Nouvelle Vague

Watched at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

While it's sappy energy and charm doesn't fully resonate with me as I would have hoped for, Richard Linklater has crafted a solid homage tale about Jean-Luc Godard's masterpiece Breathless and the French New Wave era. Capturing the essence of it's time period, production designs, style and the atmosphere perfectly of how Godard writes and approaches.

What I really appreciate about this movie is that Linklater approaches the editing, direction, atmosphere and writing just like Godard, being able to capture his style and atmosphere perfectly that feels respectful and interesting. With the production designs, sound and dialogue being great, it's homage and approach feels purposeful without feeling as if it was an Oscar Bait movie. Alongside with the good uses of black and white camera work, structure and fiction and non-fiction style approach.

The performances are pretty good as the cast were able to offer a good light to once well known actors and directors that existed. Although, there were a few performances, particularly Zoey Detuch, while good, at times some of the emotions and style felt weirdly off. Alongside with some of the pacing and the writing that definitely needs to some working.

Overall, another good movie from Richard Linklater.

This monochromatic 2025 period piece is a cinephile's wet dream of a film from an obvious cineaste, but there's enough energy and craftsmanship here to attract the more casual viewer. A true renaissance man, director Richard Linklater just released "Blue Moon", his evocative WWII-era valentine to the creative titans of Broadway. With this film, he showcases his in-depth knowledge of the mid-century French New Wave movement, in particular, the making of Jean-Luc Godard's seminal debut, 1960's "Breathless" ("A Bout de Soufflé"). The film features relatively unknown actors portraying legendary cinema figures such as Roberto Rossellini, Francois Truffaut, and Jean-Pierre Melville. At the center of the screenplay by Holly Gent and Vince Palmo is Godard, a film critic determined to become a filmmaker. As effectively portrayed by Guillaume Marbeck, Godard is an arrogant disruptor who recruits two young actors, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, to star as a boastful petty criminal and the American student who is smitten with him. Aubry Dillon is a dead ringer for the charismatic Belmondo, while Zoey Deutch in an accurate pixie cut captures Seberg's fierce reticence during the production. If you've not seen "Breathless", you might have trouble tracking the story being told, but that confusion was part of the appeal of the original movie. Linklater knows that and runs with it in this stylish homage.

This movie is a joyride to experience the not-so-joyful process of filmmaking as well as a good homage to the legend and one of the greatest times in cinema history. I think it's done so perfectly that I almost give it 5 stars.

Linklater's signature mise-en-scène is here, but this film feels less personal and more intimately observational. I went in expecting a Midnight in Paris vibe, and I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm struck by Linklater's choice of a new approach, especially from a director known for an almost obsessive realism-like shooting Boyhood over 12 years or Merrily We Roll Along for two decades. Zoey Deutch, who plays Jean Seberg, told us that Linklater encouraged the actors to interpret rather than impersonate. The result is a film that feels remarkably authentic and free, because it all comes from the genuine experiences of the crew. As Linklater himself said, "It's about a bunch of young people making a film." This is a movie that any filmmaker or cinephile will absolutely adore.

(There is a line from the movie that I really LOVE and it goes like this - "when you direct a film, you are actually making 5 films: one when you write it, one when you cast it, one when you shoot it, one when you release it." The closest thing I found is from Robert Bresson: "A film is born three times. First in the writing of the script, then in the shooting, and finally in the editing". I need to print it out and put it above my desk.)

From the very first moments of Nouvelle Vague, I found myself grinning uncontrollably - even giggling out of sheer excitement. It's been years since a movie made me feel this alive, this inspired. Richard Linklater's film doesn't just pay homage to the French New Wave - it somehow becomes it.

The illusion is extraordinary. Every frame looks and feels as if it were shot in 1959, unearthed decades later from a film archive no one knew existed. The grain, the lighting, the movement of the camera - all of it feels so authentic that it plays tricks on your mind. You start to forget you're watching a modern film. I have no idea what combination of lenses, filters, or post-production alchemy was used to achieve this effect, but the result is breathtaking. It's as if Linklater and his team managed to fold time itself back into celluloid.

The sound design and editing are equally meticulous. The ambient hiss, the slightly imperfect cuts, even the rhythm of the dialogue - everything contributes to the illusion of watching something real from another era. And yet, despite all that stylistic precision, the film feels effortless, full of spontaneity and warmth.

The cast is simply perfect. Each actor inhabits their role with such natural grace that you believe these are real people caught in the birth of a cinematic revolution. They don't parody Godard or Truffaut; they channel the restless curiosity and romanticism that defined that generation of filmmakers.

What surprised me most is how emotional it all felt. Beneath the technical mastery, there's genuine affection - not just for the aesthetics of the French New Wave, but for the creative spirit behind it: that fearless desire to experiment, to risk failure in pursuit of something true.

I haven't seen Godard's Breathless in years, but now I can't wait to revisit it. Nouvelle Vague rekindled that same hunger - the need to rediscover where modern cinema came from, and why it still matters.

When the credits rolled, I just sat there, buzzing with energy. I wanted to pick up a camera and go shoot a movie, make something! That's the best compliment I can give a film: it doesn't end when the screen goes dark - it sends you back into the world wanting to create.

I'm already planning to see it again on the big screen. This might honestly be my favorite Richard Linklater film - a love letter to cinema so convincing, so joyful, that it feels like it's been waiting sixty years just to inspire us all over again.

Greetings again from the darkness. Like most who obsess over cinema, I went through my French New Wave phase. Actually, binge is likely more accurate since the phase has yet to end. I'll always make time for Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Varda, and Demy. American director Richard Linklater clearly shares this fondness as he releases this homage on the heels of BLUE MOON, his other superb 2025 release. Co-writers on this film are Holly Gent, Laetitia Masson, Vincent Palmo Jr, and Michele Petin ... two of whom have previous collaborations with Linklater.

While Linklater shows us the many faces and names of those behind the movement, most of this story focuses on Jean Luc Godard and his quest to make BREATHLESS (1960). Godard is played by relative newcomer Guillaume Marbeck and the trademark sunglasses. Godard is a film critic turned writer turned director. In fact, we hear him repeat, "I have to direct", seeing as his goal to direct his first feature by age 25 has already been missed. He talks reluctant and skittish producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfurst) into financing the film by claiming Francois Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard) and Claude Chabrol (Antoine Besson) had co-written the script. Both men had successful films under their belts with THE 400 BLOWS and LE BEAU SERGE, respectively, so the producer viewed his risk as minimal.

Already a star at age 21, Jean Seberg (a terrific Zoey Deutch) finally agrees to join the cast, as does amateur boxer and new actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin). Linklater does a nice job in recreating the haphazard manner in which Godard worked. Of course, there was no script ... other than what he wrote each morning over breakfast. He was after spontaneity, and this caused a clash with Seberg. Much of how he worked would be considered guerilla filmmaking, and it's interesting to see how the cast and crew react to Godard's 'genius'.

Along with the music, Linklater and cinematographer David Chambille capture the authentic look and feel, and it serves as a tribute to the era, including ever-present cigarettes. The French New Wave, and especially Godard, offered a new vision for cinema. Their impact on future filmmakers cannot be overstated, and Linklater's passion for the movement for cinema is obvious. He surely hopes the film inspires others to explore the revolutionists from the Wave that shook the foundation of cinema ... even if "it's no CITIZEN KANE". Just keep in mind what Godard says, "All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun."

Releasing on Netflix on November 14, 2025.