NOUVELLE VAGUE
Starring: Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin, Adrien Rouyard, Antoine Besson, and Jodie Ruth Forest
Director: Richard Linklater
ADRIANO
Aside from the budget, Nouvelle Vague is not that dissimilar to a fan film. The Breathless-esque cinematography is stunning, and the performances all around are pretty great. Still, thematically, director Richard Linklater seems strangely incurious about Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) or the French New Wave. While you can interpret this as a fun hangout movie on the set of Breathless, the movie begins to follow a tedious pattern of Godard self-assuredly wanting to do something interesting, everyone saying it's a bad idea, and then he's right. Even as a Godard fan, I found Nouvelle Vague just pointless.
KATIE
Nouvelle Vague might not offer much to those not already familiar with Jean-Luc Godard’s work, but I enjoyed Richard Linklater’s homage to Godard’s filmmaking, impact, and legacy.
It features absolutely gorgeous monochrome cinematography and meticulously crafted shots that took my breath away. I loved Guillaume Marbeck’s performance as Godard, portraying him as more of an enigma than a real person; perpetually wearing sunglasses, chain-smoking cigarettes, and musing on the nature of cinema. Linklater is explicit in his adoration of Goddard’s films, which makes up for a story that isn't especially gripping. Overall, Nouvelle Vague is a beautiful, breezy watch.
PAIGE
Director Richard Linklater’s film Nouvelle Vague certainly pays homage to French cinema with its stylishly grainy black and white visuals, jazz-infused score, and characters breaking the fourth wall by staring straight into the camera. But the thing I love about Linklater’s films is their fun hangout vibe, and while this film has the hangout vibe, it’s missing the fun. I'm not going to lie, this movie is pretty boring and feels kind of empty and pointless. As artistic as it is, the story just doesn’t hold together well enough for a feature length film.
This film was reviewed by Adriano as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.