My husband and I regularly get together with a few friends for a weekend dinner and movie night. Good company, delicious food, and a film guaranteed to leave us with more than a few questions. Our mandate is to watch movies that are visually engaging but also thought-provoking and often obscure. More often than not this directs us towards foreign films, and films that have cinematic achievements.
A few months ago, before we went into social isolation, we watched a variety of French films from the 1960s: Breathless, directed by Jean Luc Godard; Cleo from 5 to 7, directed by Agnes Varda; and The Fire Within, directed by Louis Malle. Immediately I was intrigued, and than I was quickly smitten. The style spoke to me and I wanted to see more.
Contempt
Cleo from 5 to 7
Vivre sa vie
Le Bonheur
When Covid-19 hit Toronto, sadly our movie nights abruptly ended. My desire to continue watching these French films however didn’t die down. I signed up with Criterion Channel, and began binging. After seeing a few films, and doing a little research, I became aware that I had fallen head over heels with a genre known as the French New Wave movement, or La Nouvelle Vague.
Breathless
French New Wave emerged in the late 1950’s and lasted through the 1960’s. It was a movement designed to get away from traditional filmmaking and dive further into experimentation. New approaches were taken to editing, locational filming, content and narrative, using more of a documentary style to explore political, social and existential topics. These films broke rules of continuity making the viewer more aware that they are watching a film.
I find these films beautiful and raw, but also rich with content, exploring topics not yet covered before their time. Most are filmed in black and white with countless shots of Paris; everything feels striped down but also uplifted as topics of sex, death, struggle and youth are explored at every turn.
I must also mention that the clothing in these films is enviable. The characters, both male and female, dress in a chic street style fashion, not dressed-up in a glamorous Hollywood way. Men, charismatic and often delinquent, wear suits with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. Many of the women wear A-line or pencil skirts with knit tops, slim fitting dresses, swing style jackets and low heels. Their hair and make-up always done in cute 50’s and 60’s fashion, their eyelids heavy with liner and lashes!
These films are the epitome of cool!
Inspired by the aesthetic of the movies I’ve been watching, I decided to sew myself a dress that made me feel as good as what I was seeing on the screen.
Here are a few of my favourites films:
Directed by Agnes Varda:
Cleo from 5 to 7
Le Bonheur
L’une chante, L’autre pas
Directed by Jean Luc Godard:
Breathless
A Married Woman
Vivre sa vie
Directed by Francois Truffaut:
Mississippi Mermaid
Bed and Board
Day for Night