frfilmtv1-5, Exercise 3: Legend, record and reputation

Model answer:

Legend: a group of young rebels overthrew the old cinema overnight in 1959.
Record: the movement grew out of years of criticism and short films; earlier directors such as Varda, Melville and Bresson were already working in similar ways; and a large number of directors made first features in a couple of years (over a hundred by some counts; check), of varying style and quality.
Reputation: the New Wave is regularly named as the most influential movement in postwar cinema, a widely held judgement that is also partly a story told by the critics who took part.

"A revolution overnight" is too simple because it ignores the years of preparation, the earlier directors, the changes in funding that made low-budget films possible, and the differences among the directors, whom the press grouped together under one label.