Franco-Swiss movie director Jean-Luc Godard dies aged 91
Enigmatic Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard, creator of such movies as À Bout de souffle (Breathless) and Adieu au Langage (Goodbye to Language), has passed away at the age of 91.
The co-founder of the Nouvelle Vague film movement is celebrated as a groundbreaking artist who constantly stretched the boundaries of movie making. He constantly experimented with new forms of narration and use of jump cuts.
The Swiss interior minister, Alain Berset, tweeted a tribute to the director, saying: "Switzerland has lost one of its greatest filmmakers. His works have inspired generations of directors around the world, his immense legacy and influence will go down in history."
During a prolific career, Godard shot around 150 films and videos and remained active right up until his death. The critically acclaimed À Bout de souffle was filmed in 1959 and screened in 1960 and he more recently won a special Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018 for his work Livre d’image (The Image Book).
In 2010, the director was awarded an honorary Oscar but declined an invitation to pick it up in person during the ceremony in Hollywood. He also drew controversy for his critical views on Israeli politics, which brought accusations of antisemitism from some quarters.
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The Franco-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard is interviewed in Italy in 1969. akg-images -
Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris in 1930. akg-images -
Jean-Luc Godard directs Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg in Breathless, 1959. AFP/Alain Adler/Roger-viollet -
Jean-Luc Godard with Anna Karina, Rome, 1962. Akg-images / Uig / Marka -
A scene from Jean-Luc Godard's film "Week-end" with Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne, 1967. AFP/Adams Filmi/Gaumont -
Rockstars Mick Jagger (right) and Bill Wyman (left) with Jean Luc Godard during the filming of "Sympathy for the Devil", 1968 Alamy Stock Photo -
Jean-Paul Sartre and other intellectuals held a press conference at the "La Cause du Peuple" printers to support the newspaper they sold in the street. Sartre was filmed by Jean-Luc Godard assisted by Jean-Pierre Bamberger, Paris, 1970. Keystone/Bruno Barbey/Magnum Photos -
A scene from the 1980 film "Every Man for Himself" by Jean Luc Godard, featuring Isabelle Huppert. AFP/Sara Films/Gaumont -
Jean-Luc Godard in Zurich, 1990. Jann Jenatsch/Keystone -
Jean-Luc Godard at the Grand Prix Design award ceremony at the Zurich Design Museum on November 30, 2010. Gaetan Bally/Keystone -
The house of Anne-Marie Miéville and French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard in Rolle, canton Vaud, on September 13, 2022. AFP
Godard was born into a wealthy Parisian family of Swiss origin on December 3, 1930. He spent his childhood in Nyon, overlooking Lake Geneva in western Switzerland. After studying ethnology in Paris, he planned to become a writer, then a painter before turning to the cinema. He became a Swiss citizen in 1953.
Other notable films from the director include Le Mépris (Contempt, 1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot the Madman, 1965), La Chinoise (1967), King Lear (1987) and the eight episodes of Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988-1998).
His muses included Anna Karina and Anne Wiazemsky, both of whom he married. He has lived with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Miéville in Rolle, on the shore of lake Geneva in western Switzerland, since 1977.
Godard died peacefully on Tuesday, September 13, “surrounded by his loved ones” in Rolle, his widow announced.
Some media have reported that Godard died by assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland.
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