French New Wave Film Analysis

The French New Wave, also known as La Nouvelle Vague in its home country, France, came to be during the 1950s and 1960s. It was created by a group of French filmmakers who proved that they don’t need mainstream cinema to create and produce successful films. Even if the New Wave wasn’t really a conscious movement it left a legacy with films like À bout de soufflé/Breathless (written and directed by Jean-Luc Goddard). French New Wave rejected the idea of a traditional story in films – they didn’t follow the structure and the narrative. The French filmmakers wanted the audience to react to their film like they would react in real life and wanted the films to be realistic as possible. The dialogue was spontaneous and as close to real life as possible, …show more content…
Jean-Luc Godard decided to shoot the film as he went. In the beginning he had a screenplay but decided to completely disregard it once they started filming. The actors would get the lines before shooting and would often not have time to even rehearse them, which caused Jean-Luc to shout them out behind camera. It could be noticed in a few scenes where the actors break character and looked irritated. The dialogue as well was recorded in post-production because of the camera that was used. It was too heavy and too loud. It also couldn’t synchronize sound and …show more content…
The editing is jumpy and leaps trough different shots and angles seemingly without any reason. But that’s inarguably a part of the style of French New Wave. Using light hand-held cameras helps the audience feel like they are in the scene. The fast-paced editing and jump cuts give the film a dynamic feel. The camera shots, in a way, represent the characters. The reason why Jean-Luc had to jump-cut so much was because when he presented the film to the studios it was way too long – over two and half hours. They demanded the film to be cut down to ninety