want to get into the new wave, but feeling a bit overwhelmed? We'll take you for a quick spin through the basics...
THE NOUVELLE VAGUE: WHERE TO START © 2008 Simon Hitchman

Fifty years on: Why the New Wave Still Matters

Breathless, dir. Jean-Luc Godard [1960] .

It has now been more than half a century since the directors of the New Wave (in French, Nouvelle Vague) electrified the international film scene with their revolutionary new way of telling stories on film. The New Wave itself may no longer be "new", but the directors and their films are still important. They are the progenitors of what we have come to think of as alternative cinema today, and they had, and continue to have, a profound influence on popular culture in the West and throughout the world. Without the Nouvelle Vague there may not have been any Scorcese, Soderbergh, or Tarantino (or Wenders, or Oshima, or Bertolucci), and music, fashion and advertising would be without a major point of reference.

The directors of the Nouvelle Vague, and those of their like-minded contemporaries in other countries, created cinema that could express complex ideas using alternative approaches to narrative, while still being both direct and emotionally engaging. Crucially, these filmmakers also proved that they didn't need the mainstream studios to produce successful films on their own terms. By emphasizing personal vision over commerciality, the Nouvelle Vague set an example that others across the world were quick to follow. In every sense, they were the true founders of modern independent film. To watch them for the first time is to rediscover cinema.

Francois Truffaut directing. .

The Nouvelle Vague: A Beginner's Guide

The directors associated with the Nouvelle Vague, including Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Resnais, Agnes Varda, and Jacques Demy have made, between them, a body of work numbering in the many hundreds. If you were to add to this the works of those various filmmakers of the era who have been labelled as New Wave at one time or another, as well as those influenced by the movement, both in France and abroad, then the number of potential films would run into many thousands.

Getting to grips with the New Wave might thus understandably seem a daunting prospect for somebody wanting to discover for the first time what the movement is all about. With that in mind, this introduction will offer some suggestions as to where to start your investigations of New Wave cinema. This article is meant to act as a walk-through of some of the basic ideas surrounding the Nouvelle Vague, as well as the seminal "must see" films which best define the movement. If you’ve already seen a lot of the best known New Wave films, or are looking for a more specific approach, you might try our Top 10 New Wave Film Lists, which drill down by director, sub-genre, performance and other various categories without going into too much detail about the wheres and whys.

The French New Wave Directors as Cinephiles

Shock Corridor, dir. Samuel Fuller [1963] .

As you may have already read in our history article, the directors of the New Wave started as the original film geeks, or cinephiles. Before they were directors, most of them sharpened their critical faculties and nurtured their cinematic sensibilities through long hours spent in the various Parisian cinematheques and film clubs which sprang up to feed a culture-starved French populace after the war. They watched and were influenced by everything from the Italian neo-realists to hard-boiled noir and B movies from America, from early silent classics to the latest technicolour Hollywood musicals. From this passion for cinema they developed a belief in the theory of the auteur: that is, a conviction that the best films are the product of a personal artistic expression and should bear the stamp of personal authorship, much as great works of literature bear the stamp of the writer.

Although they admired many of the best films being made at the time, paradoxically they also felt that most mainsteam cinema, especially in France, was missing something and that many of the movies of the era were dry, recycled, inexpressive and out of touch. It may never have been a formally organized movement, but the Nouvelle Vague filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of the ‘cinéma de qualité’ (‘Cinema of Quality’), the pompous and expensive costume pictures that dominated the French filmscape at the time. Cinéma de qualité films were created to impress rather than express, and usually afforded their directors very little freedom or creative control, instead catering to the commercial whims of producers and screenwriters. The Nouvelle Vague directors started as critics, praising the films they loved and tearing apart the films they hated, and through the process of judging the art of cinema, began to discover what it was that made the medium so special. More importantly they were inspired to begin making films themselves. While each director had a slightly different agenda, Truffaut could be said to encapsulate the group's mission when he said, "The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure."

The New Wave did not want to hold your hand through each scene, forcibly directing you emotion by emotion, through a fixed narrative. They wanted to break up the experience, to make it fresh and exciting, and to use film, not as a way of reiterating old narrative forms, but as a medium for a new kind of story which could express both complex ideas and intense emotional experiences in a bold cinematic language. In addition to this, their modest budgets often forced them to become technically inventive. As a result, the movies of the Nouvelle Vague have became known for certain stylistic innovations such as: jump cuts (a non-naturalistic edit), rapid editing, shooting outdoors and on location, natural lighting, improvised dialogue and plotting, direct sound recording (as opposed to the dubbing that was popular at the time), mobile cameras, and long takes. In addition their films often engaged, although sometimes indirectly, with the social and political upheavals of their times.

New Wave International

The Firemen's Ball, dir. Milos Forman [1967] .

In Britain the emergence of the Free Cinema movement in the 50’s paralleled the course of the French New Wave. The first productions of these filmmakers who included Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz were making documentaries about working-class life that had a freshness, energy and modern satirical edge. These qualities were also characteristic of their subsequent feature films, many of which were adapted from the plays and novels of the so called “Angry Young Men” writers.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the New Wave helped to inspire groups of like-minded young directors in Soviet controlled Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary. Shooting on location, often using non-professional actors, they sought to capture life as it was really lived in their societies. Italian cinema too, was encouraged by the example of the New Wave, as it moved from neo-realism through the dreamlike realism of Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni to the Marxist materialism of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Francesco Rosi. Later in the 60’s, the directors of New German Cinema -- like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog -- took the New Wave methods and created a style of cinema uniquely their own.

Revolutionary film movements also arose in Japan and Brazil where directors like Nagisa Oshima and Glauber Rocha made films devoted to questioning, analyzing, critiquing and upsetting social conventions. Indeed, in countries around the world, young filmmakers armed with hand-held cameras and ideas inspired by the Nouvelle Vague were making films on their own terms. All had their own particular flavour, but, in each case, came into being as a reaction against what had come before and arose out of the feeling that such breaks in tradition were necessary to the positive evolution of cinema in their country.

Pulp Fiction, dir. Quentin Tarantino [1994] .

In America John Cassavetes blazed a trail for independent American cinema with films like Shadows which bore remarkable similarities to the work of the French New Wave. At the same time, the Direct Cinema documentary movement emerged in the Canadian province of Quebec and North America. They applied similar techniques as the New Wave and Free Cinema in an effort to directly capture reality and represent it truthfully, and to question the relationship of reality with cinema.

The Nouvelle Vague was also a major inspiration on the New Hollywood generation of directors such as Arthur Penn, Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese who began blazing their own paths in the late 60’s and 70’s. This influence has continued to the present day with many of the major figures in contemporary independent American cinema, including Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, and Wes Anderson, all of whom have professed admiration for the movement and have generously used its techniques. As Scorsese himself put it: 'the French New Wave has influenced all filmmakers who have worked since, whether they saw the films or not. It submerged cinema like a tidal wave'.

The Cahiers du Cinema Directors

Although opinions differ as to which directors belong in the Nouvelle Vague and which don’t, all are agreed that the five directors (Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette) who wrote for Cahiers du Cinema, are the core of the movement. The following is a selection of key films by members of this group which defined the New Wave during its heyday. We've started with the earliest films and have picked out the most fundamental to the movement.

s Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows, 1959) Francois Truffaut This smash hit of the 1959 Cannes Film Festival may not have technically been the first New Wave movie, but it was the first to gain widespread attention and is often cited as the real beginning of the Nouvelle Vague. Truffaut drew on inspiration from his own troubled childhood for this classic story of youthful rebellion.	À Bout De Souffle (Breathless, 1960) Jean-Luc Godard In one of the most audacious directorial debuts in film history, Godard redefines the rules of cinematic storytelling in this thrilling homage to American gangster flicks which made a star of Jean-Paul Belmondo and continues to influence film and fashion.
Tirez Sur Le Pianiste (Shoot the Pianist, 1960) Francois Truffaut Comedy and tragedy go hand in hand in Truffaut’s eloquent and playful homage to Film Noir. In the lead role Charles Aznavour is brilliant as Charlie, the washed up pianist, who is forced to face up to the past he has tried to forget, when his gangster brother comes to the bar where he works one night.	Les Bonnes Femmes (The Good Girls, 1960) Claude Chabrol New Wave realism meets Hitchcockian suspense in this compelling drama chronicling the lives and loves of four Parisian shop girls over the course of several days. The unsentimental portrayal of contemporary young women proved too distressing for some and the film provoked a backlash which saw Chabrol retreat into more escapist material until the late 60s.
Jules et Jim (Jules and Jim, 1962) Francois Truffaut Truffaut’s enduring masterpiece is a captivating story of love and friendship between three people over the course of twenty-five years. A stylistically thrilling work of cinema, brimming with charm, full of innovative storytelling techniques, and running the gamut of emotions, from joie de vivre to tragedy.	Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live, 1962) Jean-Luc Godard Twelve Brechtian tableaux chronicle the life and death of a young woman, beginning as a cinema verite documentary and ending as a Monogram style B movie. A fierce critique of consumerism in which people become just another commodity to be bought and sold.
Le Mépris (Contempt, 1963) Jean-Luc Godard Brigitte Bardot gives one of her best performances in Godard’s emotionally raw account of a marital break up set against the intrigues of the international film industry. With its beautiful soundtrack by Georges Delarue, and sumptuous Mediterranean colours, it has the weight and resonance of classical tragedy.	Bande à Part (Band of Outlaws, 1964) Jean-Luc Godard Anna Karina teams up with a couple of petty crooks played by Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur in this freewheeling crime caper thriller set in and around the streets of Paris. This is one of Godard’s most playful movies, full of off the cuff invention and memorable set pieces.
Alphaville (1965) Jean-Luc Godard Science-fiction and film noir collide in the bizarre city of Alphaville where free thought and individualist concepts like love, poetry, and emotion have been eliminated. Can secret agent Lemmy Caution fulfil his mission to kill Professor Von Braun and destroy the evil computer Alpha 60?	Pierrot le Fou (The 400 Blows, 1965) Jean-Luc Godard One of Godard’s greatest achievements, this pulp-noir anti-thriller has been described as cinematic Cubism Shot in dazzling primary colours and loaded with references to literature, painting, other movies and pop culture, Pierrot Le Fou is, amongst other things, about the struggles of the artist, Vietnam, and the death of romance.
Week-End (1967) Jean-Luc Godard An idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse.Week-End marked the end of Godard’s extraordinarily productive first period and set the tone for the more politically-oriented work to come.	Ma Nuit Chez Maud (My Night With Maud, 1969) Eric Rohmer A brilliantly insightful and sublime meditation on adult indiscretions. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a chaste engineer who believes he has found his perfect woman, yet finds his certainty challenged while accidentally spending a night with the intelligent and seductive Maud.
Le Boucher (The Butcher, 1970) Claude Chabrol A village schoolteacher begins to suspect that her close friend, the local butcher, might enjoy carving up more than steak and porkchops. Widely considered Chabrol's greatest work, this Hitchcock-inspired thriller is rich in both authentic atmosphere and nerve-jangling suspense.	Celine & Julie Vont En Bateau (Celine & Julie Go Boating, 1974) Jacques Rivette Two friends cross the line between reality and fantasy and find themselves caught up in a murder mystery. Rivette celebrates the magic of stories and the power of the imagination in this thought-provoking cult classic.

The Left Bank Group
Although the Cahiers du Cinema directors became the most celebrated members of the Nouvelle Vague, there was another loose contingent of brilliant and highly original filmmakers who were also associated with the movement. This was the Rive Gauche or Left Bank Movement whose core members included Chris Marker, Alain Resnais and Agnes Varda. These filmmakers had backgrounds in documentary and literature, an interest in experimental storytelling, and an identification with the political left. (Although it is worth noting that the label "Left Bank" was constructed by journalists years after the fact. At the time the friends did not consider themselves part of any group). Other associates of the movement included Alain Robbe-Grillet, Marguerite Duras, Henri Colpi, and, by virtue of his marriage to Agnes Varda, the colourful Jacques Demy. The following is a selection of films to watch by this group made during the New Wave era. For more suggestions visit the top 10 lists and the encyclopaedia.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Alain Resnais An intense love affair between a French actress and a Japanese architect in postwar Hiroshima leads to painful revelations about past love and wartime suffering. A highly original and visually stunning masterwork from Resnais.	Lola (1961) Jacques Demy Jacques Demy’s auspicious debut is “a musical without music” set in the port city of Nantes, and staring Anouk Aimee as the title character, a cabaret singer awaiting the return of her long-absent lover from overseas. Meanwhile she is being courted by a childhood friend and an American sailor. Will she wait for her true love or settle down to a new life...
L’Année Derniere à Marienbad (Last Year at Marienbad, 1961) Alain Resnais   A complex cinematic mystery story that breaks all the rules of traditional narrative film-making. The critics are still arguing about what it all means. Watch carefully and make up your own mind...	Une Aussi Longue Absence (The Long Absence, 1961) Henri Colpi Henri Colpi was an editor who worked on many of Alain Resnais’s best films. In 1960 he began directing himself with this poetic and poignant story of lost love and forgotten memories which went on to win best film at Cannes in 1961.
Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo from 5 to 7, 1962) Agnes Varda Corinne Marchand plays Cleo, a young woman adrift in the streets of Paris, who suddenly realises she might be about to lose everything. Agnes Varda uses cinema-verite techniques to film a very human drama in one of the key films of the New Wave.	La Jetée (The Pier, 1962) Chris Marker In a post-apocalyptical world a man is chosen to undergo a time-travel experiment by virtue of his one enduring childhood memory: a woman’s face at the end of the pier at Orly airport. Once seen this unique film is never forgotten. The inspiration for Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys.
Muriel (1963) Alain Resnais Resnais’s riveting drama explores the effects of war on the lives of three emotionally scarred survivors. A complex and moving story of loss and memory with an outstanding performance by Delphine Seyrig at its centre.	Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964) Jacques Demy A wistfully melancholic love story in which every line of dialogue is sung. This romantic musical is the perfect introduction to the enchanting world of Jacques Demy. If you like this,try the equally enchanting Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort)

Innovators, Mavericks and Inheritors

Before the phrase was ever invented, there was in fact already a "new wave" of directors in France breaking with the traditional modes of production and setting an example that others would follow. Although vastly different in both content and style, the films of directors such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean Rouche, Louis Malle and Alexandre Astruc were visionary and innovative. Later these directors became associated with the Nouvelle Vague movement, although some of them, such as Jean-Pierre Melville, rejected the label.

After the New Wave became a success, a whole new generation of filmmakers in France were inspired to follow their example. Over 20 directors released their first films in 1959 and this number doubled in the following year. In 1962, a special edition of Cahiers du Cinema was released in which 162 new French Filmmakers were listed. Inevitably many have not stood the test of time, however the best of them went on to have long and enduring careers.

What follows is brief list of key films by these directors leading up to, during, and immediately after the Nouvelle Vague period.

Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler, 1955) Jean-Pierre Melville Suffused with wry humour, Melville’s film, set in a morally ambiguous world of smoky bars and late night gambling dens, melds the toughness of American gangster films with Gallic sophistication, laying a roadmap for the French New Wave to follow.	Et Dieu... Créa la Femme (And God Created Woman, 1956) Jean Vadim Vadim’s directorial debut broke box office records and censorship taboos in its teasing display of sex and eroticism in Saint-Tropez. Its success lauched the career of Brigitte Bardot and gave independent producers the confidence to back the up-coming films of the New Wave
Ascenseur Pour l'Échafaud (Lift to the Scaffold, 1958) Louis Malle In his debut feature, Louis Malle captures the beauty of  Jeanne Moreau, the brilliant camerawork of Henri Decae, and the musical genius of Miles Davis in a tightly constructed film noir.]	L’Eau a la Bouche (A Game For Six Lovers, 1960) Jacques Donoil-Valcroze Romantic intrigues abound in this elegant comedy of manners directed by one of the lesser known figures of the Nouvelle Vague. At the time considered risqué for its free and easy morality, it now offers an intriguing insight into what it meant to be a libertine at the start of the 1960s.
Les Yeux sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face, 1962) Georges Franju Secluded in the French contryside, a brilliant, obsessive doctor attempts a radical plastic surgery to restore the beauty of his daughter’s disfigured face, but at a horrifying price. Franju’s lyrical horror film has become a classic of the genre.	Chronique d’un Éte (Chronicle of a Summer, 1961) Jean Rouch The original cinema verite and hugely influential on the Nouvelle Vague, Jean Rouch and social theorist Edgar Morin join forces to create this ‘experiment in cinema truth’ in which a group of people are brought together to discuss life, love and happiness.
Adieu Philippine (Goodbye Phillipine, 1962) Jacques Rozier As a young man awaits his army call-up he begins a romance with two girls who are close friends. This beautifully shot ode to lost innocence is one of the quintessential works of the Nouvelle Vague.	Le Feu Follet (The Fire Within, 1963) Louis Malle A melancholic study of a self-destructive writer who resolves to kill himself and spends the next twenty-four hours trying to reconnect with a host of wayward friends. Maurice Ronet gives an outstanding performance as Alain who has spent his life “waiting for something to happen”, but refuses to accept the compromises of adulthood.
Un Homme et une Femme (A Man and a Woman,1966) Claude Lelouch Claude Lelouch scored an award-winning international hit with this eloquent love story which became famous for it’s lush visuals, the performances of its two leads Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant, and its unforgetable musical theme.	Contrebandières (The Smugglers, 1967) & Une Aventure de Billy le Kid (A Girl Is A Gun, 1967) Luc Moullet Two films often found in the same box set. The Smugglers is a wackily abstract comic thriller involving smugglers outwitting customs men at a border between two unnamed countries. A Girl Is a Gun, a psychedelic western starring Jean-Pierre Léaud is a deliberately shabby cocktail of Frenchness and "the western".
Le Samourai (1967) Jean-Pierre Melville Alain Delon is the ultimate existential loner in Jean-Pierre Melville’s ultra-cool crime classic. Combining 1940s American gangster films and 1960’s French pop culture with Japanese warrior philosophy, Melville’s hip, stylish thriller has often been imitated but never bettered.	La Maman et la Putain (The Mother and the Whore, 1973) Jean Eustache Regarded by many as the best French film of the 1970’s, this raw, unsentimental and often very funny slice of life drama is a semi-autobiographical meditation on love, sex and the malaise of living from the last of the great Nouvelle Vague directors.