VIFF 2025 | 'Nouvelle Vague' Revives the French New Wave

"Life is short, but art is long."

Vancouver International Film Festival

VIFF 2025—Prolific Texas independent filmmaker Richard Linklater's light and casual black-and-white dramatization of the revolutionary French New Wave cinematic movement of the mid-twentieth century offers a delightfully amusing experience for cinephiles at one of film history's most influential collection of artists. Nouvelle Vague follows the humorous making of Jean-Luc Godard's first film, 1960's Breathless.

It stars newcomer Guillaume Marbeck as the legendary Godard himself alongside Zoey Deutch as American actress Jean Seberg during the unconventional filming process, where the enigmatic French filmmaker wrote the script on the fly, made things up as he went, and defied standard film language of the time. There are a plethora of jokes about his status as a film critic and the last of the famous writers from Cahiers du Cinéma to make a feature film, as the tight-knit group of novice directors mock each other's work while supporting their efforts.

Linklater's homage and summary of the French New Wave movement is a detailed trifle that's as much fun as it is playful in its fidelity to recreating the period it's lovingly depicting. It's hardly ironic how straightforward and linear the dramatization of a film known for advancing film techniques that broke all the rules, while purposely jarring audiences with what we now know as "arthouse" cinema. Nouvelle Vague is a worthy tribute to the historical characters of the Breathless era of films, filmmaking, and film appreciation.

Nouvelle Vague screened as the opening film of the 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations series at the Vancouver Playhouse. It will be available to stream on Netflix starting November 14th in the U.S.


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