Brigitte et Brigitte

Luc Moullet’s shaggy-dog debut—hailed by Jean-Luc Godard as “revolutionary”—is an exemplary work of the Nouvelle Vague at the crest of its influence and renown. Two girls with the same name (Françoise Vatel and Colette Descombes) become roommates after separately arriving in Paris to attend university, and although they hail from different regions in France, the fads and trends of their day have shaped them similarly. An episodic delight suffused with strong early indications of Moullet’s wit, charm, and sense of the place of the absurd within the everyday, Brigitte et Brigitte also features memorable performances from Moullet’s New Wave cohort Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer, and a young André Téchiné, and as well as the legendary Samuel Fuller, himself a crucial inspiration for the Cahiers du cinéma contingent. Film restored by La Traverse with the assistance of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC). Restorations carried out by Cosmodigital and L.E. Diapason and distributed in North America by Cinema Guild.