Nouvelle Vague

The indefatigable and unpredictable Richard Linklater pays heartfelt homage to the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 debut, Breathless (À Bout de Souffle), one of the most influential films of all time, and a defining example of what became known as The New Wave (Nouvelle Vague). A shoe-string production, based on an outline by Francois Truffaut, who had made a splash the previous year with his own debut, The 400 Blows, Breathless starred the American Jean Seberg and the then-unknown boxer, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and was shot in DIY-fashion on the streets of Paris. The film follows the young JLG as he battles financiers, convention, and improvisational chaos to realise his vision; Linklater captures the frenetic energy, and guerrilla-style techniques of the era, using a vintage aesthetic to evoke a movement that changed cinema forever.

Breathless (1960) is available as part of the Truth, 24 Times Per Second: The Films of Jean-Luc Godard selection on IFI@Home.