Godard

Jean-Luc Godard (December 3, 1930 – September 13, 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and critic who became one of the central figures of the French New Wave. Born in Paris and raised in a cosmopolitan milieu, he began his career as a film critic for Cahiers du cinéma, where he helped articulate the auteur theory and argued for the primacy of the director in shaping a film’s meaning.

Godard’s breakthrough feature Breathless (1960) is widely regarded as a landmark in world cinema. It helped redefine modern editing and storytelling through on-location shooting, naturalistic performances, improvised dialogue, and the use of jump cuts that interrupted traditional continuity. He followed with a prolific and varied period that included Contempt (1963), Band of Outsiders (1964), Pierrot le Fou (1965), and Weekend (1967), works that blended genre experimentation with sharp political and philosophical critiques.

Across his career, Godard frequently interrogated cinema itself, media representation, and political ideology. His films often fused fiction with documentary sensibilities and reflected on the power of images. Later works such as Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980), Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988–89), and The Image Book (2018) continued to push toward reflexivity and experimentation, while maintaining a persistent engagement with social and political questions.

Godard’s influence extends beyond individual titles; his theoretical and formal innovations reshaped film criticism, narrative structure, and the role of the director in cinema. He influenced generations of filmmakers worldwide and remains a touchstone in discussions of cinematic language and political cinema.

Godard died in Rolle, Switzerland, at the age of 91. He is remembered as a central figure of the French New Wave and a provocateur who continually tested the boundaries of film.