BREATHLESS (1960)
There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du cinema. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same.
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1958)
For his feature debut, twenty-four-year-old Louis Malle brought together a mesmerizing performance by Jeanne Moreau, evocative cinematography by Henri Decae, and a now legendary jazz score by Miles Davis. Taking place over the course of one restless Paris night, Malle’s richly atmospheric crime thriller stars Moreau and Maurice Ronet as lovers whose plan to murder her husband (his boss) goes awry, setting off a chain of events that seals their fate. A career touchstone for its director and female star, ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS was an astonishing beginning to Malle’s eclectic body of work, and it established Moreau as one of the most captivating actors ever to grace the screen.
VIVRE SA VIE (1962)
A classic of French New Wave cinema, Vivre sa vie has been described as ‘a perfect film’ by Susan Sontag and ‘astonishing’ by fellow critic Roger Ebert.
Jean-Luc Godard’s critically acclaimed drama tells the story of Nana (Anna Karina), a young Parisian woman who works in a record shop but finds herself disillusioned by poverty and a rapidly failing marriage. With dreams of becoming an actress and making it in the film industry, Nana is disappointed when nothing comes of it, and she quickly turns to a life of prostitution. When she finally meets a man (Peter Kassowitz) who truly cares for her, Nan’s hope returns but Raoul (Sady Rebbot) her pimp may have the final say.
Told in 12 short episodes, Godard borrowed the aesthetics of the cinéma vérité approach to documentary film-making that was fashionable at the time with the result being a landmark of his career.
ADIEU PHILIPPINE (1962)
Michel is a young technician in the fledgling TV industry and is due for military service in two months at the time of the Algerian War. Juliette and Liliane are inseparable best friends, and aspiring actresses, who hang around outside the TV studio. Michel invites them in to watch, flirts with them both, and dates them separately and together. When Michel goes on a holiday to Corsica, just before he is drafted, the girls follow.
LOLA (1961)
In Nantes, a bored young man named Roland is letting life pass him by when he has a chance meeting with a woman he knew in his teens. Lola, now a cabaret dancer, is also the devoted single mother of a young son, and she harbors the hope that his father, who deserted her during pregnancy, will return. Roland falls in love with Lola, and this gives sudden purpose to his life. But how does Lola feel about Roland?
SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (1960)
Charlie (Charles Aznavour) is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie’s brothers, Richard (Jean-Jacques Aslanian) and Chico (Albert Remy), surface and ask for Charlie’s help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena (Marie Dubois), a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters (Claude Mansard, Daniel Boulanger) arrive, looking for his brothers.