DVD: Two in the Wave

Truffaut and Godard. Clash of the titans

by Igor ToronyilalicThursday, 21 April 2011

Godard (left) and Truffaut (right): Articles from the 1960s proclaimed the directors 'incompetent auteurs' unleashing 'failure and unemployment' on the French film industry

At the heart of the creative orgy that was the Nouvelle Vague was one key love affair. A love affair so passionate it wasn't long before it turned into a full-blown hate affair. The friendship and fallout of directors Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut is the subject of Emmanuel Laurent's new documentary, Two in the Wave. For any Nouvelle Vague-ist, it ought to have been a joy. And for 50 minutes or so, it was. The story begins with the night of Les quatre cents coups's 1959 Cannes premiere. The night Truffaut the critic became Truffaut the director. The night the Nouvelle Vague was born.

Unlike their falling in love, about which every detail is laid bare, their falling out is presented without context or afterthought

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