Nouvelle Vague (2025) review

Annoyed he's one of the only critics from film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma that hasn't made a feature, Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) decides it's his turn, so with funding from producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst) and advice from established filmmakers Roberto Rossellini (Laurent Mothe) and Jean-Pierre Melville (Tom Novembre), he pieces together a classic with cinematographer Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat) and leads Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) and American actress Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) ... and beefs with Beauregard over his eclectic "work schedule."  This is an absolute treat for movie buffs (and Francophiles!) although I don't know that the casual viewer will be quite as receptive, since it involves a lot of different individuals that aren't exactly well-known Hollywood names, and it's almost necessary to have seen Breathless in advance.  The cast of (mostly) unknowns is excellent: newcomer Marbeck is brilliant as the uncompromising auteur and Deutch is delightfully warm, but I wish Linklater reworked the dialogue just a smidge so his 'characters' don't basically walk around muttering some of their most famous quotations.  If this convinces anyone with aspirations to direct to get up and do it, that's great - you don't need to rent the equipment anymore.  Heck, it can even be a short.