French new wave was an artistic film movement that originated in the 1950s in Paris, France. French new wave rejected the then-popular classic Hollywood which more often then contained an easy to follow narrative created by big studios which relied on grand set design and well-known actors. French new wave gave birth to auteur theory as it focused on putting the power back into independent filmmakers’ hands.

French New Wave rejected the idea of a strong narrative and preferred to use imagery to make the viewer think and question complex ideas about the world around them such as existentialism and the absurdity of existence which is why it’s easy for many of these films to go over the average viewers head and be disregarded as abstract nonsense.