Nouvelle Vague

From the very first moments of Nouvelle Vague, I found myself grinning uncontrollably - even giggling out of sheer excitement. It's been years since a movie made me feel this alive, this inspired. Richard Linklater's film doesn't just pay homage to the French New Wave - it somehow becomes it.

The illusion is extraordinary. Every frame looks and feels as if it were shot in 1959, unearthed decades later from a film archive no one knew existed. The grain, the lighting, the movement of the camera - all of it feels so authentic that it plays tricks on your mind. You start to forget you're watching a modern film. I have no idea what combination of lenses, filters, or post-production alchemy was used to achieve this effect, but the result is breathtaking. It's as if Linklater and his team managed to fold time itself back into celluloid.

The sound design and editing are equally meticulous. The ambient hiss, the slightly imperfect cuts, even the rhythm of the dialogue - everything contributes to the illusion of watching something real from another era. And yet, despite all that stylistic precision, the film feels effortless, full of spontaneity and warmth.

The cast is simply perfect. Each actor inhabits their role with such natural grace that you believe these are real people caught in the birth of a cinematic revolution. They don't parody Godard or Truffaut; they channel the restless curiosity and romanticism that defined that generation of filmmakers.

What surprised me most is how emotional it all felt. Beneath the technical mastery, there's genuine affection - not just for the aesthetics of the French New Wave, but for the creative spirit behind it: that fearless desire to experiment, to risk failure in pursuit of something true.

I haven't seen Godard's Breathless in years, but now I can't wait to revisit it. Nouvelle Vague rekindled that same hunger - the need to rediscover where modern cinema came from, and why it still matters.

When the credits rolled, I just sat there, buzzing with energy. I wanted to pick up a camera and go shoot a movie, make something! That's the best compliment I can give a film: it doesn't end when the screen goes dark - it sends you back into the world wanting to create.

I'm already planning to see it again on the big screen. This might honestly be my favorite Richard Linklater film - a love letter to cinema so convincing, so joyful, that it feels like it's been waiting sixty years just to inspire us all over again.

In 2025 Richard Linklater released two exceptional works: Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon. Both films are filled with Easter eggs, offering extra enjoyment for audiences who love cinema and the arts. The former is a French black-and-white film set in the late 1950s, revolving around several months of a filmmaking process. Mostly shot on location in France, it tells the story of the sudden rise of a cinematic genius.

Nouvelle Vague portrays the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, with Guillaume Marbeck playing Godard, transporting cinephiles back to the moment when the French New Wave was born. At that time, many of Godard's Cahiers du Cinéma colleagues Truffaut, Chabrol, etc., had already completed their debut films. The story begins when Truffaut brings The 400 Blows to a film festival, drawing the attention of the film criticism world toward Godard, who was known for his penetrating views and who believed that a true film critic should make a film themselves. Everyone was curious (and somewhat nervous) about what kind of film this critic-turned-director would make. In the end, this genius repeatedly broke rules and conventions, endlessly and joyfully.

What he subverted was not only cinematic language itself (everyone knows Breathless is full of jump cuts and improvisation), but also the filmmaking process. Godard constantly disrupted the production schedule, creating entirely according to his inspiration of the day. This left the female lead, the American actress Jean Seberg (played by Zoey Deutch, perfectly cast), rather confused. But her co-star, the debuting actor who would later become a major screen icon, Jean-Paul Belmondo (played by Aubry Dullin), seemed to enjoy the experience and threw himself into the filming. Sparks flew constantly among the three of them during production, of course with other crew members (including the assistant director, cinematographer, makeup, etc.) always present on set. They simply let Godard manipulate everything in his seemingly chaotic way: sometimes asking actors to stage little improvisational plays, other times sending them wandering aimlessly through the streets just to capture the atmosphere. When filming wrapped, Seberg half-jokingly told her manager she would never work with Godard again.

Yet Linklater precisely highlights Godard's brilliance through the constant capturing of those flashes of inspiration during the creative process, as well as the invaluable spirit of the entire French New Wave.

I was in France as a student for a couple of months about the same time that "Breathless" was being made. Then didn't see that movie until some time after being back in the US. At the time I didn't think of the film as an example of "new wave" cinema, just as a wonderful reminder of places I'd seen. The characters didn't bear any resemblance to the French students and adults I'd met, however. I felt Seberg's character was pretty dumb, falling in with Belmondo's thief, no matter how charming and sexy he was.

This movie, "Nouvelle Vague", brought it all back. It evoqued the streets during that time so perfectly! And, Jean Seberg was only a year older than me! (Though I looked up Zoey Deutch and she was closer to 30ish when she made the film.)

I had never really thought about the original movie in terms of its new wave aspects. As scene after scene gets shot with no rehearsal and barely a script you think, "How will this thing ever get edited together into a comprehensible movie?" But of course In retrospect we know that Breathless did win awards.

Does "Nouvelle Vague" really need a definitive ending? We all know how things turn out for everybody in the long run. Like they say, the enjoyment is in the journey.

This monochromatic 2025 period piece is a cinephile's wet dream of a film from an obvious cineaste, but there's enough energy and craftsmanship here to attract the more casual viewer. A true renaissance man, director Richard Linklater just released "Blue Moon", his evocative WWII-era valentine to the creative titans of Broadway. With this film, he showcases his in-depth knowledge of the mid-century French New Wave movement, in particular, the making of Jean-Luc Godard's seminal debut, 1960's "Breathless" ("A Bout de Soufflé"). The film features relatively unknown actors portraying legendary cinema figures such as Roberto Rossellini, Francois Truffaut, and Jean-Pierre Melville. At the center of the screenplay by Holly Gent and Vince Palmo is Godard, a film critic determined to become a filmmaker. As effectively portrayed by Guillaume Marbeck, Godard is an arrogant disruptor who recruits two young actors, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, to star as a boastful petty criminal and the American student who is smitten with him. Aubry Dillon is a dead ringer for the charismatic Belmondo, while Zoey Deutch in an accurate pixie cut captures Seberg's fierce reticence during the production. If you've not seen "Breathless", you might have trouble tracking the story being told, but that confusion was part of the appeal of the original movie. Linklater knows that and runs with it in this stylish homage.

Watched at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

While it's sappy energy and charm doesn't fully resonate with me as I would have hoped for, Richard Linklater has crafted a solid homage tale about Jean-Luc Godard's masterpiece Breathless and the French New Wave era. Capturing the essence of it's time period, production designs, style and the atmosphere perfectly of how Godard writes and approaches.

What I really appreciate about this movie is that Linklater approaches the editing, direction, atmosphere and writing just like Godard, being able to capture his style and atmosphere perfectly that feels respectful and interesting. With the production designs, sound and dialogue being great, it's homage and approach feels purposeful without feeling as if it was an Oscar Bait movie. Alongside with the good uses of black and white camera work, structure and fiction and non-fiction style approach.

The performances are pretty good as the cast were able to offer a good light to once well known actors and directors that existed. Although, there were a few performances, particularly Zoey Detuch, while good, at times some of the emotions and style felt weirdly off. Alongside with some of the pacing and the writing that definitely needs to some working.

Overall, another good movie from Richard Linklater.