Cahiers Du Cinema:
Cahiers Du Cinema Cahiers Du Cinema was a French publication specialised to film. It was known for its hard criticism of films especially the classic "Tradition of Quality" style of French Cinema. Some of their critics went on to become Film makers. This was the beginning of a new wave.
Influences.:
Influences. These new-thinking filmmakers were influenced heavily by Italian neorealism (Directors like Roberto Rossellina ) and Classical Hollywood cinema (1910’s to the 1960’s). Directors such as Orson Welles (Bottom Right), Alfred Hitchcock (Top Left), Charlie Chaplin and John Ford were held with much admiration, this was due to their forward thinking abilities especially when it came to narrative, whereas the standard Hollywood films following conventional, traditional narrative form were criticized .
The First Film:
The First Film Claude Chabrol (pictured top right) Is traditionally known to have made the first “French New Wave” Film. The film is Le beau Serge (1958)
Jean-Luc Godard:
Jean-Luc Godard Arguably the most well-known of the La Nouvelle Vague directors. He came on the scene with the 1960 film breathless. Godard was told “breathless” was too long, so he removed parts of a scene therefore using jump cuts for practical and stylistic purpose. Classic French Cinema followed principles of strong narrative, creating what Godard described as an oppressive and deterministic aesthetic of plot. In contrast, New Wave filmmakers made no attempts to suspend the viewer's disbelief; they took steps to constantly remind the viewer that a film is just a sequence of moving images. The result is a set of oddly disjointed scenes without an attempt at unity; or an actor whose character changes from one scene to the next .
François Truffaut:
François Truffaut Like the other directors mentioned here, Truffaut worked as a critic at Cahiers du cinema, but he was the only one (That I’m mentioning) to become editor. He was infamous for his brutal and unforgiving reviews and was the only French critic not invited to the Cannes film festival in 1958. He with Andre Bazin developed and created the Auteur theory. The Auteur theory stated that a director was the author oh their work, and all great filmmakers had distinct themes and styles which were present in all their films. This theory was not well received until the 60’s. His first film “The 400 Blows” was commercially and critically well received, he received the best director award for it at the Cannes film festival just one year after being banned from there.
Other important filmmakers:
Other important filmmakers (Eric Rohmer) (Jacques Rivette ) These two pioneers of French New Wave cinema also started as critics for Cahiers Du Cinema.
Legacy:
Legacy French New Wave finally got caught hold of by new filmmakers in America. Filmmakers becoming prominent in the 70’s such as Brian De Palma (Top Left), Francis Ford Coppola (Top Right) and Martin Scorsese (Bottom Left) all were heavily influenced by the French new wave movement. And is still noticeable in their work today.