Having recently set his roving eye on the world of Broadway musicals with Blue Moon, the ridiculously prolific Richard Linklater now turns his attention to the birth of French New Wave Cinema with this account of the filming of Jean-Luc Goddard’s Breathless.
How to watch Nouvelle Vague in New Zealand
Nouvelle Vague is screening exclusively in New Zealand cinemas from January 22, 2026.
What is Nouvelle Vague about?
Set in 1959, Linklater’s latest (his 33rd film!) charts how Goddard, inspired by François Truffaut’s instant classic, The 400 Blows, resolves to ditch this film criticism malarkey and turn his hand to filmmaking. The result is Breathless, one of the most important movies ever made. Along the way, the French provocateur also romances the gamine Jean Seberg, so he may have been onto something.
The cast of Nouvelle Vague
This is one of those sprawling casts where the subjects are more famous than the people playing them. So get ready for Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard, Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Dreyfürst as Georges de Beauregard, Benjamin Clery as Pierre Rissient, Matthieu Penchinat as Raoul Coutard, Pauline Belle as Suzon Faye, Blaise Pettebone as Marc Pierret, Benoît Bouthors as Claude Beausolei, Paolo Luka Noé as François Moreuil, Adrien Rouyard as François Truffaut, and lots more.
Why we’re excited about Nouvelle Vague
Anyone with even the slightest interest in the history of cinema owes it to themselves to give this one a spin. The fact that one of America’s most gifted independent filmmakers is calling the shots only confirms this film as a must-see.
