Who Was Jean-Luc Godard ? The World Mourns For The Demise Of The Swiss Director!

French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard passed away at age 91 but has left a myriad of memories and great work to cherish behind for the world. The man came to prominence with the New Wave group in France. Read on to know more about the man.

Who Was French-Swiss Director Jean-Luc Godard?

The Swiss side of Lake Geneva was the place where Jean-Luc Godard spent his formative years. In those times, his father directed a clinic.

He pursued his higher education for an ethnology degree at the University of Paris. He also did a laboring job on a dam. These formative years brought a sense of inspiration in him to create his very first short film, Opération Béton (1954; Operation Concrete).

A renowned anthropologist, Jean Rouch’s work and "cinema verite" documentary style had a profound impact on Jean-Luc Godard’s work and ethnological approach. The "cinema verite" style literally means the cinema truth. In this type of documentary school, lightweight television equipment is employed in order to look at the subject with great informality. This makes the visuals emerge sans any preconceived biases, making the motifs and the theme appear only at the time of shooting or at the editing stage.

Filmmaking Styles, Themes, And The Breathless

Jean-Luc Godard’s very first feature film Breathless), proved to be a huge success and brought the man the prestigious Jean Vigo Prize. The film was produced by his dear colleague in the journal Cahiers du cinéma,  Francois Truffaut. With his first feature film touching great success, the man did not look back and brought forward successful feature films one after the other.

There are many reasons why Breathless is special and famous, but one of the most strange facts about the film was that it did not have any script at all. Godard himself framed the dialogues overnight and edited them during rehearsals. What makes the man different from his contemporary directors is that he makes sure to be a part of every teeny tiny aspect of the film, for instance, in many of his films he also resorted to speaking the dialogues and replying to the actors from behind the camera at the time of takes. His improvisatory techniques and commendable observation skills make the man stand out from the crowd. Additionally, he laid a great focus on abstract effects in the film. 

His first feature film, Breathless, talks about the misadventures of a crook who deeply admires Humphrey Bogart. However, an American girl betrays him on the police.

The director spent some of his years showcasing an obsession with concepts like indignity, fickleness, and caprice. The man was smart enough to draw a contrasting line between meaningful reality and faulty assumptions of our minds through his work. Anna Karina, his wife, and a popular actress became a part of most of his visionary works including Le Petit Soldat (meaning, The Little Soldier). The film became a part of huge controversy and was banned for many years. The movie threw light on concepts like torture and counter-torture. 

Vivre sa vie (meaning, My Life To Live), too, was based on unusual themes of that era. Most of his films challenged the orthodox schools and talked about new-age issues that sometimes did not prove to be favored by the critics. The Vivre sa vie was a story of a Parisian prostitute. Another one of his films, the Le Mépris (meaning Contempt) was inspired by one of the works by Italian novelist Alberto Moravia. This was the only film by Jean-Luc Godard that came under the umbrella of orthodox and relatively expensive filmmaking.

The man knew how to best make use of the available resources to deliver masterpieces. After the success of many of his feature films, he started being acknowledged as a robust independent creator who makes use of cheap alfresco production without compromising on quality and enjoyed great success on the international “art cinema” circuit.

He was also offered the opportunity to direct the American film, Bonnie and Clyde, but the man did not agree to the offer due to his distrust of the Hollywood system.

Jean-Luc Godard- Net Worth

Reportedly, Jean-Luc Godard had a net worth of $275 million at the time of his death. However, the filmmaker had once very humbly said, "Through most of my career, I've made a decent living making movies no one wants to see". 

It is said that Jean-Luc-Godard was the highest-paid director in the world.

Jean-Luc Godard- Interesting Facts

• He is considered the father of the French New Wave cinema movement.
• He has directed over 30 films in his lifetime.
• He is one of the greatest influences on Quentin Tarantino.
• It is said that Jean-Luc-Godard was the highest-paid director in the world.