New Insights Revealed About Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague: “The Personal Revolution In Cinema”

Richard Linklater’s upcoming film Nouvelle Vague is creating hype as the movie explores the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking film  Breathless. In Linklater’s film, the audience will get to witness the story of a personal revolution in cinema led by one man, and all the people around him. Contrary to initial speculation, the narrative doesn’t begin with Zoey Deutch’s portrayal of Jean Seberg filming on the Champs-Élysées but rather at this pivotal moment in film history.

What can be expected from Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague?

Richard Linklater is among those auteurs of the film industry who is known for his keen eye for detailing. Since he has taken the responsibility to depict the making of the cult movie Breathless, it would be interesting to see how far the director has gone to capture the crucial elements of the film.

The most crucial part of a project is its economic and technical aspects. Keeping the basic yet significant details in mind Linklater has aimed to authentically capture the financial and technical challenges faced by Godard during the production of Breathless. There is a scene in Linklater’s film wherein “Godard, accompanied by his assistant Pierre Rissient and Raoul Coutard, presents Georges de Beauregard with the scooter which will allow him to hide a camera in order to film freely in Paris without attracting attention.”

Elaborating on his idea of the inclusion of economic and technical constraints, the filmmaker said, “All filmmakers want to make a film on the making of a film. It’s difficult to tackle Breathless, but the angle of his filming seems interesting to me because it is thanks to his method that he changed the history of cinema. The way the film was made was so radical that it not only changed the local industry, but it redefined what a film could be.”

Further, Linklater shared his admiration for Godard and his work. He said that Godard’s film Breathless impacted his filmmaking style and approach as he made his 1990 film Slacker. Linklater said, “Breathless will never get old, it will be forever new. I discovered it when I was 20 and I’m 60 today, but it still has the same effect on me.”

While it’s undeniable that Godard has made a profound impact on Linklater, his biggest inspiration as a filmmaker is not Godard or Rohmer, but Jacques Rozier.

As for Linklater’s latest movie Nouvelle Vague, it is shot with an emphasis on capturing the speed and enthusiasm of the French New Wave movement.