French New Wave

French New Wave
Name	French New Wave
Country	France
Years	1958–1967
Influences	Italian Neorealism, Classical Hollywood cinema, Surrealism
Influenced	New Hollywood, Hong Kong New Wave, Cinema Novo

French New Wave. The French New Wave, also known as Nouvelle Vague, was a cinematic movement that emerged in the late 1950s and flourished until the late 1960s, characterized by its innovative storytelling, visual style, and experimentation with narrative structures, as seen in the works of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Éric Rohmer. This movement was influenced by the Italian Neorealism of Vittorio De Sica and Federico Fellini, as well as the Classical Hollywood cinema of Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder. The French New Wave was also shaped by the Surrealism of André Breton and the Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger.

Introduction

The French New Wave was a response to the traditional French cinema of the 1950s, which was dominated by Literary adaptations and Historical dramas, as seen in the films of Jean Delannoy and Christian-Jaque. The movement was characterized by its emphasis on Auteur theory, which held that the director was the primary author of the film, as argued by André Bazin and Jacques Rivette. This approach was influenced by the Cahiers du Cinéma critics, including Éric Rohmer, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard, who wrote about the importance of Film criticism and the role of the director in shaping the film. The French New Wave was also influenced by the French Resistance and the May 1968 protests in Paris, which shaped the movement's emphasis on Social commentary and Political activism, as seen in the films of Costa-Gavras and Nagisa Oshima.

History

The French New Wave emerged in the late 1950s, with films such as Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959) and Godard's Breathless (1960), which were influenced by the American film noir of Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang. The movement gained momentum in the early 1960s, with the release of films such as Rohmer's The Sign of Leo (1962) and Chabrol's Les Cousins (1959), which were influenced by the German Expressionism of F.W. Murnau and Georg Wilhelm Pabst. The French New Wave was also influenced by the Cannes Film Festival, which provided a platform for the movement's films to be showcased, as well as the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. The movement's influence can be seen in the works of Roman Polanski, Werner Herzog, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who were all influenced by the French New Wave's emphasis on Experimentation and Innovation, as seen in the films of Luis Buñuel and Stan Brakhage.

Key Filmmakers

The French New Wave was characterized by a group of innovative and influential filmmakers, including Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Éric Rohmer, who were all associated with the Cahiers du Cinéma critics. Other key filmmakers of the movement included Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, and Agnes Varda, who were all influenced by the Italian Neorealism of Vittorio De Sica and the American film noir of Billy Wilder. The movement also included filmmakers such as Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, and Chris Marker, who were all influenced by the Surrealism of André Breton and the Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. These filmmakers were influenced by a range of cinematic traditions, including the German Expressionism of F.W. Murnau and the Soviet montage theory of Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov.

Characteristics

The French New Wave was characterized by a range of innovative cinematic techniques, including the use of Location shooting, Handheld camera work, and Jump cuts, as seen in the films of Godard and Truffaut. The movement also emphasized the importance of Auteur theory, which held that the director was the primary author of the film, as argued by André Bazin and Jacques Rivette. The French New Wave was also characterized by its emphasis on Social commentary and Political activism, as seen in the films of Costa-Gavras and Nagisa Oshima. The movement's films often explored themes of Youth culture and Alienation, as seen in the films of Truffaut and Chabrol, and were influenced by the French Resistance and the May 1968 protests in Paris.

Influence and Legacy

The French New Wave had a significant influence on world cinema, inspiring a range of cinematic movements, including the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s, which included filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. The movement also influenced the Hong Kong New Wave of the 1980s, which included filmmakers such as Wong Kar-wai and Tsui Hark, as well as the Cinema Novo movement in Brazil, which included filmmakers such as Glauber Rocha and Nelson Pereira dos Santos. The French New Wave's emphasis on Experimentation and Innovation also influenced the work of filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage and Andy Warhol, who were associated with the American avant-garde movement. The movement's influence can also be seen in the films of David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, and Wes Anderson, who have all been influenced by the French New Wave's emphasis on Visual style and Narrative experimentation, as seen in the films of Luis Buñuel and Federico Fellini.

Notable Films

Some notable films of the French New Wave include Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), Godard's Breathless (1960), and Rohmer's The Sign of Leo (1962), which were all influenced by the Italian Neorealism of Vittorio De Sica and the American film noir of Billy Wilder. Other notable films of the movement include Chabrol's Les Cousins (1959), Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), and Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad (1961), which were all influenced by the Surrealism of André Breton and the Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. The movement also included films such as Malle's Elevator to the Gallows (1958) and Marker's La Jetée (1962), which were all influenced by the German Expressionism of F.W. Murnau and the Soviet montage theory of Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov. These films showcased the movement's emphasis on Experimentation and Innovation, and its influence can still be seen in contemporary cinema, as seen in the films of Terrence Malick and Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Category:Film movements