Highest-Rated Movies about 'Nouvelle Vague'

The 400 Blows (1959), Day for Night (1973), Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The Beaches of Agnès (2008), Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), Jules and Jim (1962) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Nouvelle Vague movies.

#1. The 400 Blows (1959)

Storyline: Seemingly in constant trouble at school, 14-year-old Antoine Doinel returns at the end of every day to a drab, unhappy home life. His parents have little money and he sleeps on a couch that's been pushed into the kitchen. His parents bicker constantly and he knows his mother is having an affair. He decides to skip school and begins a downward spiral of lies and theft. His parents are at their wits' end, and after he's stopped by the police, they decide the best thing would be to let Antoine face the consequences. He's sent to a juvenile detention facility where he doesn't do much better. He does manage to escape however.

Plot Keywords: dysfunctional family, paris france, teenage boy, teenager, coming of age, school, juvenile delinquent ...

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#2. Day for Night (1973)

Storyline: The shooting of "Je vous presente Pamela" (may I introduce Pamela) begins. This is the story of en English married wife falling in love and running away with the father of her French husband. Will be simultaneously shown the shooting, the behavior of the people (including the technical team) on the set, and a part of their private life (a factor of complication)...

Plot Keywords: film within a film, film industry, film crew, behind the scenes, filmmaking, doctor, french riviera ...

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#3. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Storyline: Florence Carala and her lover, Julien Tavernier, want to murder her husband - Julien's boss - by faking his suicide. But after Julien's killed him, and had left, he remembers he's forgotten the rope outside the window which could implicate him, and he returns to the building to remove it

Plot Keywords: gloves, grappling hook, gun, husband wife relationship, infidelity, interrogation, investigation ...

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#4. The Beaches of Agnès (2008)

Storyline: At nearly 80, Agnès Varda explores her memory - growing up in Belgium, living in Sète, Paris, and Noirmoutier, discovering photography, making a film, being part of the New Wave, raising children with Jacques Demy, losing him, and growing old. She explores her memory using photographs, film clips, home movies, contemporary interviews, and set pieces she designs to capture a feeling, a time, or a frame. Shining through each scene are her impish charm, inventiveness, and natural empathy. How do people grow old, how does loss stay with them, can they remain creative, and what do they remember? Memory, she says, is like a swarm of confused flies. She envisions hers for us.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: hollywood, theatre, protest, photographer, paris france, painting, venice beach california ...

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#5. Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

Storyline: Two hours from 17:00 to 19:00h on the longest day of the year in the life of a young Parisienne is presented. Florence Victoire, who is better known by her stage name Cléo Victoire (as in Cleopatra), is a singer with three hit singles to her name, and as such some renown. Two days ago, she went in for some tests for abdominal issues to see if it is cancer. She will be getting the results today at 18:30h. She is certain that it will be a terminal cancer diagnosis, her mind fixated on that outcome and what it actually means. This belief affects how she approaches the day, from her encounters with friends and acquaintances to what she observes in total strangers around her. It could be as simple as how she views the lyrics to new songs presented to her from her songwriting team, to her feelings about a conversation she overhears in a café between a couple having relationship problems, to the typical sweet nothings spoken to her from her lover, José. There are certain things that do ...

Plot Keywords: cancer, fear of death, french new wave, feminism, superstition, real time, number in title ...

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#6. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Storyline: A French woman and a Japanese man have an affair while she is in Japan making a film about peace and the impact of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, The man, an architect, lost his family in the bombing. She recalls her lover during the war, a 23 year-old German soldier who later died. Despite the time they spend together, her attachment appears minimal and they go forward into the future.

Plot Keywords: memory, atomic bomb, impossible love, nuclear bomb, nuclear weapons, post war, french new wave ...

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#7. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Storyline: The lives of Geneviève Emery and Guy Foucher of Cherbourg, France are presented in 4 acts, in director Jacques Demy's fable of young love. The entire film is sung (It takes only a moment to get used to). This is really one of THE most gorgeous, unique films - the softly-hued pastels and vibrant solid (Eastman Colror) colours are used to help conversation, emotions and dramatise the story. Every time I've seen it with an audience, by the end, they're all sniffling, as tear falls. I'm willing to bet so will you. Watch this with someone special.

Plot Keywords: love, famous score, military draft, teenage girl, place name in title, separation, auto mechanic ...

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#8. Jules and Jim (1962)

Storyline: In pre-WWI Paris, two friends, Jules (Austrian) and Jim (French), fall in love with the same woman, Catherine. But Catherine loves and marries Jules. When they meet again in Germany after the war, Catherine starts to love Jim - This is the story of three people in love, a love that doesn't affect their friendship, and about how their relationship evolves with the years.

Plot Keywords: marriage, adultery, menage a trois, adulterous wife, female psychopath, promiscuity, french new wave ...

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#10. À bout de souffle - Breathless (1960)

Storyline: Michel Poiccard, an irresponsible sociopath and small-time thief, steals a car and impulsively murders the motorcycle policeman who pursues him. Now wanted by the authorities, he renews his relationship with Patricia Franchini, a hip American girl studying journalism at the Sorbonne, whom he had met in Nice a few weeks earlier. Before leaving Paris, he plans to collect a debt from an underworld acquaintance and expects her to accompany him on his planned getaway to Italy. Even with his face in the local papers and media, Poiccard seems oblivious to the dragnet that is slowly closing around him as he recklessly pursues his love of American movies and libidinous interest in the beautiful American.

Plot Keywords: stolen car, independent film, paris france, bedroom, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, fugitive, police officer killed ...

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#11. Band of Outsiders (1964)

Storyline: A triangle: Franz, Arthur, and Odile. Franz, a young man with Alain Delon good looks, has met Odile in an English class. She lives in Joinville with wealthy benefactors and has mentioned to Franz that Mr. Stolz keeps a pile of 10,000 franc notes unlocked in his room. Franz tells his friend Arthur, a swarthy guy whose shady uncle is pressing him for money. Arthur and Franz, who mimic American movie tough guys, case Odile's house, pressure her to assist them with a burglary, and make passes at her as well. She's alternately compliant and distressed. Will they pull off the heist?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: neo noir, shootout, nouvelle vague, love triangle, french new wave, burglary, social outcast ...

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#12. Pierrot le Fou (1965)

Storyline: Ferdinand Griffon, married to a wealthy Italian wife, has recently been fired from the television station where he worked. His wife forces him to go to a party at the home of her influential father, who wants to introduce him to a potential employer. Her brother brings babysitter Marianne Renoir to take care of their children. Feeling bored at the bourgeois party, Ferdinand borrows his brother-in-law's car to head home. He meets Marianne, who was his mistress five years ago and insists on calling him Pierrot, and offers to take her home. They spend the night together and he learns that she's involved in smuggling weapons. When terrorists chase her, they decide to leave Paris and his family behind and go on the run, on a crazy journey to nowhere.

Plot Keywords: on the run, smuggling, mediterranean sea, vietnam war, on the road, fugitive, reading ...

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#13. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)

Storyline: Charlie Kohler is a piano player in a bar. The waitress Lena is in love with him. One of Charlie's brother, Chico, a crook, takes refuge in the bar because he is chased by two gangsters, Momo and Ernest. We will discover that Charlie's real name is Edouard Saroyan, once a virtuose who gives up after his wife's suicide. Charlie now has to deal wih Chico, Ernest, Momo, Fido (his youngest brother who lives with him), and Lena...

Plot Keywords: pianist, based on novel, paris france, nouvelle vague, female nudity, french new wave, piano player ...

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#15. The Soft Skin (1964)

Storyline: Pierre Lachenay, a middle-aged, well-known publisher and lecturer, is married to Franca, an unbalanced woman, and father of Sabine, a 10-year-old girl. While traveling to Lisbon for a lecture, Pierre Lachenay has a one night stand with Nicole, the Panair do Brasil air stewardess. He wants to see her again and again, they travel to Reims together, and Pierre hides the affair from his family, mostly to spare his daughter the anguish of a separation. Nicole is taking it lightly but Pierre, misunderstanding her feelings and expectations, decides to live with her. The couple's break-up leads to a tragic end.—Artemis-9

Plot Keywords: neglected wife, adultery, flight attendant, airport, writer, shot to death, motel ...

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