French
new wave
French new wave was made in Paris during the late 1950's when film
enthusiasts discovered that there was a lack of innovation in the industry that
caused films to feel stale and boring, this was due to French films being
forced into a standard which tried to copy the norms from Hollywood films. These
film enthusiasts discussed how to change cinema with the little money they had
and soon filmmakers began creating their own films with originality and a
different format to others. The purposes of the films made during this time
were to present real French life during the 50's and 60's through cinema.
La nouvelle vague made cinema feel more personal as the directors
would use their films to show their own life and thoughts. Each director’s film
would create an accurate representation of their life that caused new wave
films to be differentiated from the past, outdated French films. An alternative
way of filmmaking was created that had a new style of presenting the narrative
to the audience. The filmmakers showed that things could be done differently by
taking already existing methods and creating new techniques for them.
Jean Luc Godard
Jean Luc Godard, born 3rd December 1930 is a
French/Swiss film director, screenwriter and critic. He was studying at the
Sorbonne in 1949 where he met François
Truffaut, Jacques
Rivette and Éric Rohmer.
In 1950, Godard, Rivette and Rohmer founded ‘Gazette du Cinema’ which Godard
published many articles for, at the time he was also working on 2 films written
by Rivette and Rohmer until his funds were cut off by his family in 1951. In
1952 he began writing for ‘les cahiers du cinema’ as a film critique and later
travelled America to shoot a film (however nothing more than a single tracking
shot was accomplished from this).
In
1953 Godard became a construction worker in Switzerland to save money which he
used to make a short film in 1954. Godard then went back to writing for ‘les
cahiers du cinema’ and created his first French film ‘Charlotte et Veronique’
in 1957, shortly after he began working with Truffaut again on the publication of
‘Temps de Paris’. 1960 is the year in which Godard began working on Breathless;
a film that changed cinema.
Breathless
Breathless was Jean Luc Godard’s first feature film released, it
was the breakthrough that started the French new wave movement of the 1960's
where new modes of production were used while experimenting to change and
rethink the way films are formed. Real life sets were used because resources that
were already available were cheaper, they had a low budget to create French
films so they saved money this way as well as having small filming crews.
Godard used a lot of the same filming techniques throughout
Breathless and many other of his films, these techniques include sudden jump
cuts using different angles, realistic lighting, grainy/over-exposed shots, and
hand-held cameras.
Breathless was one of the most influential films made, the story
was originally written by François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol however they
decided not to make the film themselves so they have the idea to Godard. Godard
made the film very different to the original idea and makeup some dialogue
whilst shooting as he wanted more spontaneous and natural feeling moments to
capture real life.
Godard used each films structure to present certain themes that pre-
occupied him such as existentialism, death, betrayal, and the impossibility of
love. These are themes found throughout the majority of Godard’s films, they
are presented through characters and events that are shown in the story.
The impossibility of love is played out in Michel and Patricia’s
relationship as the two often fail to understand each other as shown in the
bedroom scene which is played for almost a third of the film. In this scene it
is made clear to the audience that the 2 lovers personalities are very
different to each other. This scene is said to be “an unforeseen form of
naturalism”, this gives the audience the impression that realism is being used.
Another way naturalism is presented is through the use of spontaneous dialogue
and mis-en-scene.
Throughout the scene the 2 lovers talk to each other and get
to know each other with the camera angles changing throughout as each character
speaks, this represents the difference between men and women and overall shows
the changing relations between them. Patricia says to Michel “I want us to be
like Romeo and Juliet” which presents the character as being stereotypical for
wanting such a romantic ideal. However, it is unclear what Patricia wants as
her journalistic career is her main priority, this shows the characters
conflict between love and career.
Death is a common theme used in Godard’s work, the theme of death
is present from the start to the end of Breathless, the first shot of the film
is foreshadowing Michel’s death as he is reading a newspaper with an image of a
woman on the front which is then moved from the frame to show Michel, this
predicts Patricia being the one who’s responsible for his death. Another way
Michel’s death is predicted is when an interviewer asks Parvulesco “Who is most
moral, a man who abandons or a woman who betrays?” to which he replies, “a
woman who betrays”, this scene foreshadows Patricia betraying Michel.
Michel’s
obsession with death is shown throughout the film, he says to Patricia “Do you
ever think of death? I never stop thinking of it.” Godard wanted to make a film
about a boy who thinks of death and a girl who does not. The theme of death is
also shown through Michel as he often asks what the time is, this shows that he
is scared he is running out of time. The technical aspects also reflect a theme
of death as the overall pace of the editing is fast and there are many quick
jump cuts used which could be representing Michel’s time running out.
My life to live
My life to live was made in 1961 also with
a low budget, however they needed a larger film crew as Godard used more
traditional filming methods and conditions. Godard was questioning his own
filmmaking and criticizing his own work, Vivre sa Vie gave Godard the change to
redesign his cinematic vision and incorporate his philosophies into his work in
different ways to his older films. Godard believed the camera moved too much
during the filming of Breathless so he decided to use different methods of
filming such as using heavier equipment with lit locations and sounds captured
whilst filming instead of editing the sound into his work like he had done in
the past.
Having a larger crew also meant that time would have to be spared
appropriately as setting up the equipment would be a lot more time consuming.
To save money while filming, Godard used longer shots, some of which last over
3 minutes long, and were usually accomplished from the first take. The idea to tell the story through 12 scenes was inspired by ‘the
three penny opera’ , this technique was referred to as ‘distancing effects’
which would become important to Godard in his later career. Using this technique makes it easier for the audience to follow the story while also giving it a sense of mystery as it is unknown what events may have happened between these scenes. My Life to Live was
a breakthrough for Godard as it used a different style of filmmaking as he
changed the subject matter, form, and technicalities from his past films,
overall Vivre sa Vie was very influential.
The impossibility of love is a theme also found in Vivre sa Vie, this theme is shown through the character of Nana, in the first scene it is made clear to the audience that she wishes to leave her husband as the attachment to her family fails to make her happy, she believes that this isn't the life she was meant to live. She leaves her husband and child but soon realises she can't afford to live so she soon resorts to occasional prostitution, then later becomes a professional. Godard presents prostitution as a metaphor for exploitation, this goes for all relationships based on materialistic/economic values. When we see Nana at the theatre watching The passion of Joan Arc, Nana cries as she relates to the victimisation the character is put through, she too understand being exploited by males as she is a prostitute being managed and sold by male pimps and predators and being cast aside by others.
