La Nouvelle Vague, the French New Wave movement of the late 1950s to 1960s, left an undelible mark on cinema history not just in France, but around the world. Directors most associated with the art film movement lived in Paris, and the city featured heavily in their work. Innovative use of portable camera equipement also made it easier for these filmmakers to use the city itself rather than a film set. You can delve into the world of the Nouvelle Vague by visiting the sites and districts we have compiled here. 

Montparnasse

The area around our Paris School was a prime location for Nouvelle Vague directors. The greatest of these was Agnès Varda, who lived on la Rue Daguerre,  which she immortalised in Daguerréotypes, a 1976 documentary illustrating life on this vibrant market street (predominantly shot between numbers 70-90). Montparnasse also appeared in her film Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cléo from 5 to 7), in particular the Café Le Dôme and the Parc Montsouris. Jean-Luc Godard selected the classic Montparnasse café La Rotonde for a scene in his cult classic A Bout de Souffle (Breathless). Right around the corner from the school and south of the Luxembourg Gardens, rue Michelet also appeared in Rohmer’s Le Beau Mariage (A Good Marriage).

L’Avenue des Champs Elysées

Although there is less interest in strolling Paris’s most famous avenue today, now mostly lined with chain shops, Les Champs Elysées was the backdrop of several New Wave films. The most iconic of these is Jean-Luc Godard’s A Bout de Souffle (Breathless), whose main characters Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Patricia (Jean Seberg) meet on the street where she’s selling newspapers. Eric Rohmer’s first full-length feature, Le Signe du Lion (The Sign of Leo), was shot on the avenue and around Place de l’Etoile, which was also captured in Jacques Rivette’s Paris nous appartient (Paris Belongs to Us).

The Seine 

The banks of the Seine River starred in a range of Nouvelle Vague films. Rohmer’s Le Signe du Lion showcased the walkway along the river as well as one of the city’s loveliest bridges, Le Pont des Arts. The bridge also appears in Rivette’s Paris nous appartient and Charbrol’s films Les Godelureaux (Wise Guys) and Les Biches (The Does).

Pigalle

Having grown up in the then middle class 9th district, south of Pigalle, many of François Truffaut’s films revisit his childhood haunts. Les 400 Coups (The 400 Blows) had a number of scenes shot in the area, especially in and around rue des Martyrs, Avenue Frochot and rue Fontaine (at number 16 where the boys are looking out of the rooftop skylight). Main character Antoine Doinel ambles the busy Boulevard de Clichy, which runs from near Place Pigalle to Place de Clichy, and also goes to the movies at le Wepler, a movie theatre still standing, albeit in a modern incarnation, on Place de Clichy. Sadly le Gaumont Palace, once the largest movie theatre in Europe, has now been replaced by DIY store Castorama.

Montmartre

Truffaut was also fond of nearby Montmartre, whose back streets feature in Les Quatre Cents Coups as well as in his 1968 film Baisers Volés (Stolen Kisses), especially around l’Avenue Junot, la rue de Steinkerque and la rue Caulaincourt. The above shot from the film was actually filmed on rue Navarin in the 9th, but looks up towards Sacré-Coeur and la Butte de Montmartre. He shot a scene in L’Amour en Fuite (Love on the Run) in the Montmartre Cemetery, which turned out to be his final resting place.

Paris vu par… 

Lastly, for a grand tour of the city watch Paris vu par… (Six in Paris), a collection of vignettes by the leading directors of the movement and released in 1965. Jean Douchet focuses on the intellectual Saint-Germain-des-Prés area, including the Café de Flore and the Institut de France and the Musée Delacroix.  Jean Rouch’s short is on the working-class Gare du Nord area and rue Lafayette. Claude Chabrol selected the bourgeois 16th district around La Muette in contrast to  Jean-Daniel Pollet’s seedy Rue Saint-Denis. Rohmer revisited Place de l’Etoile and Godard travelled from a sculptor’s workshop in Montparnasse to the suburb of Levallois.

Passionate about film and its history? Study Film in Paris by pursuing our Master’s in Film Programme. Learn more about it, and our other MA Programmes in the Humanities, at this link.