June 23

Movie 23

During the June Swoon, I have had the opportunity to watch several foreign films over the years. Today, I watched a French film from director Richard Linklater called Nouvelle Vague. Nouvelle Vague told the story of the filming of the French New Wave classic “Breathless” from director Jean-Luc Godard.

I had a little bit of trouble getting into the movie at first, which might have had to do with the French speaking going on, but it was not too far into the movie that I had become enthralled with the wild portrayal of the filming of the movie. Godard was anything but a typical director and his style and chocies were driving the people around him crazy.

Guillaume Marbeck played Godard with a flare and a carefreeness that was contagious. The performance of the lead actress of the movie, Jean Seberg, played by Zoey Deutch, was outstanding. She played both the joy of the creation of the film and the frustration of not understanding Godard’s vision beautifully and I thought she was a standout of the movie. She had chemistry with Aubry Dullin, the actor who played Jean-Paul Belmondo, the lead character of Breathless.

The film was shot in black and white and it helped to create the mood of the story. It was a lovely looking film that helped portray how unconventional Godard’s style.

The non-English speaking films are some times pushed back on my watchlist because of the subtitles, but i am glad that I watched Nouvelle Vague. It gave me an insight into a film classic and the different ways someone could create art.