Os Dois da (Nova) Vaga (2010)

Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, their careers, their friendship and their impact on the French New Wave of the 1960s.

Director:

Emmanuel Laurent

Writer:

Antoine de Baecque

Stars:

Isild Le Besco, Anouk Aimée, Jean-Pierre Aumont

Cast

Credited cast:
Isild Le Besco
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anouk Aimée	...	Self (archive footage)
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Self (archive footage)
Charles Aznavour	...	Self (archive footage)
Antoine de Baecque	...	Narrator (voice)
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Self (archive footage)
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Self (archive footage)
Jean-Claude Brialy	...	Self (archive footage)
Claude Chabrol	...	Self (archive footage)
Jean Cocteau	...	Self (archive footage)
Raoul Coutard	...	Self (archive footage)
Jean Desailly	...	Self (archive footage)
Marie Dubois	...	Self (archive footage)
Jean-Luc Godard	...	Self (archive footage)
Chantal Goya	...	Self (archive footage)

Storyline

Two in the Wave is the story of a friendship. Jean-Luc Godard was born in 1930; Francois Truffaut two years later. Love of movies brings them together. They write in the same magazines, Cahiers du Cinema and Arts. When the younger of the two becomes a filmmaker with "The 400 Blows", which triumphs in Cannes in 1959, he helps his older friend shift to directing, offering him a screenplay which already has a title, A bout de souffle, or Breathless. Through the 1960s the two loyally support each other. History and politics separate them in 1968, when Godard plunges into radical politics but Truffaut continues his career as before. Between the two of them, the actor Jean-Pierre Leaud is torn like a child caught between two separated and warring parents. Their friendship and their break-up embody the story of French cinema.

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Plot Keywords:

godard | truffaut | french cinema | cinema history | history of cinema | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

M/12

Did You Know?

Quotes

François Truffaut: I had never thought that I was revolutionizing cinema or was unlike earlier film-makers. I always thought cinema was great, but lacked sincerity and we ought to do it better. Malraux said "A masterpiece is not a bad film improved," but I thought good films were bad films improved.

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Connections

Features Viver a Sua Vida (1962)

User Reviews

Two guys making waves.

Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard are the two most prominent film makers from the era of New Wave (Nouvelle Vague)a movement that not only revolutionized French film but world cinema. It was more than a wave, it was a Tsunami. In England the Kitchen Sink movement copied it's style. In NYC, Indy filmmakers took to the lower Manhattan streets like Godard did along the Champs Ellyses. In Hollywood it revolutionized the industry and the art form that would lead to its final golden era of the century. Their shadow indeed looms large over the history of cinema.

More gossipy than analytical (and that's just fine given the mountains of material that already exists on Wave theory) Two in the Wave fleshes out through interviews the personalities, the friendship and the discord that ended their collaboration. Ironically, it was Truffaut banned by the establishment from attending Cannes for his incendiary attack as a critic on the French Film Industry only to triumphantly return a year later as a film maker with a winning entry ( The 400 Blows) who incurred the wrath of Godard for going establishment as his star rose.

Before this though we have the two friends sharing an unquenchable passion for film making the groundbreaking Breathless together followed up by a series of highly original and fresh works on their own such as Jules and Jim, Les Carabaniers, Weekend and the Doinel series. There are interviews with key players involved in the movement including actor Jean Pierre Leaud who had roles in many of their films and counted both as friends.

As mentioned earlier Truffaut drifted back into the mainstream with some medium cool efforts before his early demise (54) while Godard continued to remain off beat resulting in both commercial and critical oblivion over the next thirty years. All rather anti-climactic for a pair of intellectual rebels who stood the world of cinema on its ear over half a century earlier. Two for the Wave is worth a look if just to get a feel for a major milestone in the art of film and the two men who were its superstars.

Details

Official Sites:

Les Films du Paradoxe [France] Official Facebook

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

10 March 2011 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Os Dois da (Nova) Vaga

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,676, 23 May 2010

Gross USA:

$28,808

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$28,808

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films à Trois, Procirep, Angoa-Agicoa

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color Black and White