Everyone is someone
A SCREEN NEAR YOU
Little bonus Carte Postale this week to say that I really loved the recent Nouvelle Vague film release.
In black and white, directed by Richard Linklater, it’s a fictionalised behind-the-scenes of the filming of French classic A bout de Souffle (Breathless), which was released in 1959.
If that sounds a bit artsy and hard, ne t’inquiete pas. If you’re worried a black-and-white French film might bring you down, pas de soucis. Because this one is fun and light and joyful.
Breathless is widely thought to be one of the most important films ever made because it marked the start of the New Wave of cinema.
An era when filmmakers threw out the rule book, embraced tiny budgets, fewer takes, short shoots, improvised dialogue, quirky narratives, long tracking shots, jumpy edits and handheld cameras.
In Nouvelle Vague, we meet Jean-Luc Godard, a writer at Cahiers du Cinéma film magazine who is chomping at the bit to make his own movie. He’s up himself frankly, but portrayed with great humour in the film.
Godard convinces flustered producer Georges de Beauregard to fund his low-budget film about an aspiring gangster and then scoops rising American movie star Jean Seberg, fresh from success in Bonjour Tristesse to star in it, alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo.
I loved Seberg’s frustration at Godard’s approach; there’s barely a script, they never know in advance what will happen, he won’t rehearse, he won’t do multiple takes and he can’t really be arsed with makeup or lighting.
He’s all about the risk of the unknown and it drives her nuts.
When she complains, he responds: “Disappointments are temporary, film lives forever.”
Godard, Seberg and Belmondo aside, everybody is somebody is this movie – with luminaries like Chabrol, Truffaut, Varda et al cropping up in such huge numbers that Linklater has to actually label them, Trainspotting-stylee.
I’m not film critic, and I’m not an expert on new wave cinema, but I recommend this. Let me know your pensées.