French New Wave Cinema

In the 1950's and 60's there were many new forms of cinema emerging. In an era where 'Hollywoodised' action blockbusters were the rage, many directors wanted to express themselves and their views more effectively through the art of film. The way that one country decided to do this was through the style of 'new wave' cinema. This country was France.

The French new wave, (or nouvelle vague), cinematic movement, (which was never officially classified as a cinematographic movement)(French Cinema: From its Beginnings to Present, Lanzoni, Continuum International Publishing Group), had five principal directors; Claude Chabrol, Francoise Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette (Contemporary French Cinema, Austin, Manchester University Press). These men, along with a number of other minor directors, pioneered this drastical change in French and world cinema with many eye opening films such as; Les Mistons, Le Beau Serge, Les 400 Coups, A Bout Soufflé, and many others. These films looked at issues that Hollywood films didn't cover. Issues such as the holocaust, time travel, the end of the world, a paralell world and the ever constant threat of a third world war.

Most of these films had very low budgets so director's had to devise new ways of filming. Most actors were the director’s friends and the equipment used was revolutionary. The camera's were much more lightweight and thus enabled directors to film outside rather than being confined to a studio. Some directors even used shopping trolleys for tracking shots. All of the new techniques combined together to create a far more realistic and innovative movie. One of these was Alphaville which, despite the fact of being set sometime in the future was quite realistic and showed the viewer the possibility of what life could be like in a paralell life.

In the next blog I will deconstruct Alphaville and continue elaborating on how the French new wave techniques were employed.