Jacques Becker and the New Wave

In its April 1960 issue, Cahiers du Cinema published tributes to Jacques Becker who had died on the 21 Feb of that year. what follows is a footnote ot Claude de Givray's tribute.

"A propos of [Touchez pas au] Grisbi, François Truffaut wrote: "the crystal clear appreciation that I bring to Grisbi springs from my sureness such that it is, that this film could not have been made four years ago. Casque d"or had to have been made."
Plainly Casque d"or benefitted from the knowledge gained from Edouard et Caroline and this last film was effected by the experience of Rendez-vous en juillet. So quite a tendency is outlined which ends in the slow destruction of an idea of dramatic construction. Little by little, the viewer is educated, understands that a story to tell is not always the essential proposal of a director. Becker has, by this very fact, supported the blooming of the "new wave"."