Two in the Wave (Deux de la Vague) (2010)

64% of critics liked it
(28 reviews)
44% of users liked it
(258 ratings)

The French New Wave crashed onto international shores when François Truffaut's debut feature, THE 400 BLOWS, premiered at Cannes in 1959, followed quickly by Jean-Luc Godard's equally thrilling BREATHLESS, based on a Truffaut story. The two filmmaking rebels, great friends and fellow graduates of… More The French New Wave crashed onto international shores when François Truffaut's debut feature, THE 400 BLOWS, premiered at Cannes in 1959, followed quickly by Jean-Luc Godard's equally thrilling BREATHLESS, based on a Truffaut story. The two filmmaking rebels, great friends and fellow graduates of the Cahiers du Cinema, for which both wrote extensively, hailed from different sides of the tracks: Truffaut, a poor reform school boy, and Godard, a Swiss haute-bourgeois. Both cast Jean-Pierre Léaud in many of their movies (for Truffaut, as his alter-ego, Antoine Doinel) and led the movement to save Henri Langlois's job at the Cinemathèque Française in '68. TWO IN THE WAVE poignantly melds revealing period footage of both men (and of Léaud, torn between father-figures) with scenes from some of their greatest films, as it moves inexorably toward their bitter falling-out. -- (C) Lorber

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: Emmanuel Laurent
Genres: Documentary, Television, Art House & International

In Theaters: May 19, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Feb 22, 2011
Studio: Lorber Films

Critic Reviews

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
A must-see for all those who love the New Wave.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
The movie becomes a wonder of archival randomness.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Laurent glosses over the contributions of other New Wavers, such as Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol and Agnes Varda. Laurent's biggest mistake is inserting Isild Le Besco, a wonderful contemporary actress, into Two in the Wave.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
Wisely resists the temptation to invite them to share memories of youth. Rather, it gathers newspaper clippings, newsreel footage and movie clips to assemble a present-tense essay that is both time capsule and collage.
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice
An anniversary present for the new wave.
Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online
... a loving tribute to the two artists whose names will forever be associated with the Nouvelle Vague and the friendship that bonded them for so many years.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
A fascinating and informative, must-see documentary for any serious cinephile.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
It's a dramatic story, somewhat over-simplified, but accompanied by riveting archive material.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
The early shots of young Léaud's open, beaming face are desperately sad.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
Two in the Wave lacks those very qualities for which it applauds Truffaut and Godard: poetry, ideas and feistiness.
David Parkinson, Radio Times
A documentary that contains some exceptional clips and archive footage, but lacks consistency of focus and tone.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Makes you want to spend all day doing nothing but hop from cinema to cinema.
Carmen Gray, Total Film
Laurent probes the pair's stylistic and political differences and their friendship's collapse by letter exchange...
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
Laurent's brushstrokes always feel a little too broad to capture the finer details of the legendary New Wavers, but some fascinating archive footage saves his documentary from missing the mark altogether.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
I love all this stuff, and it's really interesting to hear it all told again in a new way, and one thing that Laurent does well is that he refuses to side with either Godard or Truffaut in their feud.
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix
Regardless of its lapses, [it] is a reminder that at one time cinéastes could put together a formidable street demonstration...
John Hartl, Seattle Times
The lack of key interviews gradually becomes a problem (Truffaut died in 1984) and the final stretch becomes curiously shapeless.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...a cinema buff's dream that, while flawed, not only boasts some great content but the unusual idea of 'starring' Isild Le Besco, a budding director herself, as a cinema student who 'guides' us through the material.
Gabe Leibowitz, Film and Felt
Though thoroughly average as a movie, Emmanuel Laurent's Two in the Wave is absolutely must-see cinema for film buffs and cultural historians.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
A fascinating and informative, must-see documentary for any serious cinephile

Read all 21 critic reviews

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Walter M

The best parts of the otherwise forgettable documentary "Two in the Wave" are the older footage and interviews with Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, in trying to explore their influences and films, as they encouraged each other and occasionally worked together in the… More
The best parts of the otherwise forgettable documentary "Two in the Wave" are the older footage and interviews with Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, in trying to explore their influences and films, as they encouraged each other and occasionally worked together in the 1960's. Sadly, there is little new material of interest here for us students of film and almost no current interviews.(Admittedly, I had never heard of "Les Carabiniers" before this.) And as easy as Isild Le Besco is on the eyes, I'm not that sure what she is supposed to be doing here. To be honest, I don't think I would recommend this documentary to the uninitiated, either, as it takes a simplistic view towards the friendship between Godard and Truffaut and their films. For example, Truffaut who is depicted as being totally apolitical did make an adaptation of "Fahrenheit 451."(I read the book but never saw the movie.) By comparison, Godard was off the deep end politically early on with "Le Petit Soldat" which marks the first appearance of the Little Red Book in his films. Well, he did say that he wanted to alienate his audience...but he probably did not need radical politics to do so, and that might not be the only reason for the split with his former collaborator.
cody f

A empty documentary that is all over the place. The subject matter is great and it should write itself, but it just gives you snippets of information and rushes through everything. It's about Truffaut and Godard's relationship from the start of the New Wave until Truffauts… More
A empty documentary that is all over the place. The subject matter is great and it should write itself, but it just gives you snippets of information and rushes through everything. It's about Truffaut and Godard's relationship from the start of the New Wave until Truffauts death, and the whole Doc is boring. I read a article a couple of years ago in The New Yorker about the same subject matter, and it was leaps and bounds superior. My love for that article is probably what soiled me on this empty film. It may be interesting if you knew nothing about these two, but I doubt it.