Nouvelle Vague

Every so often a film comes along destined to restore jaded critics’ faith in the joy of cinema.

Director Richard Linklater does just that with this monochrome chronicling of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless and its impact on generations of movie brats. Audiences should also be able to indulge in the same sense of pleasure.

The material could not be in better hands. Linklater with his first film in French has managed to assemble an amazing lookalike cast of Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, Aubry Dullin as star Jean-Paul Belmondo and Zoey Deutch as the ingenue Jean Seberg among others. They’re all dead ringers by the time Linklater puts them under his gaze.

Linklater’s sheer audacity in tackling such a revered figure as Godard, known as “the great disruptor,” shines through and knows no bounds. It becomes a legend-spotting parade as everyone from Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Agnès Varda makes appearances.

The glimpse of the Sixties freedom-loving incumbents reinventing the craft of cinema with single takes, no lights, no permissions and frequently with no words from the actors, proves fascinating and revealing.

There’s some great banter between Godard and Georges de Beauregard as the stressed-out producer watches the production spiral out of control. At one point Godard seems more interested in a pinball machine than providing clarity on the following day’s shoot.

Godard who died in 2022, wasn’t just an inspiration for generations of filmmakers but also a divisive figure among the film community with as many detractors as admirers.

Guillaume Marbeck as Godard is pitch perfect, trademark dark glasses and tobacco smoke his indispensable props with even the voice uncannily resonant of the man himself.

Zoey Deutch as the American adrift in this Gallic mayhem gives as good as she receives with a stream of witty invective and the occasional shout of “Touché” when she hits a zinger. The script by Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo hits the spot throughout with unerring accuracy.

The scenes in the Cahiers du Cinéma office where most of these young Turks bashed out criticism on sturdy typewriters is captured with authenticity before Godard bows out, having raided the petty cash reserves to enable him to attend – guess what? – the Cannes Film Festival.

Linklater’s undoubted genius here has been to depict precisely what it was like to be “pioneers” in a world where everything seemed possible on a shoestring – innocent times that are unlikely ever to return, and more’s the pity.

Reviewed on: 20 May 2025