The MBC Interactive Archive Project Retrospective
1960s: "On The Verge of The Nouvelle Vague"
Presented with the support of the Cultural Services
of the French Embassy in the United States
THU JAN 02, 7p:
L’OPÉRA MOUFFE
(Diary of a Pregnant Woman)
Directed by AGNÈS VARDA, France, 1958. 16mins.
L'OPERA MOUFFE French photo, 1958, from the #MBCarchive
A pregnant filmmaker (Dorothée Blanck, but it’s not a coincidence that the director was pregnant at the time) gives us her viewpoint of a Parisian neighborhood (“La Mouffe”, rue Mouffetard in the fifth district). She discovers the homeless, the poor, and more than she expected. She also starts the Nouvelle Vague.
AND
LE BEAU SERGE
(Handsome Serge)
Directed by CLAUDE CHABROL, France, 1958. 1hr, 38mins.
LE BEAU SERGE French photo, 1958, from the #MBCarchive
A year before Jean-Luc Godard debuts Breathless and François Truffaut debuts The 400 Blows, Claude Chabrol gets the Nouvelle Vague ball rolling with this film that was ahead of its time. (In French with English subtitles)
With Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy, Michèle Méritz, Bernadette Lafont
“Of the hallowed group of Cahiers du cinéma critics turned filmmakers who transformed French film history, Claude Chabrol was the first to direct his own feature. His absorbing landmark debut, Le beau Serge, follows a successful yet sickly young man (Jean‑Claude Brialy) who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend (Gérard Blain)—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. The remarkable and stark Le beau Serge heralded the arrival of a cinematic titan who would go on to craft provocative, entertaining films for five more decades.”-Criterion Collection
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