You can’t pick a better place than Cannes to premiere a film paying tribute to the French New Wave and director Jean-Luc Godard. Unsurprisingly, the world premiere yesterday of Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague earned a rapturous 6 1/2-minute standing ovation from the crowd, for the filmmaker and stars Zoey Deutch and French actor Guillaume Marbeck.
Prior to screening, a brief trailer was released for Nouvelle Vague by ARP Selection, which stars Marbeck as Godard as he shoots the 1960 French New Wave classic, Breathless. Deutch plays that film’s star, Jean Seberg, in what would be her breakout performance.
Linklater shot the film exactly in the style of Godard’s work on Breathless; in black & white with a 1:33:1 aspect ratio. This is also Linklater’s first movie shot entirely in French.
Described as a love letter to the French New Wave, Nouvelle Vague features actors playing many icons of the movement including Jean Cocteau, Robert Bresson, Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Pierre Melville, Eric Rohmer, and Jacques Rivette.
It remains to be seen how Nouvelle Vague will do in America. It has yet to find domestic distribution so it has no release date. Perhaps, the reaction from Cannes will change that. If it arrives in 2025, it will be Linklater’s second film this year after the Lorenz Hart biopic Blue Moon which premiered at Berlinale.
