Nouvelle Vague reimagines the making of Breathless in a stylized tribute to 1960s cinema
Chanel marked the start of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with the premiere of Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a black-and-white homage to the creative upheaval of French cinema’s most iconic era.
The film revisits the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, casting Guillaume Marbeck as Godard and Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg. Shot entirely in French and framed in 4:3 aspect ratio, it’s a stylistic departure for Linklater, whose focus here is less on narrative innovation and more on mood and method.
Joining the cast are Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Dreyfürst as producer Georges de Beauregard, and Adrien Rouyard as François Truffaut. Filming took place in Paris last spring, with David Chambille serving as cinematographer and Catherine Schwartz as editor.
The film is in competition for the Palme d’Or and will premiere on May 17. A wider theatrical release in France is scheduled for October 8. While Linklater draws deeply from cinematic history, Nouvelle Vague reads more like a quiet study than a sweeping statement — a reflection on how creative movements take shape, one hesitant moment at a time.
