2021 Challenge: French New Wave
I enjoyed doing this last year with Alfred Hitchcock films. Let's see if I'll enjoy it as much with movies from the French New Wave.
Basically I'm going to watch 1 French New Wave movie every month for the year of 2021 - movies that I haven't seen before.
The only ones I'd seen prior to this are The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Jules & Jim, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Week-End.
I wanted to feature a movie by Claude Chabrol like Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins or Les Bonnes Femmes, but it's literally impossible for me to legally watch either of those living in small-town Sweden.
Basically I'm going to watch 1 French New Wave movie every month for the year of 2021 - movies that I haven't seen before.
The only ones I'd seen prior to this are The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Jules & Jim, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Week-End.
I wanted to feature a movie by Claude Chabrol like Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins or Les Bonnes Femmes, but it's literally impossible for me to legally watch either of those living in small-town Sweden.
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- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.I'm very torn on this, which I'm guessing will be the case for alot of these movies.
You kind of have to be in a mood for a movie like this. The dialogue is basically all poetry, which can rub some people the wrong way (me included on the wrong day), although it didn't really bother me on this particular day. What did though was the opening scene. There's a reason why I've never seen Night and Fog. I don't need to subject myself to that footage in order to grasp the gravity of those atrocities. Also, one time when I was in school we had this war photographer do a slideshow for all the students where he showed pictures of dead bodies, mutilated bodies and all kinds of horrible shit. That was a very traumatic experience for me. I remember halfway into it I started cold sweating, my vision started to fade and I started to hear ringing in my ears - basically I almost passed out, but a girl sitting next to me grabbed my arm and sort of shook me into full awareness again. 5 seconds later someone else behind us passed out and I spent the rest of the lecture not looking at the screen for a second again. Since then, I've been avoiding stuff like that. To cut to the chase, this movie opens up with a bit of that kind of imagery. So me and this movie started off on the wrong foot and it took a little while for us to be on good terms again.
I really liked the middle of the movie up until they leave the bar. After that we get the same scene like 5 times in a row, which is intentional, it's pretty clear what Resnais is going for. But it kind of lost me, unfortunately. It made the film feel much longer than it was and it's not even that long at all. I would still consider it worth watching. Maybe if I watched it on a better day, but I doubt that the opening would not take me out of it either way. And I still really liked the middle when she's telling her story. That moment when he slaps her was really effective. How the sound comes back and you realize first then that it's been gone was brilliant. I loved that moment. - DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean SebergVan DoudeA small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.I saw the first like 40 minutes or so of this movie when I was in high school, but turned it off because I didn't like it. Rewatching for this challenge I completely understand and respect that decision, because I kind of can't stand this movie today either.
I respect that Jean-Luc Godard and this movie in particular is an important stepping stone for cinema as an art-form. I know that Godard has influenced alot of filmmakers - some of them are up there amongst my favorite filmmakers. However, I would lie to you if I said that I don't hate this movie. It's not as bad as Week-End. Week-End is the cinematic equivelant of a kid holding his finger an inch away from your cheek "not touching" you. Breathless is not as extreme, but it' still so far up its own ass that I can't get any enjoyment out of it. Sure, I like the jazzy score and Jean Seberg is cute as a button, but I hate the main character, I don't give a flying fuck about the story because the movie doesn't really get a story until like the last 20 minutes. The entire 2nd act takes place in an apartment and it feels like we spend about 2 hours or so in that environment. They just talk about nothing for forever and I find it insufferable. It's where I gave up on the film in the first place and if it weren't for this challenge then I might've done the same again today.
I know that everyone is disagreeing with me, I don't care. If you like this movie, that's fine, I'm glad that you can enjoy it, but I cannot. - DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsDelphine SeyrigGiorgio AlbertazziSacha PitoëffIn a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.SPOILER
From what I understand, it's an abstract film about a man in denial of the fact that he raped and murdered a woman. And throughout the film he's trying to justify it by imagining her being provokative, her being manipulative towards both him and her husband, her husband being the one killing her etc. I don't know, maybe I'm completely off.
I'm not sure if I like the movie or not. It's certainly shot really well, it's definitely a unique experience. If you want to broaden your horizons I would recommend watching it, for sure. When it comes to my personal enjoyment, the interpretation I have left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, though. I might come back to it in a couple of years and see if I view the film in a different light when I'm older. - DirectorJacques RivetteStarsBetty SchneiderGiani EspositoFrançoise PrévostAnne Goupil is a literature student in Paris in 1957. Her elder brother, Pierre, takes her to a friend's party where the guests include Philip Kaufman, an expatriate American escaping McCarthyism, and Gerard Lenz, a theatre director who arrives with the mysterious woman Terry. The talk at the party is about the apparent suicide of their friend Juan, a Spanish activist who had recently broken up with Terry. Philip warns Anne that the forces that killed Juan will soon do the same to Gerard. Gerard is trying to rehearse Shakespeare's "Pericles", although he has no financial backing. Anne takes a part in the play to help Gerard, and to try to discover why Juan died.I don't think I have anything to say about this one. It was so long and repetitive and I got so bored because of it.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaSady RebbotAndré S. LabartheTwelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.It's 12 August and I finally received my order of Vivre sa Vie, La Jetée and Band of Outsiders. I'm finally able to properly continue this challenge.
It's filled with Jean-Luc Godard's usual bullshit that I don't like. The first scene is a 5 minute conversation where we only see the back of the character's heads which is just riveting to watch. Scenes go on for way too long - being annoying. The conversation between Nana and the old man might be really interesting if you love philosophy. If you don't the scene just becomes miserable. There's a pointless scene when she dances around at a loft. Shit like this keeps happening in Godard's movies and it's the main reason as to why I don't like them.
However, this is still probably my favorite of his films so far. Because at least this one had a story in contrast to Breathless and Week-End. At least we got a good performance from Anna Karina. The ending was very anti-climactic in execution, but it still managed to get some form of emotional response out of me. - DirectorChris MarkerStarsÉtienne BeckerJean NégroniHélène ChatelainThe story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.This movie was definitely worth the wait. I watched this and when it was over I watched it again. I was really gripped by this movie. I'm endlessly fascinated by dreams and memories and I'm easily enchanted by the French language. If I had watched the English version which the Criterion Collection blu-ray had as a default setting I don't think I would've enjoyed it as much. I'm usually not really that excited about still images. The French narrator really hooked me. However, at the same time I don't think I would enjoy this as much if it was a live action short film. This way, there weren't any distractions that would otherwise potentially bother me such as poor camerawork, bad acting, bad dialogue etc. Stripped of these elements it forces the viewer to only focus on the story being told. It also really helped that the music and the sound design was nothing short of amazing. All of these things combined had me head over heels about something that I otherwise wouldn't particularly have cared for. The brevity makes it pretty much inexcusable for you not to watch it, but I honestly wouldn't mind it being 30 minutes longer either.
La Jetée is without a doubt my favorite movie of this challenge so far. - DirectorAgnès VardaStarsCorinne MarchandAntoine BourseillerDominique DavrayCleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.I liked separate scenes and specific moments in this. I liked the scene when they rehearse a song in her apartment. I liked a scene when she left a building and there was a child in the background playing random notes on some sort of instrument. And those sounds were incorporated into the score, which was a nice touch. I think I liked this story the best out of all the movies I've seen so far this challenge. Although my orders of Vivre sa Vie, La Jetée and Band of Outsiders have been severely delayed and so I haven't been able to watch the initial two films yet, but nevertheless. It wasn't just stylized nonsense or poetic lamenting about a person's horrible actions. It was a genuinely touching story about a woman wandering around waiting for the answer to if she's going to live or die.
I'm not sure if this is a movie that I'll come back to alot, though. It's short, so maybe, but it might take a while. - DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaClaude BrasseurDanièle GirardTwo crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery.Just because you have weird ideas and know how to break the rules doesn't mean that you're a good filmmaker. I really despise Jean-Luc Godard, but I have to put up with his shit because he's influenced other people who are way more talanted than he ever was.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsJean-Claude DrouotMarie-France BoyerMarcelle Faure-BertinFrançois, a young carpenter, lives a happy, uncomplicated life with his wife Thérèse and their two small children. One day he meets Emilie, a clerk in the local post office.The reason why I like Agnes Varda and hate Jean-Luc Godard is the following: Varda seemed to make films with a genuine and touching story first. All of her stylistic choices are secondary to the story - they're the icing on the cake. Whereas Jean-Luc Godard is the complete opposite. His films are all about stylistic choices and throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. The story is incidental when it comes to his movies. This is why I have such a tough time connecting with his characters and why I don't have that problem with Varda's characters.
I think Le Bonheur is exactly what I want from a film of the French New Wave because of these things. Agnes Varda has that sensibility where she doesn't have her head up her own ass.
This would probably be my favorite so far after La Jetée. - DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveGeorge ChakirisFrançoise DorléacTwo sisters leave their small seaside town of Rochefort in search of romance. Hired as carnival singers, one falls for an American musician, while the other must search for her ideal partner.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudClaude JadeDelphine SeyrigAfter being discharged from the army, Antoine Doinel centers a screwball comedy where he applies for different jobs and tries to make sense of his relationships with women.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJean-Claude BrialyAurora CornuBéatrice RomandOn lakeside summer holiday, a conflicted older man is dared to have a flirt with two beautiful teenage half-sisters despite his betrothal to a diplomat's daughter and the fact that the girls have boyfriends.What did I learn from this year's challenge?
I learned that if I'm to do this I need to choose movies that are more readily available to me and that doesn't require subtitles in order for me to understand them.