An Old Fav: French New Wave
When it comes to exploring international cinema, it’s easy to feel intimidated. Realistically, you’ve got a lot to choose from, especially when you’re considering watching older films, likely with subtitles. When exiting your comfort zone, do you risk being under-stimulated? (Oh, the horror!) If it is a comedy, will you be able to understand the humor? (Surely, some of it won’t translate!) If it is a subtitled film, with dialogue spoken in an entirely different language, will you be able to keep up with what’s going on?
Just hear me out: old movies are kind of important. Just like history, there are patterns in filmmaking that repeat every so often, even though it is a relatively young art form. There are things yet to be learned and experienced through the moving, visual image. Maybe you turn on a French film from the 1930s, and it takes you a while to get into it. Maybe you don’t ever like it, or rather, you grow to hate it. And honestly, that is okay. It is okay not to be 100 percent entertained, even though the vast media environment we live in suggests otherwise. Like anything, if you give it a chance, you might learn to appreciate it. If you decide it is not your cup of tea, that’s all right. Just because a film does not contain everything you want to see does not mean it is devoid of anything you should expose yourself to.
Anyway, that’s my pitch for why you should expand your film interests. “But Maya! How can we, too, achieve film enlightenment?” Fret not; I do not plan on gatekeeping. There are more than a few things you can try. Let’s begin with an easy banger, one of the golden ages of filmmaking: The French New Wave, or Nouvelle Vague.
Ah, where to start? It has to be one of my favorite genres. Let me set the scene: It’s post-WWII, entering the 1950s and continuing through the 1960s, in reconstruction-era France. Thanks to the war, the economy is flourishing, and young people have more pocket money than ever before. The French film industry opts (to whatever small degree) to cater to the French adult youth. Movies of this period frequently depicted images inherent to the coming-of- age experience, and so younger characters flooded the screen.
Auteurs like Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Agnès Varda burst onto the scene. Directors exercised more freedom than ever before to experiment with the technical aspects of film (namely editing), and they were not hesitant to include complex sociopolitical themes or explore alternate philosophies, notably Existentialism, in their pictures. Films were shot with portable cameras, giving most of them a unique (not unlike documentary) style. Black and white New Wave films feel colorful. The imagery is vivid, the characters are relatable to a younger audience, and the movement itself held a rebellious spirit — New Wave cinema evolved in resistance to the traditional narrative-driven and highly literary French films of the pre-war period.
To keep my side of the bargain, I’ve made a list of a few of my favorite Nouvelle Vague films. I know; you must be chomping at the bit to see my picks. Are they subtitled? Yes, unless you can speak French. Are they worth the time and effort? Absolutely. Here’s my list, complete with my own personal description of each movie based on vibes alone:
The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959) – [industrial and natural themes col- lide. Anger and frustration. The importance of play and feeling carefree. Incessant motion, running spirited and hot under the collar. Having parents that hate you. Freezeframe.]
Breathless (Godard, 1960) – [Jump cuts, jump cuts, jump cuts. Crime drama. Independence, confidence, arrogance. Smoking a dart on a balcony and feeling peace. Road rage and misogyny. Mystery and intrigue. High exposure, lots of Nihilism.]
Clèo from 5 to 7 (Varda, 1962) – [Girl queen. Early feminism. Drama. Glitz, glamour and relationships formed between women. Existentialism, dread. Political undertones. Men not paying attention to you or treating you with respect. Living life in the shadow of death.]
La Jetèe (Marker, 1962) — [Early sci-fi (reminiscent of Eraserhead, dir. By David Lynch.) Darkness, industrial, under the ground. Post-nuclear. Superimposition. That one special person in that one special memory. Fleeting consciousness, sense of loss. Shot composition goes hard.]