Nouvelle vague

It's not possible for me at this point to go through every Godard film, but it's also of no interest. Naturally, I may be missing shades or nuance of his film personality, but what's of interest to me, is to be able to see in these snapshots removed by time how he has evolved or stayed the same, how the old conundrums are expressed in new ways and is there a chronicle here of time gone.

The title here may be in reference to a number of things, what I get from it though, is the transfiguration of New Wave expression. None of the subsequent Godard films I've seen has been any less New Wave than his New Wave films, but what is New Wave now, as opposed to thirty years ago?

It stands out immediately to me that his Michel Poiccards have aged, that Godard has aged with them, mellowed perhaps by a certain failure to become instruments in the shaping of a better world, by a recognition that they're still standing on the same inscrutable dilemmas about love and death and that a wind of change didn't sweep them up or passed them by. Godard approaches politics here, as he did before. This time, the bitter realization of an unjust world is spoken not by romantic fools in the middle of an irreverent crime spree, but corporate people in suits and ties as they strike business deals. This is done without the gloating of triumph, like perhaps the Michel Poiccards and Pierrots grew up to inevitably conform and ruminate.

Alain Delon walks through this with sometimes a look of curious dispassion, sometimes weary astonishment, with a contradiction. As with Prenom Carmen, I see in Godard a willingness to meditate on the nature of things, to let go and be at peace. His characters quip philosophically in constant verbiage, but the film pauses to observe, to record branches of trees or clouds passing over a dark sun. The contradiction, as it were, is rooted for me in a certain kind of acceptance, or the dawning of it. This world may not be better, what these people dreamed in their youth, but it's not so bad either.

One line particularly stands out for me in this acceptance. "There is no higher judge; what isn't resolved by love, stays in suspense". This is one of the most beautiful things I've heard in film, and more, knowing a little of Godard, the contrast amazes me.

Alphaville ends with a similar declaration of the importance of love, but it comes in a point in time for Godard that I feel unconvinced by it, do I take it seriously or is it also part of the joke. Here it's done without irony.

This is important for me not only because it points a way out of the mind, but because it celebrates a meaningful universe even at the absence of a higher decree. If Godard's life and work is narrative, and this is what I'm pursuing in my quest, Nouvelle Vague would make for a soaring finale. But it's not a finale, so things are bound to get even more interesting.

Not one of my favorite Godard films - this 1990 entry, Novelle vague (New Wave, so to speak). While there were things about the film that left me un-fulfilled after repeat viewings, I probably can't recommend the film to someone who might, by the luck of the invisible film-geek Gods, find the tape in the video-store and only will watch it once. By the time I had my third viewing of this (the first two times I just couldn't get through to the end, maybe too tired, maybe just not in the mood for so much Godard going on), I respected it a little more than on my first viewing, though that's giving it some more credit than it should. Bottom line, folks, this is a hard-core, un-abashed art-film, where symbolism is turned up to eleven on the intellectual amp, images are put forth that do hold interest (and when I say that I mean sporadically) in the poetic, love nature over the man-made structure sense, and of course Alain Delon and Domiziana Giordano as the lead couple. Although Giordano is given some emotions to work with (and her start to the film, in which she accidentally runs over a hitchhiker on the road, should kick off something more interesting than it does), Delon mostly walks around with the same face, looking dour and un-happy until midway through the film, which I won't spoil. To put it another way, it makes his performance as the ultra low-key killer in Le Samourai look like Robert De Niro in Goodfellas.

To say that the film has no coherent plot is a give-away. If you're looking for the kinds of stories that kept Godard's new-wave films of the 60's, which were interspersed here and there with the philosophy and poetry he over-loads here, may be disappointed. In fact, the film almost achieves an ironic success in making the film far from the real purpose of the new-wave to start with. Godard gives us characters in this film, but some are left on the screen so briefly it's hard to comprehend what they're talking about. Some of the stuff on the corporations are interesting, as well are a few pivotal scenes to what story there is, but then it's gets downplayed by the mainly pretentious attitude. Maybe my biggest problem with the film is that Godard seems to be backing a viewer, not just myself but any particular viewer who'd seek this film out, into a corner- a part of me feels guilty for thinking a lot of the film just wasn't good because there was some good to it. The editing by Godard himself had a rhythm to it I kinda dug, the cinematography kept the colors vivid, and the choices in music were the typical, free-fancy Godard we know from the 60's.

But in all, and perhaps I can't put my finger on it, Novelle vague is just not my cup of tea. Maybe someday some hip, cool movie professor will give me another perspective on what I'm missing.

How do you film the air for a movie? May you find the past with the help of present, or look for the present through the past? Where are the elements of life (nature, love, thoughts...) in the image that reflects the screen? Is it possible to talk and work with a symbol you never used thirty years ago? And which are the signs of second chances?

Like Hemingway's 'Along the River and Beyond the Trees', 'Nouvelle vague' is a film about the feelings of a mid-aged man in his relation with himself after a car-crash in a Middle Europe road. Godard himself lives around the place, in a beautiful scenery close to nature. The filmmaker, since 'A bout de souffle', smelled the flavor of the countryside. 'Nouvelle vague' is a film for senses. You hear-a-heart beating along the trees.

Bien pour Godard, Lubtchansky, Delon...

One of those movies that you should watch twice in order to understand it better. Of course, one should love Poetry/Literature or Godard's movies, or else he/she may dislike it and find it pretentious. As another reviewer said, Godard is an acquired taste. You either love it or hate it. I love his movies and even myself have disliked some movies of his because i found them boring or meaningless.

New Wave is not that easy to watch : Characters recite all the time quotes from literary works. Most of those quotes are thoughtful and made me think a lot. But there are too many of them and i had to be 100% concentrated and even that, it was not enough. I paused the movie many times in order to perceive what the characters were saying. But it worths the trouble. This is a highly intelligent movie and i enjoyed it.

Most people will not like this film. It's difficult to understand what's going on in the narrative. This isn't uncommon in Godard's work, but it's especially true of his later work. I've seen, besides New Wave, First Name: Carmen, Hail Mary, and his segment from the omnibus opera film Aria. That segment is actually one of his best works as well. Sticking with the two other features, they are both interesting and beautiful but very slow films. New Wave seems a lot like them at first, especially in its confusing narrative (I had to read a synopsis on it to find out exactly what the plot was). It shares their beauty, but its even more pronounced. If I were advising someone on this film, I would tell them to disregard the narrative completely. Just watch it for its pictorial beauty. And its sound. Godard's experiments in sound have always been one of the most prominent traits of his cinema. It goes back at least to Une femme est une femme, way back in '62. This film contains the most interesting experiments in sound. The music is absolutely beautiful, and, like many of his other films, it stops abruptly, pops back up when you're not expecting it, and shifts volumes randomly. The sound effects are also quite beautiful. While New Wave was perhaps dull in its narrative (it's an examination of capitalism and consumerism), who cares? This is film. Film is a visual medium, and this is a visual masterpiece. Remember: RES, NON VERBA ("things, not words," an intertitle that appears frequently in the film). Oh, and Alain Delon, star of such great films as Rocco and His Brothers, stars. He's still a major stud! 9/10.