Richard Linklater delights us with the making of a French classic.
Richard Linklater has directed two delightful movies about celebrities this season. The first was “Blue Moon,” which had the camera angles adjusting Ethan Hawke as the 5-foot tall songwriter Lorenz Hart. And the second would be “Nouvelle Vague,” which is French for “New Wave” and the retelling of the filming of “Breathless,” which was one of the first features of the Nouvelle Vague era of French cinema. And they both respect and honor celebrities from different time periods (“Blue Moon” in the ’40s, and this one in 1959), while focusing on pivotal moments in their lives.
I saw this movie the other day in a special 35mm format in New York City, and I was delighted by its black and white format that resonate with classic French movies of the ‘50s. And I was charmed by Guillaume Marbeck as the film critic and filmmaker Jean-Luc Goddard, and how he wears sunglasses throughout this movie reminding us of his established look. And I have a strong affection for one of his line: “The best way to criticize a film is to make one.”
Although Linkalter has directed the “Before Sunrise” trilogy, I never would have expected him to make a French film. I probably should have. But either way, I was feeling some Woody Allen vibes, in the sense that he tries to respect the classics with their filming techniques and formats, and how he uses the right actors (most of whom we’ve haven’t heard of yet) with the right style, characteristics, and dialogue.
As the movie begins, Godard wants to complete his goal of making a feature film, as he previously made a short film. And reminder: that feature would happen to be “Breathless.” He has a small budget on a 20 day filming schedule, which he says “It’s more than enough,” and he has a small crew, who are capable of big things. Now, he needs to convince Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch speaking fluent French and sometimes English) to star opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin). And we know she does.
Seberg was an actress with a lot of baggage, so her working on this film with Godard’s principles isn’t going to be easy. And sometimes, Godard has some baggage of his own, which begins to affect parts of the filming schedule. He even gets into a fight with his producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst) about that, especially when he’s the one financing it.
Guillaume Marbeck’s background includes short films, two of which he acted in and three of which he photographed. So, it would take a professional to make a feature debut and succeed at doing so, and that would be Marbeck. He plays Godard with the right charisma and appearance, and he knows how to collaborate with Linklater on a vintage level. It’s quite an impressive breakthrough role for him.
Watching Deutch play Seberg, made me reflect on how she started off with crappy movies like “Vampire Academy” and “Dirty Grandpa,” but proved her worth with movies like Linklater’s “Everybody Wants Some,” “Not Okay,” or “Juror No. 2.” And I was also reflexing on how flat the Kristen Stewart vehicle “Seberg” was. And even though this is a small role, “Nouvelle Vague” is the better film.
We’ve seen many movies where we see the dramatization of the BTS, and we will keep seeing them. But in this case, we have it introducing all the character’s names on the screen without the obligatory freeze frames, and we also have the camera reflecting on the classic style with the different movements, while showing us how Godard filmed his scenes. And it’s all beautifully photographed by David Chambille and edited sharply by Catherine Schwartz.
“Nouvelle Vague” is a love letter to classic French cinema made by filmmakers who honors the style of it, and that would be Richard Linklater.
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Streaming on Netflix November 14