movie productor Jean-Luc GodardHe died this Tuesday at the age of 91. He was one of the main names of Nouvelle Vague, which swept French and then world cinema.with a complete and almost artisanal devotion to this art.
Godard, a first in theory and criticism Wrote, directed and oversaw most of his 131 films (including numerous documentaries and short films) and even appeared in cameos and cameos in many of them.
Born in Paris in 1930 to a French-Swiss family, living between two countries throughout his childhood and adolescence, he began studying Anthropology at the Paris Sorbonne at the age of 19.
However, it soon developed intense passion for cinema and began collaborating in movie clubs and small publications in the Latin Quarter and he managed to write for the new Cahiers du Cinema, which later became indispensable.
He coincided with other aspiring filmmakers in that magazine at the time, acting as critics and theorists. François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol or Éric Rohmer, and that they will eventually bless themselves.
Exit with ‘à bout de souffle’
His debut in feature films could not have been more groundbreaking with legendary films. ‘A bout de souffle’ (At the end of the escape, 1960), It is a film that went down in the history of cinema with its very personal editing and gave it a special rhythm.
It was with ‘Les Quetre Cents Coups’ (Four Hundred Coups), a Parisian love story between a small-time country criminal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and a young American woman (Jean Seberg), a relationship that inevitably leads to tragedy. By Truffaut, the pioneer of the new wave Nouvelle Vague that swept French and then world cinema.
The film won numerous national and international awards and brought its author to fame.
Again, Godard couldn’t keep up with his later films, For example, ‘Une femme est une femme’ (A woman is a woman, 1961) won notable awards, but was not well received by critics or the public.
Its resurrection came in 1965 with two titles: ‘Alphaville’ (Lemmy vs. Alphaville), a disturbing sci-fi movie set in the Paris of the time, and ‘Pierrot le fou’ (Pierrot, the madman), also starring Jean-Paul. Belmondo
Towards political cinema
Disgusted by the survival of censorship in France and deeply affected by the process that led to May 68, Godard was moving towards a highly politicized cinema.sometimes with less commercial ambitions, such as ‘La Chinoise’ (1967) about a group of young Maoists.
During the Parisian student protests that culminated in May 1968, he participated with other filmmakers in the process of making short films (“cinema brochures”) about the development of the movement.
And from there He continued to collaborate with his friend Jean-Pierre Gorin on highly political films.It has little commercial impact, signed by the “Dziga Vertov group” named after the Soviet avant-garde theorist and filmmaker.
After finishing this phase in 1973, he moved to Grenoble and began experimenting with films shot on video, although it was later transferred to celluloid and even made a series of telefilms for the public channel FR3.
His return to the cinema for the general public came in 1980 with ‘Sauve qui peut (la vie)’ (Who Gets Survived – Life) and above all with ‘Prénom, Carmen’ (Name: Carmen) in 1983. A modern revision of the Mérimée legend that earned him the Golden Lion at Venice.
DThen came ‘Je vous salue, Marie’ (I salute you, María, 1985), who among the Ultra-Catholics raised protests and threats for reinterpreting the figure of the Virgin Mary for what they see as a crime.
He has followed works such as ‘Nouvelle ambiguous’ (New Wave, 1990) with Alain Delon or ‘Hélas pour moi’ with Gérard Depardieu, and in recent years has focused on short films and documentaries, including ‘The Image Book’. (The Image Book, 2018) is an experimental film about the Arab world.
this Cannes Film Festival that year he was awarded a special Palme d’Or for that tape and his entire career.
In an interview with the publication of Cahiers du Cinema in 2019 focusing on ‘The Image Book’, Godard talks about how the language of images (for example, the language of silent films) can be conveyed better than spoken words.A concept that left its mark on his cinema: “Language is something that is not spoken, that can be partially shown and heard. Technically, cinema can do that.”
His career played a key role in his private life as well. He married two actresses Anna Karina and Anne Wiazemsky.He was also the partner of Swiss director, screenwriter and actress Anne-Marie Miéville and has collaborated on many of her latest projects. In fact, Godard was an actor in two Miélville movies.
While Jean-Luc Godard’s experimental, political, and theoretical turns are not always easy to follow, he has always been a favorite of critics and festivals, as his works have left their mark almost in jewellery.
Thus he collects a Golden Bear and two Silver Bears from the Berlinale; A special Palme d’Or and Jury Prize in Cannes, two Golden Lions (one for his entire career) and a special jury award in Venice, two French César d’honneurs and an honorary Oscar.