Nook NotesPick a film
Where to start · Cinema breaks its own rules

Where to start with the French New Wave

In the late 1950s a group of young French critics picked up cameras and broke every rule. The French New Wave gave us jump cuts, street shooting and a freedom that cinema never lost.

1Start here

The 400 Blows posterThe 400 Blows1959 · François Truffaut · 99 minTruffaut's first film, about a troubled Paris boy. The heart of the movement.

2Then

Breathless posterBreathless1960 · Jean-Luc Godard · 90 minGodard's jump-cut crime romance. Cool enough to still feel modern.Cléo from 5 to 7 posterCléo from 5 to 71962 · Agnès Varda · 90 minAgnès Varda follows a singer through Paris, almost in real time.Jules and Jim posterJules and Jim1962 · François Truffaut · 106 minTwo friends, one woman, twenty years.

3Go deeper

Pierrot le Fou posterPierrot le Fou1965 · Jean-Luc Godard · 110 minGodard's colourful road movie on the run.Band of Outsiders posterBand of Outsiders1964 · Jean-Luc Godard · 97 minThree misfits, a clumsy heist and a famous dance.Hiroshima Mon Amour posterHiroshima Mon Amour1959 · Alain Resnais · 92 minAlain Resnais's haunting love story about memory and war.My Night at Maud's posterMy Night at Maud's1969 · Éric Rohmer · 110 minRohmer's talky, brilliant film about love, faith and one snowy night.

More places to start

All guides
Wind, food and flying machinesWhere to start with Studio GhibliThe emperor of cinemaWhere to start with Akira KurosawaNeon, rain and longingWhere to start with Wong Kar-waiEvery genre, perfectedWhere to start with Stanley Kubrick