#TIFF25: “NOUVELLE VAGUE“ REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Today, we know (or at least know of) Jean-Luc Godard as one of the most famous and influential directors of all time. But before he became the legend, Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) was just a film critic writing for the prolific Cahiers du cinéma in the late 1950s. He is jealous of his colleagues for having made films, so he sets out to make his own. Despite never having made a feature-length film, Godard wants to do things his way and carve his own path – much to the chagrin of the more seasoned cast and crew.

NOUVELLE VAGUE (or New Wave) chronicles the lead up and making of the revolutionary French picture Breathless to a meticulously and often ridiculously detailed degree. It captures Godard’s eccentricities and the minutiae that drove his process and kickstarted the film’s namesake.

American Director Richard Linklater has very much composed a love letter to Godard here, and has a bad habit of overindulging in details and specificities. Obsessive film nerds will be in heaven watching him recreate scenes and situations, but more casual viewers (or those who know very little of the French New Wave) will be tormented by the languished pacing and Linklater’s decision to truncate very little of what happened on and off the “set”. That said, I do love that he maintained the black and white aesthetic that perfectly matches and compliments Godard’s original film. 

And while the cast is uniformly solid, standouts include Marbeck who is terrific as Godard, and Aubry Dullin who does very well as leading man Jean-Paul Belmondo. They are both overshadowed however by Zoey Deutch who positively slays as Jean Seberg (and speaks French rather exquisitely). 

NOUVELLE VAGUE screens at TIFF ’25:

Tues. Sept 9 at 6:30 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Wed. Sept 10 at 9:00 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Sun. Sept 14 at 10:00 AM at TIFF Lightbox