In the aftermath of World War II, a cinematic movement emerged that would characterize and embody the zeitgeist of an entire generation of youth, pushing boundaries for years to come: The French New Wave or Nouvelle Vague.

Uma Thurman and John Travolta doing the twist to Chuck Berry's "You Can Never Tell" in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 Pulp Fiction is perhaps the most well-known dance scene in the history of cinema. What is hardly known, however, is that the dance is a homage to a 1964 French film by Jean-Luc Godard, Bande à part.

The dashing heartthrob Jean-Pierre Léaud; with a cigarette dangling from his lips, the sex symbol Alain Delon, the scandalous Brigitte Bardot; who became a style legend in her own right, the riveting Anna Karina—all conjure up themes of self-awareness, individualism, loneliness, nostalgia, and existentialism whilst on screen.

France, only 7 years earlier, was under German occupation and consequently banned all American cinema. When the war ended, French movie theaters began screening a plethora of never-before-seen Hollywood classics.

Moviegoers flocked to the cinema to see the Bogie-Bacall film noirs of the 1940s, the mystery thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, the filmography of Orson Welles, and Nicholas Ray's 1955 coming-of-age Rebel Without A Cause starring teen icon James Dean.

The oldest French film magazine in publication was established in 1951, Cahiers du Cinéma ('notebooks on cinema'). Among its authors were Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, Éric Rohmer, and Claude Chabrol, members of what would later become the French New Wave.

Completely ahead of its time, the publication planted the seeds for the theory and ideas that would create a new style of making movies. The young aforementioned film critics eagerly watched all of these unseen American films and studied their styles in-depth, penning detailed reviews.

They criticized the types of films the French were churning out after the war, seeing them as formulaic, conventional, dull, and uncreative. Truffaut in particular, with a career spanning over 25 years, was a pioneer of the movement.

He rejected traditional and mainstream styles of filmmaking in favour of an experimental, avant-garde, defiant method; publishing a manifesto in 1954 that denounced the mainstream. When those writers involved in Cahiers du Cinéma decided they didn’t want to write film reviews anymore, they made their own films.

The films featured lengthy philosophical tangents, shaky cameras, and broke the fourth wall. They emphasized eccentricity and attempted to make audiences conscious of the fact that they were watching a movie, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

Directors, rather than adhering to age-old rules for big studios, were encouraged to follow their own unique and innovative styles.

Old Hollywood focused on escapism and mass appeal for the sake of entertaining the masses, whether it was Shirley Temple cheerily singing on a train or Rita Hayworth being a femme fatale.

The French New Wave was more philosophical, wanting audiences to think and ponder, dealing with the very nature and absurdity of existence.

Godard's 1966 black-and-white Masculin Féminin exemplifies this, often hailed as his magnum opus. It was a portrayal of youth in 1960s Paris, praised by the French journalist Georges Sadoul for its ability to speak to young people.

At the 16th Berlin International Film Festival in 1966, it even won an award for Best Feature Film Suitable for Young People. The film is a time capsule into the pop culture of that era.

It references youth icons like James Dean and Bob Dylan, things like beatniks and the Vietnam War, and features cameos from Parisian stars like Françoise Hardy. Due to its depiction of sex and teen romance, it was controversial for its day and banned for those under 18.

Godard, instead of writing a script, used notebooks filled with rough ideas and random dialogue. The film follows an infatuation between a youthful, idealistic poet and a rising pop star.

Instead of a linear narrative, it was broken up into several fragmented parts with the main story randomly interrupted by documentary-style interviews about sex, youth culture, politics, and love.

"It feels like there's a sense of freedom. Anything can happen at any moment. Narrative is completely fractured I think," said Martin Scorsese about Truffaut’s 1962 film Jules et Jim.

Indeed, that was the gist of what the movement sought to accomplish: complete artistic freedom, the eradication of linear narratives and absolute nonconformity, which would later go on to influence 1990s American indie cinema as well.

The idea behind it was to take the control the major studios had and put it in the hands of individual directors.

Many of the films, as a result, were filmed with low budgets, personally funded by the directors themselves, using the director's friends as actors, and forcing them to improvise with what they had. In this sense, it was the precursor to independent filmmaking.

Jean-Luc Godard passed away last year, at the age of 91, yet his influence lives on.

This article is from Youthquaker Magazine, a print arts & culture publication pushing youth-driven journalism on untapped multidisciplinary subject matter.