Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
As someone who writes about film, I try to watch examples from as many countries, movements and directors as possible to diversify my viewing. From new releases to the origins of film, I love dabbling in various eras to see what resonates with me and what has influenced the medium. When I was studying film, the French New Wave was one of the most popular units because of films like the ones featured below.
This is a list of five French New Wave films you can watch as a beginner to begin to understand the movement. Of course, you don’t have to start here but I found these films accessible and I still enjoy revisiting them today.
Table of contents
1. Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) directed by Agnès Varda was the first film from the French New Wave I watched. It was when I was studying Film and I remember thinking it was the best film I’d ever seen at the time. During the film, we follow Cléo who is awaiting important hospital test results. We see her becoming increasingly tense as she conducts her daily rituals but eventually she escapes to the park for some time on her own.
At the park she meets a man who is leaving for the Algerian Revolution that same evening. Together, they share their anxieties and get to know one another. The Algerian Revolution and the emotions surrounding it is a common theme for many films emanating from the French New Wave. This film especially correlates the precarity of time relating to health and war. It’s ideal for a beginner because it’s ripe with symbolism that can be endlessly analysed by the budding film enthusiast.
Many of the representations of women you can see in French New Wave cinema are through the male gaze. Particularly in films from ‘right bank’ directors, women are not afforded quite as much autonomy as their male counterparts. Agnès Varda, on the other hand, portrays women and their endless complexities wonderfully. This is why I have to say she is probably my favourite of the French New Wave directors.
2. À bout de souffle (1960)
À bout de souffle (1960) or Breathless is probably on every Film Studies curriculum and ‘best ever’ list. It is the film many people think of first when the topic of French New Wave comes up. Although it’s not my favourite on this list, I think it’s an ideal place for beginners to start to situate themselves in the movement.
In the film, we get an intimate look into the relationship between an American woman, Patricia, and French criminal, Michel. Michel is on the run from the law after he impulsively committed a serious crime. However, this doesn’t stop him from taking his time to catch up on Philosophy and love.
The ending to this film is iconic and one I come back to again and again. Jean-Luc Godard was one of the editors of the Cahiers du cinema and he believed directors are the ‘authors’ of film (where the term auteur originates from). As such, his films became, and have remained, highly influential across the globe.
3. Jules et Jim (1962)
Jules et Jim (1962) is another entry from the French Film Wave catalogue that I watched early in my film journey. As such, I know it’s a tried and true option for beginners. Jules et Jim walked so films like Guadagnino’s Challengers (2024) could run, although in my opinion, the former will always be the better option for weird love triangles.
The film follows two friends, Jules and Jim in their respective relationships with Catherine. Not quite a throuple, there are nonetheless complicated feelings that exist within the trio which ultimately ends in a tragedy.
Complicated relationships are also often featured in French New Wave films and I feel it would be difficult to get much more complicated than the relationships that exist between the three characters in Jules et Jim. If complex character studies are your preference, I would strongly suggest starting here.
4. Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Recently, I watched both In the Mood for Love (2000) and Past Lives (2023) and I can only imagine Wong Kar-wai and Celine Song were inspired by Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964).
The film follows Geneviève and Guy as they fall in love and talk about marriage. Before they can tie the knot, Guy is drafted to fight in the Algerian Revolution and while he’s away, Geneviève receives an offer that leads to their separation.
The saturated colours seep across scenes as a feast for the eyes. Simultaneously, we have intense themes of war, love and loss being explored through song. At the beginning, one of Guy’s colleagues says they prefer movies over the opera but with this film, you’re essentially receiving the best of both.
5. La jetée (1962)
Unlike the four other films on this list, La jetée (1962) is a short film at only twenty-nine minutes. It also strays from the typical slice-of-life tendencies of other French New Wave films.
The film follows a man in a post-apocalyptic Paris that is reeling following World War II. Scientists are trying to find someone who can bear the mental toll of time travel and it seems this man is the candidate they’re looking for.
During his time in the past, he meets a woman. Later, when he realises he is to be executed, he asks the future scientists to return him to this past in hopes he can find her again. It is a complex short that questions temporality, permanence and science.
It’s not necessarily the easiest of this bunch to understand but I would still consider it a film for beginners.
Those are five French New Wave films for beginners. If you’d like to request anymore articles or reviews from this movement, please let me know in the comments.