Zoey Deutch portrays Jean Seberg in Linklater’s Breathless tribute Nouvelle Vague

Zoey Deutch plays Jean Seberg in Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a celebratory tribute that re‑imagines 1959 Paris and the making of Jean‑Luc Godard’s Breathless. The film largely casts newcomers but places Deutch as Seberg, the American actress Godard cast as Patricia in Breathless.

Deutch spent two years learning French and working on Seberg’s distinct transatlantic delivery. She says she knew little about Seberg or Breathless when Linklater first suggested the role in 2014. The piece notes Deutch reproduces Seberg’s look and mannerisms — including an American‑accented French and an exuberant shout of “New York Herald Tribune!” — and often mischievously deflates Godard in scenes with Guillaume Marbeck’s portrayal of him.

The film, which is in French, aims to depict a moment in time rather than the full later histories of its subjects: Linklater reportedly reminded the cast that these were then “just young, ambitious, kooky artists.” Deutch studied Seberg’s subsequent career — from early roles such as Joan of Arc in Saint Joan to parts in Lilith and Paint Your Wagon and two films directed by her second husband Romain Gary — but says much of that material did not feed directly into Nouvelle Vague.

Seberg died in Paris in 1979 at the age of 40; the article says her death was presumed to be suicide after what it describes as a brutal FBI harassment campaign in response to her support of the Black Panther Party.

Key Topics

Culture, Zoey Deutch, Jean Seberg, Richard Linklater, Breathless, Jean-luc Godard