Topic: French New Wave

Direction François Truffaut

Cast Jean-Pierre Léaud · Claire Maurier · Albert Rémy · Guy Decomble

Synopsis The 400 Blows (1959) follows Antoine Doinel, a misunderstood adolescent in Paris, as he navigates the challenges of school, family, and societal expectations. Feeling neglected by his parents and stifled by a rigid education system, Antoine begins to rebel, skipping...

Direction Jean Eustache

Cast Jean-Pierre Léaud · Françoise Lebrun · Bernadette Lafont · Jean Douchet

Synopsis It focuses on three twentysomething Parisians in a bizarre love triangle: Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a seemingly unemployed narcissist involved with both a live-in girlfriend (Bernadette Lafont) and a Polish nurse (Françoise Lebrun) whom he picked up at a café...

Direction Jacques Rivette · Suzanne Schiffman

Cast Michéle Moretti · Hermine Karagheuz · Karen Puig · Pierre Baillot

Synopsis Lili (Michele Moretti) is a member of an experimental troupe preparing a radical new interpretation of Aeschylus's 'Seven Against Thebes', while Thomas (Michel Lonsdale) is in charge of a state-funded group who are rehearsing another work by the same ancient...

Direction Jean-Luc Godard

Cast Anna Karina · Sady Rebbot · André S. Labarthe · Guylaine Schlumberger

Synopsis Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live) (1962) follows Nana, a young Parisian woman who dreams of becoming an actress but struggles with poverty. Leaving her husband and child, she drifts into prostitution, seeking independence yet finding herself trapped in...

Direction Louis Malle

Cast Maurice Ronet · Léna Skerla · Jeanne Moreau · Yvonne Clech

Synopsis In a private nursing home near to Paris, a burnt out writer, Alain Leroy, is being treated for alcoholism. Despite being almost cured of his addiction, Alain, in his mid-thirties, has recurring bouts of depression and has resolved to kill...

Direction Jacques Rivette

Cast Bulle Ogier · Jean-Pierre Kalfon · André S. Labarthe · Josée Destoop

Synopsis Sébastien is directing a theatrical production of Jean Racine’s version of the Greek tragedy Andromaque, in which he also plays the lead role of Pyrrhus. During rehearsals, which take place in front of a film crew, Sébastien’s relationship with Claire,...

Direction Éric Rohmer

Cast Jean-Louis Trintignant · Françoise Fabian · Marie-Christine Barrault · Antoine Vitez

Synopsis 3rd entry in the series "Six Moral Tales" by Eric Rohmer. The narrator (Jean-Louis), a devout Catholic, moves to a provincial town and vows to marry Francoise, a pretty blond he notices at mass. Vidal, an old school friend, invites...

Direction Jean-Luc Godard

Cast Jean-Paul Belmondo · Jean Seberg · Daniel Boulanger · Henri-Jacques Huet

Synopsis The first feature film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and one of the seminal films of the French New Wave, Breathless is story of the love between Michel Poiccard, a small-time hood wanted for killing a cop, and Patricia Franchini, an...

Direction Jacques Rozier

Cast Bernard Menez · Danièle Croisy · Françoise Guégan · Patrick Verde

Synopsis Du côté d'Orouët, a nearly three hour film of a trio of young girls taking their summer vacation at a villa on the coast, spends its great deal of time on other concerns. These, namely, are an evocation of ease...

Direction Éric Rohmer

Cast Bernard Verley · Zouzou · Françoise Verley · Daniel Ceccaldi

Synopsis The last of Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales". Frederic leads a bourgeois life; he is a partner in a small Paris office and is happily married to Helene, a teacher expecting her second child. In the afternoons, Frederic daydreams about other...

Direction Edgar Morin · Jean Rouch

Cast Edgar Morin · Jean Rouch

Synopsis A market researcher's question put to Parisians, "Tell us, are you happy?", provokes this multi-layered, manipulated cinema-verité snapshot of France in the 60s.

Direction Agnès Varda

Cast Corinne Marchand · Antoine Bourseiller · Dorothée Blanck · Loye Payen

Synopsis Cleo From 5 to 7 (Cleo de cinq a sept), per its title, concentrates on two hours in the life of a woman. Those hours are desperate ones, in that Cleo, a pop singer, awaits the results of her tests...

Direction François Truffaut

Cast Jeanne Moreau · Oskar Werner · Henri Serre · Marie Dubois

Synopsis Jules and Jim (1962) is a poignant tale of friendship and love set in pre-World War I Europe. The story follows Jules, a shy Austrian, and Jim, a confident Frenchman, who form an inseparable bond. Their lives are forever changed...

Direction Alain Resnais

Cast Emmanuelle Riva · Eiji Okada · Bernard Fresson · Stella Dassas

Synopsis Hiroshima mon amour (1959) follows a French actress and a Japanese architect who share a brief, intense affair in post-war Hiroshima. As they grow closer, their conversations delve into themes of memory, loss, and the lingering scars of war. The...

Direction Jean-Luc Godard

Cast Brigitte Bardot · Michel Piccoli · Jack Palance · Georgia Moll

Synopsis French playwright Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli) is hired by the arrogant American producer Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) to rewrite the screenplay of a commercial version of Ulysses and his Odyssey, to be directed by famous german director Fritz Lang (Fritz...

Direction Alain Resnais

Cast Delphine Seyrig · Giorgio Albertazzi · Sacha Pitoeff · Françoise Bertin

Synopsis A cinematic puzzle, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad is a radical exploration of the formal possibilities of film. Beautifully shot in Cinemascope by Sacha Vierny, the movie is a riddle of seduction, a mercurial enigma darting between a present...

Direction Jean-Luc Godard

Cast Anna Karina · Jean-Paul Belmondo · Jean-Claude Brialy · Henri Attal

Synopsis Angela, a striptease artist, wants to have a baby and tries to persuade her boyfriend Emile to go along with the idea. Emile will have none of it so she goes after Emile's friend Alfred.

Direction Jean-Luc Godard

Cast Jean-Paul Belmondo · Anna Karina · Dirk Sanders · Jean-Pierre Léaud

Synopsis Pierrot Goes Wild (1965) follows Ferdinand, a disillusioned man who escapes his bourgeois life with Marianne, his former lover. They embark on a spontaneous, chaotic journey across France, seeking freedom and passion. Their adventure spirals into a whirlwind of crime,...

Direction Agnès Varda

Cast Jean-Claude Drouot · Marie-France Boyer · Claire Drouot · Olivier Drouot

Synopsis Francois is a young carpenter married with Therese. They have two little children. All goes well, life is beautiful, the sun shines and the birds sing. One day, Francois meets Emilie, they fall in love and become lovers. He still...

Direction Jacques Rivette

Cast Juliet Berto · Dominique Labourier · Barbet Schroeder · Bulle Ogier

Synopsis Through a series of chance meetings, Céline, a shy librarian, and Julie, a cabaret performer and magician, strike up a friendship. Julie moves into Céline’s apartment and recounts a strange experience she had when visiting a boarded up old house....