RICHARD’S BLOG

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I became a playwright in 1996, having been an avid theatregoer throughout my life (averaging around 120 plays a year – watching, not writing!) I semi-retired from my day job shortly thereafter and for the next 25 years I worked only part-time, allowing me time to write. I ventured briefly into the world of television and wrote a couple of screenplays, although this pretty much came to nothing, except for TAPS making a short film of one of my scripts starring (a virtually unknown) Benedict Cumberbatch and Georgia Mackenzie, which was cool, and sufficient to get me BAFTA membership. Since the pandemic, theatre in the UK has never really found its way back to what it used to be, and so my attention has drifted more towards film. I am now fully retired from my day job and whilst I still visit the theatre two or three times a month, I now watch upwards of 500 films a year (crazy, but true!) Since I watch so many films and can write, I decided to create a blog – it seemed a very 21st-Century thing to do.
REVIEW: Nouvelle Vague ★★★★☆

REVIEW: Nouvelle Vague ★★★★☆

Nouvelle Vague is a 2025 comedy drama, directed by Richard Linklater, from a screenplay by Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in the UK today, Friday 30 January.

The film is something of a celebration of, perhaps even a love letter to, the spirit of the Nouvelle Vague, the French New Wave of filmmakers in the late 1950s/early 1960s. We begin with a gentle wander around the movement: the Cahiers du Cinema offices, Truffaut’s standing ovation at Cannes for The 400 Blows, sundry trendy Paris parties, etc. We are introduced to all the major players, and get a vague, as opposed to Vague, idea of who they all are. Then we get down to the business proper: a recreation of the making of Godard’s debut film, Breathless (À Bout de Souffle).

We begin with Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) arranging the finer details of finance and script with his producer, Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst). We then move onto the casting: First Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin), then Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch). And the weird thing is they both look the part; and sound the part; in fact, everybody looks and sounds just right. So, onto the rather chaotic process of the filming itself, all in the masterful hands of cameraman-extraordinaire Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat).

This film is an absolute delight from start to finish. It somehow manages to capture the spirit of the age, the genius that was Godard (and though I am a Truffaut man to the core, I can still see the genius in Godard), and the huge sense of fun that the cast and crew had when making it. And that sense of fun is infectious.

I strongly recommend you fit this into your busy lives – you will not regret it – you will leave the cinema shouting ‘Moteur Raoul’, and you will even understand what I am talking about. Incidentally, if you do not know Breathless, you will be watching a different film to those that do. I would recommend that you find it and watch it before you see Nouvelle Vague, although I am sure the film will stand alone if you are unable to do that.

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