The essential French New Wave films
The top 3 according to 196 votes from people: The 400 Blows (1959) · Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) · Breathless (1960). (Updated Feb 2, 2020.)
Truffaut, Godard, Varda, Resnais, Demy, Rohmer: the essential films of the French New Wave, according to the Cinémathèque française, the BFI and SensCritique.
Automatically translated (original in Français). See the original
Top 10
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1
The 400 Blows (1959)
Antoine Doinel's childhood; best director at Cannes.
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2
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
A singer waits for medical test results, by Agnès Varda.
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3
Breathless (1960)
Belmondo, Jean Seberg and Godard's jump cuts.
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4
Le Beau Serge (1958)
A return to the village, Chabrol's first film.
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5
Lola (1961)
A cabaret dancer in Nantes, Demy's first feature.
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6
Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Belmondo and Anna Karina on the run to the south.
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7
Jules and Jim (1962)
Two friends and Catherine, by Truffaut.
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8
La Jetée (1962)
A short made of still photographs, by Chris Marker.
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9
Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
A French actress and a Japanese architect, by Alain Resnais.
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10
My Night at Maud's (1969)
A Catholic engineer and a night of conversation, by Éric Rohmer.
Candidates
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11
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
A fully sung musical, by Jacques Demy.
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12
Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
A mysterious conspiracy in Paris, by Jacques Rivette.
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13
Contempt (1963)
A film shoot on Capri and a marriage falling apart.
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14
Stolen Kisses (1968)
Antoine Doinel as a private detective.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (1)
Les 400 coups en premier, évidemment. La dernière image sur la plage reste gravée.