nouvelle vague
Trendsetting artistic current
Nouvelle vague is French for "new wave," referring especially to the innovative French film movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.
Directors like Godard and Truffaut rejected conventional filmmaking for handheld cameras, jump cuts, and self-conscious storytelling.
The term extends to similar movements in other arts: the nouvelle vague of electronic music.
- jump cutAbrupt splice between shots
- auteurDirector with total control
- mise-en-scèneVisual elements within frame
- cinematographyMotion picture visual craft
Cahiers du Cinéma · art house · cinéma vérité · black-and-white · handheld camera · location shooting · improvisation · low-budget
Decade after the fifties
- auteur theoryDirector controls film's vision
- film theoryStudy of cinema's workings
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- neorealismArt emphasizing contemporary actuality
postwar · existentialism · youth culture · social commentary · counterculture · rebellion · intellectual · Left Bank
Tasteful, current flair
- elegantGracefully refined, tasteful
- sophisticatedWorldly and cultured
- fashionableCurrently in style
- ParisianOf France's capital
iconic · cool · understated · effortless · cigarette · café · sunglasses · striped shirt
Testing new methods
- unconventionalDeparting from standard practice
- groundbreakingIntroducing radical new ideas
- innovativeIntroducing new ideas
- radicalRoot-indicating symbol
subversive · provocative · nonlinear · fragmented · dissonant · jarring · rule-breaking · discontinuity
First to explore territory
- trailblazingBeing the first through
- seminalFoundational and influential
- influentialHaving considerable effect
- game-changerSomething transforming everything
revolutionary · legacy · homage · tribute · revival · neo-noir · independent film · Tarantino
Godard
- jump cutAbrupt splice between shots
- auteurDirector with total control
- mise-en-scèneVisual elements within frame
cinematography · Cahiers du Cinéma · art house · cinéma vérité · black-and-white · handheld camera · location shooting · improvisation · low-budget · natural lighting
1960s
Decade after the fifties
- auteur theoryDirector controls film's vision
- film theoryStudy of cinema's workings
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
neorealism · postwar · existentialism · youth culture · social commentary · counterculture · rebellion · intellectual · Left Bank · manifestos
chic
Tasteful, current flair
- elegantGracefully refined, tasteful
- sophisticatedWorldly and cultured
- fashionableCurrently in style
Parisian · iconic · cool · understated · effortless · cigarette · café · sunglasses · striped shirt · bohemian
experimental
Testing new methods
- unconventionalDeparting from standard practice
- groundbreakingIntroducing radical new ideas
- innovativeIntroducing new ideas
radical · subversive · provocative · nonlinear · fragmented · dissonant · jarring · rule-breaking · discontinuity · elliptical
pioneering
First to explore territory
- trailblazingBeing the first through
- seminalFoundational and influential
- influentialHaving considerable effect
game-changer · revolutionary · legacy · homage · tribute · revival · neo-noir · independent film · Tarantino
- French Thingsbaguette, beret, Eiffel Tower, croissant, Louvre
- Art Cinemaart film, arthouse drama, experimental film, French New Wave, surrealist film
- arthouse cinemaarthouse, arthouse cinema, art films, art house films, indie films
- film movementsFrench New Wave, neorealism, cinema verite, Dogma
- indie filmindie films, indie film, independent, low budget, independent film
- Postwar FranceCharles de Gaulle, de Gaulle, Marshall Plan, economic boom, modernization