The Story of Film, Part 7: The European New Wave

In Sweden, filmmaker Ingmar Bergman was first coming to prominence. Bergman had been directing since 1946, but it wasn’t until 1955 and the release of Smiles of a Summer Night, that he had his first world-wide success. Only two years later, Bergman’s films Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal would cement his status as one of the great directors. This was an incredibly fruitful period for Bergman that would also include the films The Virgin Spring and his experimental masterpiece, Persona. All these films would be influential, especially on our next group of directors.

In France, the cinematic revolution that would be called the “French New Wave” was underway. Spearheaded by film critics for the magazine Cahiers du cinema, the movement rejected the traditionalist filmmaking of the time, embracing experimentation in style, editing, and narrative. Two of those critics, Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard, would rise to prominence as directors during these years, with many of their films considered among cinema’s best. Truffaut’s debut The 400 Blows was a deeply autobiographical work following the travails of a rebellious young boy, while his later film Jules & Jim chronicled the doomed romance between two men and a young woman. Based on a script treatment by Truffaut, Godard’s debut film Breathless following a French criminal and his American lover, is often considered the most representative of the French New Wave, with its innovative use of jump cuts and incorporation of popular culture quotations. Godard would continue to impress audiences and critics with films like Vivre Sa Vie, about a young actress’s descent into prostitution, and A Married Woman.

The French New Wave had been deeply influenced by the Italian neorealist movement, which was producing a crop of directors who would begin forging a new path away from neo-realism. Though he would begin his apprenticeship with the neo-realists, director Federico Fellini would ultimately find his voice by embracing the unconscious in his work. Neorealist works like La Strada, would lead to more personal, avant-garde films like 8 ½ , which follows a film director suffering from a creative block. Director Michelangelo Antonioni would break from neo-realism by focusing his work on the middle class instead of the working class and on issues of alienation instead of injustice. Antonioni’s “alienation trilogy,” L’avventura, La Notte, & L’eclisse, would emphasize characters and visuals over narrative, becoming a formative influence on subsequent “art films.” All these directors were influential but work from other countries was emerging that would influence this “new wave” before it found its way to Hollywood.

     ~ Posted by Deanna H.