History and Development of French New Wave

French New Wave
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  French nouvelle vague or French New Wave started in the earliest of 1940 to 1944 during World War II. The French citizens went to cinema but with limitation of films choice due to implementation of curfew by the German forces. During that time, American films were banned and aside from German productions which mainly consists of imitations of Hollywood musical comedies and melodramatic propaganda movies. The French citizens only can access to about 200 odd French films which were produced during these 4 years period.

   In the other hand, film clubs highlighted one of the important elements of French New Wave. In 1948, Henri Langlois’ Cinemathique Francaise opened the first film club. Langlois believed that Cinemathique was a place for learning but not just watching. They want the audiences understand what they were seeing. Therefore, it became his practice to screen films with different style, genre and country of origin. This approach was to make sure audience kept more attention in the technique.

  During mid of 1950s, a group of young people included Rohmer, Godard, Rivette, Claude Chabrol and Francois Truffaut, make the wave and wrote Cahiers du Cinema. The content of Cahiers du Cinema reviewed on traditional filming way was not visual enough and film makers were too relying on the screenwriter. Besides, they also complemented on the directors in early years like D.W Griffith, Victor Sjostrom, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Erich Von Stroheim. Silent movies become a component for the directors of French New Wave.

          By the New Wave review, the “concept of Auteur” is developed. The argument of Andre Bazin with others said that a film should reflect the director’s personal vision but Francois Truffaut talked about the best directors have distinctive style and it was a individual creative vision that made the director the true author of the film. He also the first coined the phrase “la politique des auteurs”in his article "Une certaine tendance du cinéma français".

        Auteur theory also was considered a foundation new approach to cinema. Because of it the Cahiers du Cinéma ‘s reputation grown up. The film makers who followed the young writers that broke new ground that the ways to understand the film and how the cinema was perceived were deeply impressed by the lover with their strong opinions and perceptive insights into the art of cinema.The young group of writer of Cahiers du Cinéma is not satisfied for writing criticism; they started to shot short films.

       Lastly, Journalists had nicknamed all the young directors as La Nouvelle Vague. Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette have made 32 featured film which are similar to let us recognise the New Wave style. They also continue making waves in the twenty-first century. Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette and others associated with the movement, are all now directors in their own right with an international following. Their large output continues to challenge audiences and expand the limitation of cinematic expression. In addition, their work of New Wave kept alive the cultural revolution and changed the course of cinema history.