British New Wave

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The British New Wave is the name given to a trend in filmmaking among directors in Britain in the late fifties and early sixties. The label is a translation of Nouvelle Vague, the French term first applied to the films of François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and others.

There is considerable overlap with the so-called "Angry Young Men", those artistes in British theatre and film such as playwright John Osborne and director Tony Richardson, who challenged the social status quo. Their work drew attention to the reality of life for the working classes, especially in the North of England, giving rise to the expression, "It's grim up north". This particular type of drama, centred around class and the nitty-gritty of day-to-day life, was also known as the kitchen sink drama.

The New Wave was characterized by many of the same stylistic and thematic conventions as the earlier French New Wave. Usually in black-and-white, these films had a spontaneous quality, often shot in a pseudo-documentary (or cinéma vérité) style on real locations and with real people rather than extras, apparently capturing life as it happens.

By 1964, the cycle was essentially over. Tony Richardson's Tom Jones, Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night and the early James Bond movies ushered in a new era for British cinema, focusing less on realism and social issues, and more on light comedy and escapism.