Film director Jean-Luc Godard, who spearheaded the revolutionary French New Wave of cinema, has died at the age of 91, French media have reported.
Godard burst onto the scene with 1960’s À bout de souffle (Breathless).
That started a run of acclaimed films that rewrote the rules of cinema, such as Le Mépris (Contempt), Bande à Part (Band of Outsiders) and Alphaville.
His work brought a new verve and daring to cinema and influenced directors from Quentin Tarantino to Martin Scorsese.
Godard started as a film critic before stepping behind the camera with the stylish and edgy Breathless. Its stars Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo were glamorous in a new, casual way, while the camera was constantly moving, the editing was swift and bold, and the script semi-improvised.
The director once said: “It was a film that took everything that cinema had done – girls, gangsters, cars – exploded all this and put an end, once and for all, to the old style.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said the country had lost a national treasure and a genius.
That was followed by Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier) – although the film was banned until 1963 because of its depiction of government-sanctioned torture.
Its cast included actress Anna Karina, who married Godard in 1961 and went on to appear in a string of his most successful films.
She played a nightclub dancer who wants a baby in 1961’s Une Femme est une Femme (A Woman Is A Woman); a young Parisian prostitute in 1962’s Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live); and a gang member in Band of Outsiders in 1965.
In a statement to the Reuters news agency, former French culture minister Jack Lang said of Godard: “He filled cinema with poetry and philosophy. His sharp and unique eye made us see the imperceptible.” (BBC)
