In the 1960s, Jean-Luc Godard rose to stardom as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement, and he has been recognized as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th Century. He was a film director, screenwriter, and film critic popularly known for movies like Breathless (1960), Vivre sa Vie (1962), Contempt (1963), and Goodbye to Language (2014).
Godard first received global acclaim for his 1960 feature film Breathless, and until his passing on 13 September 2022, he was nominated in several Award categories. Moreover, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award in 2010.
Jean-Luc Godard Started Making Movies While Working as a Telephone Switchboard Operator in 1954
Godard’s first attempt at filmmaking began in 1954 after he had worked as a film critic for some time. Thanks to his Swiss friends who borrowed a 35mm movie camera, he could shoot a 35mm documentary film about the Grande Dixence Dam in Switzerland, where he was employed as a laborer and later a telephone switchboard operator.
Titled Opération béton (Operation Concrete), Godard’s first and short documentary film was bought by the company that administered the Grande Dixence Dam and used it for publicity.
He later made another 10-minute short film titled Une femme Coquette in 1955. The following year, Godard left Switzerland for Paris, where he ventured into several ambitious screen projects that never came to fruition. However, in 1957, Pierre Braunbergers produced All the Boys Are Called Patrick while he directed it.
In 1958, Jean-Luc Godard made his last short movie before gaining international prominence as a filmmaker. The film is titled Charlotte et son Jules and was an homage to Jean Cocteau.
Breathless (1960) Gave Jean-Luc a Career Breakthrough
Godard’s works were tagged ‘ groundbreaking, ‘ with the making of Breathless in 1960 and other films like Vivre sa vie (1962) and Contempt (1963), ushering in the French New Wave film movement. According to several critics, his works revolutionized the motion picture through its experiment with narrative, continuity, sound, and camera work.
Furthermore, Godard was known to be deeply involved with politics and regularly featured political content in his movies. He also produced movies that addressed social and societal issues like wars and revolution. Also, between 1980 and 2000, he produced movies that were adjudged to be traditional fiction, some of which are Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980) and King Lear (1987).
SEE ALSO: Anne-Marie Miéville: Who Is She and Was She Married To Jean-Luc Godard?
He was Working on 2 Movies at the Time of His Death
In March 2001, while on a virtual interview at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), Godard said that he was working on two new films, after which he would say goodbye to movie making and the Cinema. His longtime collaborator, Fabrice Aragno, confirmed that work on the films was going on slowly shortly after Godards’s interview, and the expense of celluloid film stock and the COVID-19 pandemic had stalled the production of the films. The projects were still unfinished at the time of Godard’s death by assisted suicide on 13 September 2022, aged 91. They were to be concluded by his partners, Aragno and Jean-Paul Battaglia.
Meanwhile, Jean-Luc was married twice throughout his lifetime. His first wife, Ann Karina, and his second, Anne-Marie Miéville, all passed away in 1979.
• 1960 – Breathless
• 1961 – A Woman Is a Woman
• 1962 – My Life to Live
• 1963 – The Little Soldier
• 1963 – The Carabineers
• 1963 – Contempt
• 1964 – Band of Outsiders
• 1964 – A Married Woman
• 1965 – Alphaville
• 1965 – Pierrot le Fou
• 1966 – Masculin Féminin
• 1966 – Made in U.S.A.
• 1967 – Two or Three Things I Know About Her
• 1967 – La Chinoise
• 1967 – Week-end
• 1968 – A Film Like Any Other
• 1968 – One Plus One (Sympathy for the Devil)
• 1969 – Joy of Learning
• 1969 – British Sounds
• 1970 – Wind from the East
• 1971 – Struggle in Italy
• 1971 – Vladimir et Rosa
• 1972 – Tout va bien
• 1972 – Letter to Jane
• 1975 – Number Two
• 1976 – Here and Elsewhere
• 1976/1978 – How’s It Going?
• 1980 – Every Man for Himself
• 1982 – Passion
• 1983 – First Name: Carmen
• 1985 – Hail Mary
• 1985 – Detective
• 1987 – King Lear
• 1987 – Keep Your Right Up
• 1990 – New Wave
• 1991 – Germany Year 90 Nine Zero
• 1993 – The Kids Play Russian
• 1993 – Oh Woe Is Me
• 1994 – JLG/JLG – Self-Portrait in December
• 1996 – For Ever Mozart
• 2001 – In Praise of Love
• 2004 – Notre musique
• 2010 – Film Socialisme
• 2014 – Goodbye to Language
• 2018 – The Image Book
• 2018 – Spot of the 22nd Ji.hlava IDFF
Awards
• Golden – Loin Award 1983
• Golden Bear Award – 1965
• Honorary Academy Award- 2010
• Honorary Cesar – 1987, 1998
• Prix Jean Vigo Award – 1960
• Academy Honorary Award – 2010
• Cannes Jury Prize – 2014
• Grand Jury Prize – 1967, 1962
• Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement – 1982
• Honorary Palme d’Or – 2018
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture – 2015
• Sutherland Trophy – 1965
• National Society of Film Critics Special Awards – 1991
• Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film – 1987
• The President of the Italian Senate’s Gold Medal – 1991
• Palme d’Or – 2018, 2014
• Golden Lion – 1996, 1993, 1991
• Cannes Jury Prize – 2018, 2014
• Cannes Grand Prix – 2018, 2014
• Cesar Award for Best Film – 1983, 1981
• Cannes Best Director Award – 2018, 2014
• Cesar Award for Best Director – 1983, 1981
• Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay – 2014
• Grand Jury Prize – 1996, 1993, 1991
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director – 2015, 1981
• Silver Lion for Best Director – 1993, 1991
• Venezia Classici Award for Best Restored Film – 2017
• National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Director – 2015
• Best Screenplay Award – 1996, 1991
• Variety Piazza Grande Award – 2019
• Prix du Public UBS – 2019
• European Film Award for Best Screenwriter – 2004
• European Film Award for Best Composer – 1990
• Cesar Award for Best French Language Film – 1986
