Film movement: French New Wave

Written Summary: The French New Wave

The French New Wave is one of the most significant film movements in the history of the cinema. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the New Wave rejuvenated France's already prestigious cinema and energized the international art cinema as well as film criticism and theory, reminding many contemporary observers of Italian neorealist’s impact right after World War II.
The term French New Wave refers to the work of a group of French film-makers between the years 1958 to 1964. The film directors who formed the core of this group, Francois Truffaut, Jean Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, were the once all film critics for the magazine Cahiers Du Cinéma. This new wave movement in France turned out to be the most influential of all movements. They changed notion of how a film could be made and were driven by a desire to forge a new cinema.
French new wave directors took advantage of the new technology that was available to them in the late 1950’s, which enable them to work on location rather than in a studio. They used lightweight hand-held cameras, faster film tocks, which required less light, and light-weight sound and lighting equipment, which encouraged experiment and improvisation, and generally gave the directors more artistic freedom over their work. In A Bout de Souffle (1959) the cinematographer Raoul Coutard was pushed around in a wheel chair-following the character down the street and into the buildings. Innovative use of the new hand-held cameras is evident.
French New Wave films had a free editing style and did not conform to the editing rules of Hollywood. The editing often drew attention to itself by being discontinuous, reminding the audience that they were watching a film. For example by using jump cuts or the insertion of material extraneous to the story (non-diegetic material). Godard in particular, favored the use of the jump cut, where two shots of the same subject are cut together with a noticeable jump screen. In Godard first full-length film A Bout De Souffle jump cuts are used during a lengthly conversation in a room and in a scene in a car driving around Paris.
Long takes were common, for example, the street scene in A Bout de Souffle. Long takes have become particularly associated with the films of Jacques Rivette. The use of real-time was also common, for example in Varda’s Cléo de 5 á 7, in which the screen duration and the plot duration both extend two hours. These films tended to have a loosely constructed scenario, with many unpredictable elements and sudden shifts in tone, often giving the audience the impression that anything might happen next. They were also distinctive for having open endings, with situations being left unsolved.


The actors were encouraged to improvise their lines, or talk over each others lines as would happen in real-life. In A Bout de Souffle this leads to lengthly scenes of inconsequential dialogue, in opposition to the staged speeches of much traditional film acting. Monologues were used, as were the voice-overs expressing a character’s inner feelings. Women were often given strong parts, for example, Corinne Marchand in Varda’s Cléo de 5 á 7.
The American jazz music that was popular in Paris at that time also featured in some films, for example, the Miles Davis score for Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud. In the film A Bout de Souffle the sound comes after the action.
In conclusion The French New Wave dramatically changed filmmaking inside and outside France by encouraging new styles, themes, and modes of production throughout the world.