Film Names: The French New Wave

Bonjour, mes amis!

I write and queue posts about a week in advance, so it was only a couple days ago when I heard the news about Paris (as well as Beirut, Lebanon, etc). It's hard to know how to react at a time like this. A favorite name blogger of mine, Abby Sandel, has a poignant message in her recent Sunday Summary.

Pursue your passions, pursue acceptance and understanding, but most of all, pursue love.

Today's Film Names series post will focus on names found in the films of the Nouvelle Vague, or the New Wave in 1950's and 60's French cinema.

The names are differentiated by role, but there's been definite crossover, so don't consider this list to be perfect!

Directors

Claude Chabrol - Le Beau Serge (1958), Les Biches (1968), La Femme infidèle (1969)

Jean-Luc Godard - Breathless (1960), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Breathless is excellent, if you want to get a great general sense of the New Wave. 

Jacques Rivette - Le divertissement (1952), Paris Belongs to Us (1961)

Éric Rohmer - My Night at Maud's (1969), Claire's Knee (1970)

François Truffaut - Les quatre cents coups (1959), Shoot the Pianist (1960), Jules et Jim (1962)

Alain Resnais - Night and Fog (1955), Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Hiroshima mon amour is a personal favorite film, and many of Resnais' films are taught in Film Studies classes at UC Berkeley. 

Agnès Varda - Cleo de 5 à 7 (1962), Le Bonheur (1965)
Agnès is a beautiful retro name, and Cleo too! Inès is another European variation. 

Writers

Marguerite Duras - Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960)
One of my favorite writers of all time, and part of the reason I love the name Marguerite. Other works by Duras include "The Lover" and "Emily L". 

Paul Gégauff - Plein soleil (1960), Salle no 8 (1967), More (1969)

Marilù Parolini - L'amour fou (1969), Strategio del Ragno (1970)
A rare first name! Marilu is absolutely adorable - and sounds a bit like Desilu?

Actors

Anouk Aimée - La dolce vita (1960), Lola (1961), 8 1/2 (1963)
Another name crush! Anouk (or Anouck) is just fantastic!

Brigitte Bardot - Et Dieu crea la femme (1956), Le mépris (1963), Viva Maria! (1965)

Jean-Paul Belmondo - Breathless (1960),  Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960), Pierrot le Fou (1965)

Catherine Deneuve - L'homme à femmes (1960), Belle de Jour (1967), Le Dernier métro (1980)

Jean Seberg - Bonjour tristesse (1958), Breathless (1960), La récréation (1961)

Jean-Pierre Léaud - Les quatre cents coups (1959), Masculin Féminin (1966), Baisers volés (1968)

À bientôt!