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I actually liked Ophelia despite its deep flaws. There are some wonderful images, interesting ideas, and a few great sequences (I found the climax shockingly moving), but it plays like jottings in a notebook missing any coherent theme or purpose. Is it about how art can warp life (another films-ruin-your-life film from the New Wave), class prejudices, the disintegration of the bourgeois family, Catholic guilt, Laszlo Szabo antics? All make none. And why call it Ophelia when it doesn't give a damn about its Ophelia? Perhaps its best summed up in Andre Jocelyn, a man who, both here and in A double tour, seems so naturally uncomfortable in his own existence that he makes a Hamlet that is equally compelling and repelling at the same time.

Le Beau Serge
Good enough to deserve its footnoted title as the first New Wave film, but flawed enough that its footnoting feels justified. This feels like a first film in ways 400 Blows and Breathless do not--and the confidence of those two films feels all the more unique the more early New Wave films I see (hello Sign of Leo, Paris a Nous Appartient, Adieu Philippine). Unlike Ophelia, there is a clear central idea, but Chabrol doesn't complicate it as much as he thinks he does, which makes the film feel sophomoric. But the last twenty minutes or so are something else. When Brialy sets off through the winter night, the cinematography shifts into a beautiful, fairy tale-like palette of darkness, like some negative of a Cocteau film.

Cocteau is definitely a reoccurring feeling and one that is sadly under discussed.

I love Un homme et une femme, but it is generally not considered French New Wave, right?

No, it loudly is. At least nowadays though it isn't generally considered good. Still if you like it vote for it.

It was the 'Ice Ice Baby' of the Nouvelle Vague.

Jean Duchet says that "Although there is no question that Lelouch adored cinema, it can't be said that cinema appreciated the gesture" which is amusing but a little unfair I think. I've always had a soft spot for this film.

Chabrol defended the film as part of the movement against Cahiers (long after he left, of course)

Squeezed in one more before the deadline:

Brigitte et Brigitte (Moullet, 1966) - An enjoyable romp, and Moullet's off-kilter style is a very different flavour to most of the New Wave, but I preferred Les Contrebandieres. This film was more strident and less funny; more in-jokey and (crucially) less visually arresting.

david hare wrote:Why?

I'll try to find the interview where he brought it up

Reminder that lists are due tomorrow (really Sunday morning). We are nowhere near the required ten lists yet, so if you're on the fence, submit!

I'm rewatching Jules and Jim tonight and if it's not until Sunday morning I can squeeze in a rewatch of 400 blows tomorrow night

domino harvey wrote:Reminder that lists are due tomorrow (really Sunday morning). We are nowhere near the required ten lists yet, so if you're on the fence, submit!

What time Sunday morning in what time zone?

Let's say by 10 AM EST. But if I haven't posted in the thread saying submissions are closed, you're still good to PM me your list

I know it's fairly clear since Akerman isn't listened but saute ma ville isn't eligible for the shorts list, correct?

Not eligible

Eight lists in so far, so we're close (and hopefully the usual last minute submissions put us far over). Two films have appeared on every Shorts list. They're probably the ones you think they are. Seven of the eight number one feature votes are for different films, so little consensus at the top (for now)

domino harvey wrote:

david hare wrote:Why?

I'll try to find the interview where he brought it up

Okay, I got mixed up. Chabrol indeed loved the film (it was his number one pick for 1966-- and Wyler's How to Steal a Million was ranked third, which ably shows where his headspace was in those days), but it was Truffaut who defended Lelouch and the film against Cahiers as being part of the New Wave

Francois Truffaut wrote:Lelouch shoots with a hand-held camera and without a carefully planned script. If he isn't part of the New Wave, than it doesn't exist.

Truffaut gives an interesting summation of how he saw the New Wave in this same 1967 interview:

Francois Truffaut wrote:If you recall, the New Wave as it was originally: to make a first film with a reasonably personal theme before you were thirty-five

And later:

Francois Truffaut wrote:The New Wave did not have an aesthetic program, it was simply an attempt to rediscover a certain independence which was lost somewhere around 1924, when films became too expensive, a little before the talkies. For us, in 1960, to make a film was to imitate DW Griffith shooting his films in the Californian sun before even the birth of Hollywood.

(All translations by David Wilson)

I'm not going to get a rewatch in of 400 Blows afterall, but I did start the worst movie I've seen for this project last night, "girl with the golden eyes" and wow is it terrible. Though the opening crawl describing a Balzac 13 is a reasonable description of the Cahiers kiddos, I suppose. so that was interesting. I will have to finish the film to properly loath it. but for now, I'm gonna call it and just submit my two lists.

It's comforting that for all our differences, we can all agree the Albicocco film sux

Submissions closed, results later today

FRENCH NEW WAVE MINI-LIST: SHORTS

01 La Jetée (Chris Marker 1962) 12 (7)
02 Nuit et brouillard (Alain Resnais 1956) 11
03 Gare du Nord (Jean Rouch 1965) 8 (2)
04 Toute la mémoire du monde (Alain Resnais 1956) 6
05 Antoine et Colette (Francois Truffaut 1962) 5 (2)

06 Le chant du Styrène (Alain Resnais 1958) 2 (1)
07 Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick (Jean-Luc Godard 1957) 2
08 La boulangère de Monceau (Eric Rohmer 1963) 4
09 Charlotte et son Jules (Jean-Luc Godard 1960) 2
09 L'opéra-mouffe (Agnes Varda 1962) 2

ALSO RANS
Rentree des classes, Du Cote a la Cote, Les mistons, Les fiances du pont macdonald, L’amour existe, Le Grand Escroc, Une histoire d’eau

ORPHANS
Anticipation, ou l'amour en l'an 2000, Ars, Bande-annonce de Le mépris, Blue Jeans, Cuba Si, Far From Vietnam (Godard section), Heureux anniversaire, L’Ombre familiere, La Bl indifferent, La Corne d’Or, La Luxure, La Muette, La premiere Nuit, Les surmenes, Méditerranée, Red Balloon, Salut les Cubains, Sixth Side of the Pentagon, Uncle Yanco

FRENCH NEW WAVE MINI-LIST: FEATURES

01 Les quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut 1959) 12 (2)
02 L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Alain Resnais 1961) 11 (1)
03 Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais 1959) 9 (2)
04 Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Jacques Demy 1967) 9 (1)
05 Vivre sa vie (Jean-Luc Godard 1962) 10

06 Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard 1965) 8 (2)
07 Cleo de 5 a 7 (Agnes Varda 1962) 9 (1)
08 À bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard 1960) 7 (2)
08 Week End (Jean-Luc Godard 1967) 9 (1)
10 Les bonnes femmes (Claude Chabrol 1960) 8

11 Jules et Jim (Francois Truffaut 1962) 6
12 Tirez sur le pianiste (Francois Truffaut 1960) 8
12 Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy 1964) 6 (1)
14 Le mepris (Jean-Luc Godard 1963) 5 (1)
15 La Collectioneuse (Eric Rohmer 1967) 5

16 Adieu Philippine (Jacques Rozier 1963) 6
17 Les cousins (Claude Chabrol 1958) 8
18 Zazie dans le metro (Louis Malle 1960) 5
19 Paris nous appartient (Jacques Rivette 1961) 6
20 La chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard 1967) 5

20 Le bonheur (Agnes Varda 1965) 4
20 Masculin feminin (Jean Luc Godard 1966) 6
23 Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Louis Malle 1958) 4
23 L’enfance nue (Maurice Pialat 1968) 5 (1)
25 Muriel (Alain Resnais 1963) 5

ALSO RANS
Bay of Angels, Bande a part, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, Alphaville, Le feu follet, Chronique d’un ete, Une homme et une femme, Le Joli Mai, Lola, Une femme est une femme, Bob le flambeur, Brigitte et Brigitte, Le beau Serge, Le doulos, Le deuxieme souffle, Les Biches, Thérèse Desqueyroux, La Pere Noel a les yeux bleus, Le monte-charge, À cause, à cause d'une femme, La Religieuse, Adorable menteuse

ORPHANS
A Bientot J'espere, …and God Created Woman, Carambolages, Ce soir ou jamais, Classe tous risques, Dom Juan ou Le Festin de pierre, Eyes Without a Face, Je t’aime je t’aime, Judex, L’Ete, L’immortelle, L’Oeuil du malin, La Pointe Courte, Le Combat dans l’lle, Le Mystere Koumiko, Le petit soldat, Leon Morin, pretre, Le Samourai, Les amants, Les amitiés particulières, Les Contrebandieres, Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray, Les Mauvais Coups, Letter from Siberia, Loin de Vietnam, Moi, un noir, Si j'avais quatre dromadaires, the Suitor, Suzanne’s Career, Yoyo

Surprised Le Mépris was not higher. Was my #1 comfortably.

Thanks domino.

Not an especially surprising list, but this is an area where the canon is fully calcified and almost all readily available, so it was an uphill battle for the lesser-known films and directors to get any air. Still, it's nice to see Rozier make the features list and the Rouch to do so well among the shorts. I think those are the only two titles that could count as surprises.

My submissions were:

FEATURES

1. L’Enfance nue (Pialat, 1968)
2. Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Demy, 1967)
3. Cleo de 5 a 7 (Varda, 1962)
4. Last Year in Marienbad (Resnais, 1961)
5. Paris nous appartient (Rivette, 1961)
6. La Baie des Anges (Demy, 1963) - ALSO RAN
7. Adieu Phillipine (Jacques Rozier, 1963)
8. Muriel, ou le temps d’un retour (Resnais, 1963)
9. Les Bonnes Femmes (Chabrol, 1960)
10. L’Ete (Hanoun, 1968) - ORPHAN
11. Le Bonheur (Varda, 1965)
12. L’Immortelle (Robbe-Grillet, 1963) - ORPHAN
13. La Pere Noel a les yeux bleus (Eustache, 1966) - ALSO RAN
14. Les Contrebandieres (Moullet, 1968) - ORPHAN
15. Le Combat dans l’Ile (Cavalier, 1962) - ORPHAN
16. La Collectioneuse (Rohmer, 1967)
17. Hiroshima mon amour (Resnais, 1959)
18. Le Mystere Koumiko (Marker, 1967) - ORPHAN
19. Les Biches (Chabrol, 1968) - ALSO RAN
20. Vivre sa vie (Godard, 1962)

I think I wrote about all of these in the thread except for the Marker. It's one of the more personal of his longer early works, and it looks forward to Sans Soleil more than any other of his 60s films. It actually feels closer to a Japanese New Wave film than to most films from the French New Wave, but the Japanese New Wave generally felt more akin to the Left Bank filmmakers than the Cahiers crew. There's a really shitty hard-subtitled version available on YouTube, which was enough for me to remind myself how much I liked it or didn't, but might be a bit rough for a first encounter.

SHORTS

1. La Jetee (Marker, 1963)
2. Night and Fog (Resnais, 1956)
3. La Corne d’Or (Pialat, 1964) - ORPHAN
4. Le Chant de Styrene (Resnais, 1959)
5. Rentree des classes (Rozier, 1956) - ALSO RAN
6. Gare du Nord (Rouch, 1965)
7. Du cote de la cote (Varda, 1958) - ALSO RAN
8. Le Bel Indifferent (Demy, 1957) - ORPHAN
9. La Boulangere de Monceau (Rohmer, 1963)
10. La Luxure (Demy, 1962) - ORPHAN

The Pialat is a rapturous travelogue with possibly Georges Delerue's finest score (which is saying something).

SHORTS
1. La Jetée
2.Nuit et Brouillard
3.Tout la mémoire du monde
4. Gare du Nord
5. La premiere Nuit ORPHAN
6. Du Cote a la Coté
7. Opéra-Mouffe
8. Cuba Si ORPHAN
9. La Boulangere de Monceau
10.L'amour existe

FEATURES
1. Hiroshima mon Amour
2. Vivre sa vie
3. Le Mépris
4. Loin de Vietnam
5. 400 coups
6. Tirez sur le pianiste
7. Muriel
8. Alphaville
9. L’enfance nue
10. Pierrot le fou
11. Cléo de 5 a 7
12. Je t’aime je t’aime
13. Les Cousins
14. 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle
15. Weekend
16. Paris nous appartient
17. L’ascenseur pour l’échafaud
18. La Chinoise
19. Le Bonheur
20. La Religieuse

My Top 15

1. Hiroshima Mon Amour
2. A Bout De Souffle
3. Last Year At Marienbad
4. Les Quatre Cent Coups
5. Weekend
6. Pierrot Le Fou
7. Jules et Jim
8. Vivre Sa Vie
9. Adieu Phillipine
10. Les Cousins
11. Le Samourai ORPHAN
12. Masculin Feminin
13. Le Mepris
14. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
15. Shoot The Pianist

Wanted to watch many more but ran out of time. Surprising but good to see 400 Blows hasn't faded with time. For me this was a great introduction to Godard so a big thankyou to Domino.

Thank you very much Domino and whoever else voted for the Marker features.

Shorts:
1. Antoine and Collette
2. L'opera mouffe
3. Red Balloon
4. La Jetee
5. Night and Fog

Features:
1. 400 Blows
2. Le Bonheur
3. La Pointe Courte
4. Jules and Jim
5. La Collectioneuse
6. Young Girls of Rochefort
7. Le Doulos
8. A Bientot J'espere
9. Chronicle of a Summer
10. Elevator to the Gallows
11. Eyes Without a Face
12. Shoot the Piano Player
13. Cleo from 5 to 7
14. And God Created Woman
15. Judex
16. Last Year at Marienbad
17. Handsome Serge
18. Suzanne's Career
19. Yoyo
20. The Cousins