Nouvelle Vague

Ends Thursday, November 27!

The spirit of cinematic revolution is alive and well in Richard Linklater’s (Last Flag Flying, NYFF55 Opening Night) affectionate and wildly entertaining passion project, which transports the viewer back to a creative landmark: the 1959 making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Played with uncanny Proustian precision by the extraordinary Guillaume Marbeck, Godard desires to make his own mark as a filmmaker, envious of the big-screen success of his fellow Cahiers du cinéma critics François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol. Working from—if only gesturing to—Truffaut’s noir-inspired script treatment, Godard embarks on his runaway production on the streets of Paris, determined to make a work of intellectual honesty and moral integrity, while fending off the frustrations of producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst), playfully sparring with star Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin), and ignoring the bemused protestations of leading lady Jean Seberg (a winsome Zoey Deutch). Shot on film in black-and-white and edited with a restless elegance that echoes the Nouvelle Vague ethos that Breathless all but created, Linklater’s film is a buoyant expression of the importance of artistic freedom and ingenuity from one of contemporary American cinema’s true independent souls. An NYFF63 Spotlight selection. A Netflix release.