French New Wave Films

 

The French New Wave was a movement of French directors from the 1950's and 1960's who received their start as film critics for the magazine, Cahiers du Cinema. At the magazine, many of the directors including Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, wrote critical articles of a national cinema they believed to be vacuous and sentimental.

The directors often admired B grade American filmmakers, such as Nicholas Ray, who offered raw portraits of American life. Many films from the new wave period focused specifically on the subject of film, and contained references to American filmmakers and studios admired by the directors. Stylistically the films contain everything from rapid editing and improvised acting to more cerebral discussions of memory and loss.

Francois Truffaut, a film critic who idolized Alfred Hitchcock, created films with rebellious characters who desired to escape conformity. One of the more conventional directors from the movement, Truffuat often told linear narratives with a greater emphasis on realism.

Jean-Lu Godard's films would go on to obtain international success and leave an indelible mark on the history of film. His films often have a spontaneous and improvised mood along with rapid editing and discussions of popular culture.

Alan Resnais films contained groundbreaking cinematic deconstructions of memory and time. His films utilized setting as metaphor and contained intense close-ups to heighten the subjectivity of a character's persception.

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400 Blows
Truffant's The 400 Blows tells the story of a young Antoine Doniel, whose youthful rebellion leads to trouble at school. Growing up in a cramped apartment with dysfunctional parents, Doniel seeks to escape his dreary circumstances by running away from home and skipping school to attend the cinema. One of Truffaut's more autobiographical films, The 400 Blows is an accessible and easy introduction to new wave cinema.

Band of Outsiders
A young woman named Odile meets two men in her English class with criminal aspirations. Eventually the two men convince Odile to help them stage a robbery at the home of her wealthy aunt. The film presents Godard's earlier more humorous side which leads to several famous scenes including a ten minute run through the Louvre in Paris.

Breathless
Some consider this to be Godard's masterpiece as well as his most influential. Breathless tells the story of Michel, played by Godard regular Jean-Paul Belmondo, who shoots a cop and then goes on the run with an American journalist. A playful and energetic film with choppy editing and whimsical ruminations, Godard's first major production continues to challenge viewers years after it first premiered.

Hiroshima Mon Amour
While filming a movie about peace in Hiroshima, a French actress meets a Japanese man who reminids her of her former German lover. Mon Amour utilizes flashbacks to focus on the traumatic ramifications of memory and war as they intertwine in Hiroshima. Often considered a landmark film, Godard himself described Mon Amour as "Faulkner plus Stravinsky."

Jules and Jim
For this film, Truffaut utilized a cornucopia of visual tools to tell a unique story about love and friendship. Before the First World War Jules and Jim meet Catherine, and both ultimately fall in love with her. After Catherine marries Jules, both he and Jim are sent off to fight in the First World War, until one day reuniting with Catherine. However, Catherine starts to fall for Jim, and from there the bond between the characters increases.

Last Year at Marienbad
Labeled everthing from a masterpiece to incomprehensible, Resnais' Marienbad presents a cerebral and illusory tale with some visually incredible moments. In the film, a man meets a woman at a resort who he may or may not have met the pervious year, and attempts to persuade her to run away with him. One of the more visually stunning sequences includes a garden where the people cast shadows but the shrubs do not. At time bewildering, Resnais' film definitely generate hours of discussion.

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