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NOEL GRUBER:
“Noel Gruber, born March 5th, Pisces: sign of passion. Favorite ride: the ferris wheel. Very early on in Noel’s life…his mother realized two things. The second was his penchant for all things nihilistic. While other children acted out Harry Potter, Noel acted out French New Wave Cinema,” (26).
“I was born in the wrong town, the wrong country, the wrong era! I wanted to feel, goddamn it. I wanted bad love. I wanted a man that would drive me to drink. I craved dissipation. I wanted to wake up in an alleyway in my own vomit, missing teeth. I wanted to drink myself to death on the cup of life…” (28).
French New Wave Cinema–this film movement began in the late 1950s. Filmmakers started to break away from traditional art and filmmaking by deviating away from classical narrative structures such as establishing a linear plot, utilizing a clear protagonist with a clear goal, and execution of three act structure (beginning (exposition/inciting incident), middle (rising action/climax), and end (resolution). Still, classic and new wave aren’t entirely separate from one another, at least in a modern-day standpoint. According to David Bordwell, film theorist and author of Poetics of Cinema:
“The art film is nonclassical in that it foregrounds deviations from the classical norm—there are certain gaps and problems. But these very deviations are placed, resituated as realism (in life things happen this way) or authorial commentary (the ambiguity is symbolic). Thus the art film solicits a particular reading procedure: whenever confronted with a problem in causation, temporality, or spatiality, we first seek realistic motivation. (Is a character's mental state causing the uncertainty? Is life just leaving loose ends?) If we're thwarted, we next seek authorial motivation. (What is being "said" here? What significance justifies the violation of the norm?) Ideally, the film hesitates, suggesting character subjectivity, life's untidiness, and author's vision. Whatever is excessive in one category must belong to another. Uncertainties persist but are understood as such, as obvious uncertainties, so to speak…[still], the art film acknowledges the classical cinema in many ways [and] conversely, the art cinema has had an impact on the classical cinema. Just as the Hollywood silent cinema borrowed avant-garde devices but assimilated them to narrative ends, so recent American filmmaking has appropriated art-film devices. Yet such devices are bent to causally motivated functions—the jump cut for violence or comedy, the sound bridge for continuity or shock effect, the elimination of the dissolve, and the freeze frame for finality” (156-158).
Many contemporary films are compared to new wave, and some new wave films were even still inspired by classic Hollywood cinema. Take, for example, Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) and Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers (2023)--both explore themes of the uncanny (which Freud establishes as, in the simplest terms, the heimlich (familiar) and the unheimlich (unfamiliar) coming together, and that these factors are not always opposite, which even further contributes to the sense of the uncanny), especially through the usage of doppelgangers. The Holdovers exhibits more of the traditional, three act structure and is character-driven, and Persona explores its story through fragmented storytelling, vivid imagery such as the beach location that most of it takes place near, and through its central idea of a persona, that we only show certain parts of ourselves to the world. New wave rejects traditional methods of storytelling in this way, which can be shown in the narratives themselves, but also aesthetics, camera work, etc. These films are idea-driven rather than character-driven, even if sentiments are executed through characters, conversations, and interactions. One idea that ties these films of this period together, even if each of them are vastly different is that the truth is difficult, if not impossible to determine, therefore if viewers aren’t quite understanding the films, the creators have succeeded. These films can be seen as more “real” than classic Hollywood films are, and this is why they can be seen as confusing at times, because life and experiences aren’t always as simple to figure out. These films explore the human condition.
Iconoclast–someone who opposes traditional belief systems and institutions. Iconoclasm was often explored in new wave films, as new wave as a genre encouraged breaking away from traditions and promoting experimentation.
Enfant terrible–a person whose unconventional behavior ideas shock others. This phrase literally translates to, from French, “terrifying child.”
French New Wave Film recommendations:
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
This film delves into the idea that we can metaphorically “time travel.” For example, I can be sitting “here” “right now” physically, as I write this, but mentally, I can be somewhere else entirely, so really I would not be here right now (admittedly, I’m present in this moment, but I’ve experienced this before). Just like with Noel–he is “there with everyone else” but really, he is off in the world of his song, the world that he has vividly created. This film explores the mysteries of love and the inherently enigmatic nature of people at all, as well as what constitutes the truth, and if the truth can ever really be found out entirely.
La Jetée (1962)
La Jetée (1962)
This one is only 28 minutes, so I highly recommend watching! It is made up from still photos in a sort of documentary style, and it is a story also about a person attempting to recall their memories, but specifically regarding the aftermath of a World War Three, and for this person to find a solution for it as he is sent back and forth through time. The title, La Jetée, translates to jetty in English, which is where the character as a child witnessed a scene of violence, near a jetty (landing platform/pier for a plane) at an airport.
Musically, Noel’s song draws inspiration from Edith Píaf and Marlene Dietrich, who were both cafe/cabaret singers and entertainers in Paris, France (Dietrich was German-American, but performed in France and also died there). They are both, like Noel, passionate and sing many songs about love, sorrow, yearning. Some of Piaf’s songs are autobiographical. His song, much like Piaf’s and Dietrich’s, is a ballad–a song that tells an emotionally evocative story. The creators of Ride the Cyclone describe the world of Noel’s song as “a delicate dance.”
To maintain the joy and innocence of the small-town teen, finally allowed to express himself, while reveling in the darkness and the joy of the suffering (but without crossing the line into becoming a middle-aged jaded misanthrope).”
Noel’s song is inspired by the writing of Anaïs Nin, who lived and wrote in Neuilly, outside Paris. Nin wrote in one of her diaries, “I am all the women in the novels, yet still another not in the novels. … Like Oscar Wilde I put only my art into my work and my genius into my life. My life is not possible to tell. I change every day, change my patterns, my concepts, my interpretations. I am a series of moods and sensations. I play a thousand roles. I weep when I find others play them for me. My real self is unknown. My work is merely an essence of this vast and deep adventure. I create a myth and a legend, a lie, a fairy tale, a magical world, and one that collapses every day and makes me feel like going the way of Virginia Woolf.… I am more interested in human beings than in writing, more interested in lovemaking than in writing, more interested in living than in writing. More interested in becoming a work of art than in creating one.… I am a writer. I would rather have been a courtesan,” (176–78).
Click here to read more about the world of Noel’s song.
Click on the image below to find an editable playlist of songs in the style of/songs that inspired Noel's songs! Please feel free to add to this during the process as you discover more that remind you of your character.
La Foule by Edith Piaf
La Foule by Edith Piaf
The instrumentation of ‘La Foule’ by Edith Piaf gives off a lively energy as it accompanies Piaf’s passionate vocals, even without knowing the lyrics’ meaning. However, once the lyrics are translated, ‘la foule’ translates to ‘the crowd’, and this song ultimately expresses the narrator’s loneliness in a jubilant crowd, as well as a yearning for something else, much like Noel feels. A translation of the lyrics into English can be found here.
Click on the video above to access a playlist of a few of Piaf's performances, one including her performing ‘La Foule’ near the end of her life! She is full of energy and picks her moments to really tap into it, and other moments for more of a yearning, quieted passion.
Ich Bin Die Fesch Lola by Marlene Dietrich
Ich Bin Die Fesch Lola by Marlene Dietrich
Then, ‘Ich Bin Die Fesch Lola’ by Marlene Dietrich is an exuberant tune about a woman named Lola, “the darling of the season”, who is beloved by many, especially men, and knows her effect on others. She is confident. The title of the song translates to “they call me naughty Lola.” A translation of the lyrics into English can be found here.
Click on the video above to access a playlist on YouTube of a few of her performances, one including her performing ‘Ich Bin Die Fesch Lola.' She is playful, expressive, and confident.
Below, you will find a direct link to an editable Pinterest board. Feel free to add images throughout the process that remind you of your character!
Questions to consider throughout the process:
Why do you think that Noel chose French New Wave films to latch onto, what do these worlds have to offer him? What do the themes of these films reveal about what Noel dreams of?
Does Noel’s persona of Monique relate to any of the sentiments expressed either from the films, musicians, and even writers mentioned above?
Sources:
Bordwell, David. Poetics of Cinema. 2007.
“Track-by-Track Breakdown: Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond on the Creation of Ride the Cyclone.” Playbill, 10 Dec. 2021, https://playbill.com/article/track-by-track-breakdown-brooke-maxwell-and-jacob-richmond-on-the-creation-of-ride-the-cyclone.
Queen Majestic, Liv. Double Trouble: Empathy for Protagonists in Pairs, 2024.
Scholar, Nancy. Anaïs Nin. 1984.
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