Nouvelle Vague, adieu

28/10/2002

There once was a French Nouvelle Vague. But what was it precisely? A movement? A revolution? Was there really such at thing as a Nouvelle Vague aesthetic, and to what degree did Godard, Rohmer, Chabrol, Truffaut and company really influence world cinema? 45 years on, and there are still plenty of unanswered questions about one of the most media-driven and exalted cultural phenomena of the 20th century that the participants in a round table discussion, scheduled to take place at the 17th edition of France Cinéma, in Florence from 4-10 November, will try to answer.
This year’s review of Gallic cinema includes an overview of the year’s best productions, three world premieres and a retrospective dedicated to the “Nouvelle Vague”. The novelties include Rachida by Yamina Bachir, Renè by Alain Cavalier, Intervention Divine by Elia Suleiman, Am now...ladies and gentlemen by Claude Lelouch while the three premieres are La femme de ménage by Claude Berri, 24 heures de la vie d’une femme by Laurent Bouhnik starring Agnès Jaoui; Lettre d’une inconnue by Jacques Deray starring Irène Jacob.
The Nouvelle Vague 45 Years On includes 15 classics made between 1959 and 1963 including the uncut version of Claude Chabrol’s Les bonnes femmes and ten rare or inedited shorts.
During the round table discussion, Italian flmmakers will compare experiences with some of the protagonists of that particular season of the Nouvelle Vague. The participants include Claude Chabrol, Anna Karina, Claude Berri, Mario Monicelli, Liliana Cavani, Giuseppe Piccioni and Silvio Soldini. They will also attempt to analyse the myth. “The Nouvelle Vague was not representative of all of French cinema,” said Aldo Tassone, the head of France Cinéma who interviewed 45 filmmakers on the subject with some highly provocative results. “All those I spoke to cut the phenomenon down to size, admitting that it was a breath of fresh air and a revolution in production and filmmaking techniques, but not a revolution in the aesthetic sense.”