Nouvelle Vague

Overview

When Quentin Tarantino first formed a film production company back in 1991, its name came from movie history. With A Band Apart, the then-fledgling director paid tribute to filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, to 1964 picture Bande à part and to the French New Wave, and nodded to the imprints that cinema's past always leaves on its future. Godard, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Jacques Demy, Alain Resnais, Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, Jacques Panijel, Jacques Rozier and company didn't need QT's ode to cement their greatness, or that of the movement they brought to life in the 50s and 60s, of course — but that recognition is just one example of how far their influences spread.

Indeed, watch any film that falls into the Nouvelle Vague and you'll spy the inspiration for countless more from around the globe in the seven decades since it sprang up. That's the impact that the movement's group of French film critics and cinephiles-turned-filmmakers have had. And the Art Gallery of New South Wales wants you to watch, dedicating its latest movie season to these crucial and significant gems.

Screening from Wednesday, July 9–Sunday, September 7, 2025 in the Domain Theatre, the venue's Nouvelle Vague lineup is packed with masterpieces that sparked more — from Truffaut's coming-of-age great The 400 Blows and ménage à trois flick Jules and Jim to Godard's crime drama Breathless, Varda's thoughtful Cléo From 5 to 7 and the technicolour wonders of Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

You can head along from 2pm on Wednesdays and Sundays for a middle-of-the-day movie, or at 7.15pm on Wednesday evenings. Whichever you pick, attendance is free, but those complimentary tickets can be booked online or collected at the door from one hour before each screening.