Writers: Holly Gent, Laetitia Masson, Vincent Palmo Jr. and Michèle Pétin
Director: Richard Linklater
Easily the most joyous film at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, Richard Linklater’s behind-the-scenes of the making of A Bout de Souffle is not just an homage to New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, but also a celebration of cinema itself. Part manifesto and part tribute, Nouvelle Vague has as long a future as Breathless.
Godard, always with his sunglasses on, even in the cinema, and producer Georges de Beauregard are worried that A Bout de Souffle will be a box-office failure, that is, if it’s ever finished. But knowing that Godard’s first feature is destined to be one of the world’s most influential films ever doesn’t spoil the fun in Linklater’s careful and comical recreation of the struggles of shooting the movie in 20 days without even a fully realised script.
Indeed, its stars Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo have no lines to learn. As they act, Godard throws their lines to them. He doesn’t want them to think too hard about their characters; he doesn’t want them even to act. Godard, and New Wave more generally, sought spontaneity and freshness. It is this vitality that made A Bout de Souffle such a masterpiece.
Presumably, there is a script in Linklater’s film. Godard rattles off so many aphorisms about cinema and offers so many quotes from authors that it seems unlikely that Linklater is prompting the actors over their shoulders as if he were the New Wave director in 1960. But Linklater captures the spirit of Nouvelle Vague by shooting with old lenses in black-and-white and in 1:37:1 ratio. He also shot the film quickly, just 10 more days than Godard.
His casting choices are inspired. Only Zoey Deutch playing Seberg is a household name in the same way that the American star was the only famous name in Godard’s film. There’s much delight to watch Deutch’s Jean becoming exasperated with the French director’s eccentric methods; he doesn’t let her rehearse and rarely goes beyond a second take. The rest of Linklater’s actors are relatively unknown, just like they were in Breathless. They are all fantastic, but Guillaume Marbeck, who plays Godard, is a real find. Despite Godard’s unorthodoxy in filming, Marbeck embodies him with a real warmth and a great sense of humour. It’s there to see in spite of the sunglasses. Truly a remarkable performance.
Aubry Dullin is the sexy Belmondo, wearing trousers that are too short to reveal his white socks, playing with his lips as he smokes cigarette after cigarette to become the male pin-up of the period. Dullin gives him a real sense of joie de vivre, trusting in his director’s approach to filmmaking, enjoying every day as it comes. As Pierre Rissient, the Assistant Director, Benjamin Clery is hilarious, caught between the demands of Godard and Beauregard. Playing the phlegmatic cameraman Raoul Coutard, who never questions Godard’s odd requests, Matthieu Penchinat is a grounded presence amidst the mayhem.
Even Seberg’s make-up artist Phuong Maittret gets a look in, and Jade Phan-Gia is amusingly upset when she discovers that Godard doesn’t need her talents. As well as the crew, there are “cameo” performances by actors playing Truffaut, Varda, Rohmer and Bresson; a real who’s who of New Wave films, all brought thrillingly back to life.
At one point, Godard announces that all you need to make a film is “a girl and a gun”. He was certainly on to something.
Nouvelle Vague is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2025 from 8-19 October.
