Nouvelle Vague (2025)
The behind the scenes of the filming of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960), a landmark of the French New Wave film movement.
directed by: Richard Linklater
written by: Holly Gent, Vincent Palmo Jr., Michèle Pétin
starring: Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin…
Probably one of the singularly most unique films I’ve seen so far this year, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague both entertained and inspired me as a filmmaker in my own right. I’ll be the first to confess that prior to watching this film, I didn’t know much about the legends of the French New Wave movement, but it’s pretty much a certainty to say that that’s about to change.
Straight off the bat, this film carried itself in a way that you don’t see much in modern cinema. I don’t know if it was the black and white, or the way that each character was introduced with their own one second title shot, but it was these little details that handed it the distinct flavour it carried throughout the runtime. I don’t know if Richard Linklater set out to make what would be classed as a biopic in its traditional sense, but if it was, then this was definitely the way to do it.
Guillaume Marbeck’s portrayal of Jean Luc Godard was about the coolest thing I’ve seen since I Timothée Chalamet walked down the street as a famed Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown (2024). Everything from the dark sunglasses, to the habitual smoking, to an “I don’t give a crap what you think” attitude to creativity worked together like a charm. Particularly, one scene where a discarded glass of wine was used to put out a cigarette made me want to hop on the next time machine to 1960’s Paris to shake that dude’s hand there and then.
Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin and all of the other supporting actors also did an amazing job playing out crew members skeptical of Jean Luc Godard’s creative process. Of course, knowing now the success and impact that Breathless would have in the many years to come, it puts even more of a pep in your step to go out and create something that you’re passionate about despite how literally everybody else may react.
The script for this film however, in my opinion, was probably its strongest asset. The wisdom that was thrown about by several of the characters throughout would make one could have inspired Noah to build an Ark in the desert. Because of this, I would personally recommend any filmmaker, business person, even anybody with a bold dream in their heart in general to give Nouvelle Vague a watch and allow it to inspire them just as it did me.
If I had to note one downside, I did think that the film ended rather abruptly. After such a long haul of the shooting of the Jean Luc’s vision, it didn’t feel too satisfying when it had finally been made. I know that we got an end-credit scene talking about each one of the actors and the future success of the movie, but I would have liked to have felt it a bit more than I did. And if that meant stretching the film out another 30 mins or so, then so bit it. I would have gladly sat that there and eaten all of that up.
That being said, would I watch this film again? Hell yeah. Will I likely be watching it again? Hell yeah. In the not too distant future? Only time can tell, but it’s definitely one that I will be recommending to those with a passion to purse near about anything in life.