Film director Jean-Luc Godard passed away this Tuesday at the age of 91. Godard is considered the godfather of France’s new cinematic wave, whose foray into taboo subjects and use of new fictional motifs “revolutionized” the filmmaking establishment and continued to inspire rebellious directors even decades following his heyday in the 1960s.
The French-Swiss director is credited with directing important cinematic works such as “To the Last Breath” in 1959 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and the movie “Contempt”. In 1963 he directed the movie “Alphaville”, which starred the beautiful Brigitte Bardot, and the movie “Mad Piero” in 1965 with Jean-Paul Belmondo.
new wave
Jean-Luc Godard first entered the field of cinema as a film critic in the magazine “Cinema Notebooks”, then moved to directing to become one of the most important directors of the new wave, and he confirmed in this field: “I worked in the film industry as two or three jazz musicians. We give ourselves an idea Then we play an orchestrated piece, just like François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette or Eric Romer.”
His first feature film “To the Last Breath” was a huge success and became one of the founding films of the new wave. In the 1960s, Godard doubled his films and projects and became a leading director and an artistic and intellectual pole. In May 1968, he radicalized and demanded that the Cannes Film Festival be cancelled. He also moved away from the cinema “system” and filmed several films in secret. He then worked in television and returned to cinema in the 1980s and regained his place as a leading film director.
We are losing a national treasure.
French President Emmanuel Macron mourned director Jean-Luc Godard and praised his work in a tweet on his Twitter account, where he said: “It was like appearing in French cinema. Then he became a master in the field. Jean-Luc Godard is one of the greatest filmmakers of the New Wave. He created a very modern and free art We are losing a national flag, a genius look.”
Important prizes
Jean-Luc Godard has received many awards for his work: he won the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Festivals, and several Golden Lions at the Venice Film Festival. At the Cannes Film Festival, his film “Farewell to the Speech” won the jury prize in 2014, and the director received a special Golden Palm award for his overall work and the film “Illustrated Book” in 2018.