Emmanuel Laurent's brief introduction to the relationship of French New Wave progenitors Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Goddard tip-toes too lightly around its subject.
Archive photos, interview footage, and a plethora of scene clips from their films veer toward a famous rift between Goddard and Truffaut that developed after the two staged a rebellion at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival that had the effect of transforming Goddard's ideological intentions for cinematic expression. Goddard's newly found social didactic for cinema had no patience for Truffaut's personalized subject matter. However we don't get to see examples from Goddard's later films that bear out his change of vision.
The film dips its awe-inspired toe into the filmmakers' unified effort to save Henri Langlois's job at the Cinematheque Francaise, but doesn't go into enough detail about Langlois's influence, or about the ultimate fate of the Cinematheque Francaise. Jean-Pierre Leaud, who performed as an alter-ego for both Goddard and Truffaut in their films, is presented as a poster boy for the rival filmmakers. That Laurent doesn't go to the trouble of comparing the nitty-gritty of Leaud's characterizations between Goddard and Truffaut defeats the purpose of identifying his as the most significant shared element between the filmmakers.
Audiences unfamiliar with these two maverick filmmakers, and with the French New Wave movement, may walk away from "Two In The Wave" asking themselves what all the hullabaloo is about. And that's too bad.
Not Rated. 93 mins.
