Jean-Luc Godard

1930-

Biography

Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris in 1930. He grew up in Switzerland, in a bourgeois family – his father was a private doctor, his mother came from a banking family. A Swiss citizen, Godard returned to Paris in 1948, where he studied ethnology at the Sorbonne.

At this time, he frequented cinema clubs in the Latin Quarter of Paris where he met François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette, with whom he would go on to form a new movement in French cinema in the 1960s, the New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague).

In 1954, he Godard returned to Switzerland to work as a construction worker. With the money he earned, he made his first film, a short, about the construction of a dam, Opérion béton.

Back in Paris, he came to prominence as a critic, writing articles for the influential “Cahiers du cinéma”, in which he attacked the traditionalists and praised innovative film makers.

Having made a few more short films, he finally made his first full-length film in 1959: A bout de souffle (a.k.a. Breathless ). Overnight, Godard won widespread acclaim as a film director, praised for his radical and innovative approach to film-making. This film, along with Truffaut’s Les Quatre cents coups, lay the foundation for the New Wave, the most exciting period in French film cinema history.

Reception of Godard’s next few films was mixed. Le Petit soldat was banned by the censor for its references to the war in Algeria, whilst Une femme est une femme (Godard’s first colour film) was a box office disaster. Les Carabiniers was attacked by the critics and also fail to attract the public. By contrast, Vivre sa vie was well-received by both public and critics alike.

Godard’s popularity was established in the mid-1960s with a string of popular and critically acclaimed films (many featuring his wife at the time, Anna Karina). These included: Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou and Masculin, féminin.

During this period, Godard’s cinema shows a noticeable and gradual shift towards the abstract, in keeping with the director’s constant desire to try out new cinematographic styles.

Deux ou trois choses que je sais d’elle, La Chinoise and Week-end are amongst Godard’s most incisive and critically acclaimed films, although significantly less accessible than his earlier films. These films, and those which followed, reflect Godard’s growing involvement with Maoist politics and hostility towards American imperialism and commercialism. They were also in tune with increasing social conscience which was beginning to stir in France at the time, culminating in the demonstrations of May 1968.

The late 1960s saw Godard’s retreat from mainstream cinema. For the next few years he would work with a group of left-wing political activists, producing his own political films. This era of Godard’s career is echoed in his 1972 film, Tout va bien. The film, despite winning financial backing and targeted at a mainstream audience, was an almighty flop.

Godard remained in the wilderness for several more years, making films for his own amusement, before making a comeback in the commercial arena with his 1979 film, Sauve qui peut.

Since, Godard has continued to make films which tackle political, sociological and humanitist themes. Although still revered by a section of the film critic community, his films have by now become so inaccessible and far removed from the mainstream that they appeal to a minority of cinema goers. Some of his recent films, such as Prénom Carmen and Hélas pour moi, continue to arouse positive noises from the critics.

Godard’s most amibitious project to date has been his multi-part Histore du cinéma, a unique study of the history of French cinema.

Whilst mainstream cinema becomes increasingly commercialised, Godard continues to make provocative and original films, unhampered by the need to win the patronage of either the public or some greedy film company executive.

By adhering to his distinctive auteur principles throughout his career, Jean-Luc Godard has given us some of the most imaginative and thought-provoking films ever made. No film director has been so successful at expressing his creativity and ideological concerns. His is a uniquely honest and inspired approach to film making.

© James Travers 2002