Films are just as much an important personal feature of one’s life as much as they are cultural, and the French-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard held the same belief. In an interview, he even went ahead and stated that “a man and a woman who do not like the same films will eventually divorce”. Sadly, the legend himself, who transformed French cinema by leading La Nouvelle Vague, i.e. the New Wave, is no longer with us. French President Emmanuel Macron has also declared this to be the loss of a “national treasure”.
Godard was born on December 3, 1930, in Paris, and in the late 1960s changed the landscape of French Cinema forever. He even inspired the likes of Quentin Tarantino to the extent that he called his production company ‘A Band Apart’, alluding to one of Godard’s film titles. Jean-Luc Godard’s first cinematic release was the 1960 film Breathless, prior to which he worked as a film critic.
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His family has revealed that “no official ceremony” will be happening, and that “he will be cremated”, all of which take place “in private”. The free-spirited director died “peacefully at home” in Rolle, Switzerland while his wife Anne-Marie Mieville was by his side all the time.
One of Jean-Luc Godard’s quotes, “To be immortal and then die” now stands true with one exception that he has for ever been immortalized in the memories of those who have consumed his artistic creations over the years. His works and films are standing proof of his excellence. Even Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which states that “the paths of glory lead but to the grave”, is in sync with the aforementioned quote by Godard.
His memory lives on in the bombastic manner of his filmmaking as the image of him holding a camera stays behind. The critic was honored by several accolades for his contribution during his lifetime like the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1982, the honorary Palme d’Or in 2018, the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture and many more. All of them are but reminders of the maverick he was and now his trailblazing legacy lives on.
Watch Jean-Luc Godard’s Directorial Debut Trailer
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