviews with Goddard and listening to him speak on the terms of cinema and how it is to be created, I feel like Marbeck captured that essence brilliantly.
Zoey Deutch gives the performance of her career as Jean Seberg. Recapturing the brilliance of the performance of Seberg’s in the original film “Breathless”. All while creating this beautiful portrayal of this Hollywood actress, even down to the mannerisms.
The scene in which we watch them film, the scene in which we first meet her character and she is selling newspapers, felt like the perfect recreation of “Breathless”.
Director Richard Linklater does something magical with this film, to the point it feels like a direct recantation of this moment in time. Not only from a technical perspective, using the same techniques used in “Breathless” to pay homage to the film. But also embodying the richness of a true cinephile creating his first film off of pure inspiration, drive, and love of cinema. Pouring all of that into the film, and coming out the other end with something spectacular and game-changing.
I couldn’t imagine anyone else making this film. Being able to capture the tone and emotion that Linklater does, through not what is said or done, but how it is captured and translated onscreen.
It almost feels as if Linklater is able to recreate this atmosphere perfectly, by tapping into that mindset he had making his directorial debut with “Slacker”. An indie, low-budget film. While the content of the films is completely different. That drive that they share is one and the same.
There is this brilliant balance between not only capturing but telling the story of a cinephile film critic turned director and creating this intellectual, humorous film. One that is just as entertaining as it is informative.
All in all, I without question loved this film completely through and through. It’s a perfect example of how to create a biopic, to capture and pay homage to a person and/ or moment in time flawlessly. Reconstructing everything that made the person and time infinite and immortal.
Linklater has a serious love and passion for cinema and cinema history, and this film not only shows that but puts it on display.
I particularly love the scene in which the DP is standing in the center and everyone is standing around him in a circle. He is filming them as they all wink at him. Not for the film in which they are working on, not because Goddard told him to. Just because.
Now, I can’t say for certain that this particular shot or scene was a homage to “Band of Outsiders” when they are running through the museum as the camera is following them.
A random moment in the film that really has no context. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history. One that is simply iconic.
When watching the film, the scene of him filming everyone in the circle wink stood out to me and really reminded me of that moment from “Band of Outsiders”.
Which ironically enough, “Band of Outsiders” is a French New Wave film, directed by none other than our man of the hour, Jean-Luc Goddard.
Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars.
Four Time Film School Dropout 
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