History and Development of French New Wave

          French New Wave or La Nouvelle Vague refers to a group of young French filmmakers who were low budget in making films and went against the prevailing trends in 1950s cinema of literary adaptations, costume dramas and massive co-productions. (Hayward, 2006, p.165) It was one of the most significant film movements in the history of cinema.

          The import of American films had been banned during the occupation by Nazis. After the ban was lifted by the 1946 Blum-Byrnes agreement, cinephiles had the opportunity to watch those previously unreleased movies at the Cinematheque Francaise, a film archive and public theatre in Paris. (Hitchman, 2008)

          In the mid-1950s, a group of young filmmakers, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut wrote critiques for the Paris film journal, Cahiers du Cinéma which was founded by Andre Bazin and Jacques Donial Valcroze. They often tore apart those films they hated in print but praised the films they loved too. This is such because these young filmmakers were incapable to get into the French commercial cinema despite the fact that they love film and wished to be filmmakers. Through the process of judging the art of cinema, they began to think about what it was that might make the medium special. Most importantly, they were gradually inspired to begin making films themselves.

          During late 1950s and early 1960s, the New Wave revived France’s already prominent cinema and energized the international art cinema as well as film criticism and theory. They reminded many contemporary observers of Italian Neorealism’s impact right after World War II. Thus, the New Wave vividly changed filmmaking inside and outside France by encouraging themes, new styles and modes production all over the world. (Neupert, 2007) Those filmmakers wanted to break up the filmic experience in order to make it fresh and exciting. They wish their films could make the moviegoers think and feel not only about what they were watching, but also their own thoughts, emotions and lives as well. By doing this, the object of the films was not simply just to entertain, it was earnestly to communicate. Moreover, the movies of French New Wave have became known for certain stylistic innovation such as jump cuts, rapid editing, natural lighting, improvised dialogue and plotting, direct sound recording, long takes, shooting outdoors and on location and so on. 

          The difference between French New Wave film style and American Hollywood cinema are astounding. The French New Wave style of filmmaking reached its height during the late 1950’s. It was a revolution in cinema that attempt to redefine conventions and standards of Classical Hollywood cinema. French New Wave allowed audiences to connect with characters and situations and it provides a more realistic style of filming.

          During the period 1959-60, sixty-seven filmmakers made their first feature film, only 55 per cent came from backgrounds not directly from the field of film-making, and the remaining 45 per cent was made up of short-film directors like Alain Resnais or Agnes Varda and film assistants. Most of the New Wave directors spent a great deal of time in their early years writing or thinking about it. Some were film critics; some were simply lovers of film. Their cinematic sensibilities are sharpened through long hours spent in the various Parisian cinematheques and film clubs. Everything from movies by realist Italian directors like Roberto Rosselini to hard-boiled noir and B movies from America, as well as early silent classics and even the latest technicolour Hollywood musicals had deeply influenced the filmmakers. (Hitchman, 2008)

          New Wave film-makers were largely non-politicized. If their films had any political aura it came down to the fact that some film-makers carried on the 1930s tradition of criticizing the bourgeoisie. Nowadays, the filmmakers place their narratives in contemporary discourses by viewing the bourgeoisie from the youth point of view. The other reason why the New Wave might have been perceived as political, is that there were in fact two New Waves.

          The first occurred in the period 1958-62, the other during 1966-68. The first New Wave was anarchic, but only in relation to what preceded it: the cinema de papa. The first New Wave was not politically engaged but it was motivated by a desire to present the point of view of the individual in society. Moreover, the themes it treated filtered into mainstream cinema as early as the mid-1960s.

          In the late 1960s, by the time of the second New Wave, this cinema became more politicized, questioning institutions and their power effects over individuals-questions which filtered into the more evidently political cinema of the 1970s. By the time of this second New Wave, the contemporary discourses of the earlier New Wave had generally become more politicized and there was no positive reflection of the dominant ideology.

          Undeniably, the whole new generations of filmmakers in France were inspired to follow their example after the New Wave became a success. The directors in France breaking with the traditional modes of production and setting an example which others would follow. In 1959, there were over 20 directors releasing their first films and this number doubled in the following year. A special edition of Cahiers du Cinema was released in which 162 new French filmmakers were listed in 1962. The films of directors such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean Rouch, Louis Malle and Alexandre Astruc were creative and innovative despite their films are greatly different in both content and style.

          Later, the Nouvelle Vague was a major inspiration on the New Hollywood generation of directors such as Arthur Penn, Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese who began to create their own paths in the late 1960’s and 70’s.

References

Hayward, S. (2006). Cinema studies: The key concepts. USA: Routledge.

Hitchman,S. (2008). A history of french new wave cinema. Retrieved April 3, 2013, from http://www.newwavefilm.com/about/history-of-french-new-wave.shtml

Hitchman,S. (2008). French new wave: where to start. Retrieved April 3, 2013, from http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml

Neupert, R. (2007). A history of the french new wave cinema. Retrieved April 1,2013, from

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