A History of the French New Wave
Cinema (Wisconsin Studies in Film)
by Richard Neupert
Excellent Overview Of The Nouvelle Vague
The French New Wave cinema is arguably the most fascinating of all film
movements, famous for its exuberance, daring, and avant-garde
techniques. A History of the French New Wave Cinema offers a fresh look
at the social, economic, and aesthetic mechanisms that shaped French
film in the 1950s, as well as detailed studies of the most important New
Wave movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Richard Neupert first tracks the precursors to New Wave cinema, showing
how they provided blueprints for those who would follow. He then
demonstrates that it was a core group of critics-turned-directors from the
magazine Cahiers du Cinéma—especially François Truffaut, Claude

Chabrol, and Jean-Luc Godard—who really revealed that filmmaking was
changing forever. Later, their cohorts Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette,
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Pierre Kast continued in their own unique
ways to expand the range and depth of the New Wave.
In an exciting new chapter, Neupert explores the subgroup of French film
practice known as the Left Bank Group, which included directors such as
Alain Resnais and Agnès Varda. With the addition of this new material and
an updated conclusion, Neupert presents a comprehensive review of the
stunning variety of movies to come out of this important era in filmmaking.
Personal Review: A History of the French New Wave Cinema
(Wisconsin Studies in Film) by Richard Neupert
Extremely well written, I really enjoy reading this book very much. The
subject matter is no doubt fascinating, and the author, Mr. Neupert has
done a wonderful job in presenting the history of the French New Wave
Cinema. Not only does the author include a comprehensive political,
cultural and commercial development that lead to the phenomenon, he
also manages to present each influential New Wave directors,
actors/actresses along with their important works in great detail. The book
includes movie story lines in such detail that even if you have not seen the
movie, you will appreciate and understand what the author is trying to
convey. The author discusses issues on techniques, budgets and
distributorship in French cinemas. Most interestingly, pictures from films
discussed are liberally peppered throughout the book. Mr. Neupert's
writing style is greatly commendable. The words are straightforward and
full of good information it's such a pleasure to read his book. I especially
enjoy the title description Mr. Neupert gives for each of the directors. I feel
that he's very accurate in describing Chabrol as "the one launching the
wave", Varda's success for her "elegance realism" and my favorite Truffaut
as "the wave's ringleader". For a long time, I have always been in love
with movies by Rohmer, Godard, Truffaut among others without exactly
knowing the reason why. After reading this book, I understand why. The
French New Wave Cinema is a complex phenomenon that is impossible to
be understood without understanding the political, cultural, commercial as
well as psychological (personality) landscapes of Europe/people during
that era. If you love watching films by great directors like Truffaut,
Rohmer, Chabrol and others, you should read this book. It's highly
recommended.
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