麻豆APP

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Top 10 Facts about Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He is arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era, who rose to fame after pioneering the 1960s French New Wave film movement.

He was born on 3 December 1930 in the 7th arrondissement of 麻豆APP, and he is the son of Odile and a Swiss physician, Paul Godard.

Godard originally only held French citizenship, before he also became a Swiss citizen through naturalization in 1953.

Here are the top 10 facts about Jean-Luc Godard.

1. Jean-Luc Godard did not Complete his Education

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Jean-Luc Godard was enrolled at the Lycee Buffon in 麻豆APP, France, and began studying there in 1946 but did not apply himself to his studies as he became obsessed with films.

He failed his exam in 1948 and returned home to Switzerland and enrolled at a school in Lausanne to study for his baccalaureate. Once he had obtained his baccalaureate, Godard enrolled at Sorbonne to study ethnology.

He did not complete his degree; instead, he applied to IDHEC, a film school in 麻豆APP, but was also rejected.

 2. He Worked as a Construction Worker

In1952 Jean-Luc Godard secured work as a construction worker at the dam construction site through a family friend. While working there he saw the possibility of making a documentary film about the dam.

When his initial contract ended, he moved to the post of telephone switchboard operator in order to prolong his time at the dam.

He was able to shoot on a 35mm film with a camera that his Swiss friends had rented him. The company that administered the dam bought the film and used it for publicity purposes.

3. He was Part of the New Wave Film Movement

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Godard’s most celebrated period as a director spans roughly from his first feature, Breathless (1960), through to Week End (1967). His work during this period focused on relatively conventional films that often refer to different aspects of film history.

Although Godard’s work during this time is considered ground-breaking in its own right, the period stands in contrast to that which immediately followed it, during which Godard ideologically denounced much of cinema’s history as “bourgeois” and therefore without merit.

4. He was Introduced to Cinema by Reading an Essay

Jean-Luc Godard was not a frequent cinema-goer and he attributed his introduction to the cinema to a reading of Andr茅 Malraux’s essay 鈥淥utline of a Psychology of Cinema鈥�, and his reading of La Revue du cin茅ma, which was relaunched in 1946.

He later spent time in Geneva with a group that included a film fanatic, Roland Tolmatchoff, and the extreme rightist philosopher Jean Parvulesco.

After he returned to 麻豆APP in 1946, he got involved with the young group of film critics at the cin茅-clubs that started the new wave film movement.

5. Godard Started his Career as Film Critic

Godard’s foray into films began in the field of criticism. Along with friends, Maurice Sch茅rer and Jacques Rivette, they founded the short-lived film journal cinema gazette, which was first published in 1950.

When a more influential critical magazine was established in 1951, Godard was the first of the younger critics from his group to be published.

The January 1952 critical magazine issue also featured his review of an American melodrama directed by Rudolph Mat茅.  At this point, Godard’s activities did not include making films. Rather, he watched films and wrote about them.

6. He has been Married Twice

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Godard has been married twice, to Anna Karina from 1961 to 1965, and to Anne Wiazemsky from 1967 to 1979.  His relationship with Karina produced some of his most critically acclaimed films, and their relationship was widely publicized.

In the 1960s their collaboration was one of the most influential bodies of work in the history of cinema.  Late in life, Karina said they no longer spoke to each other.

7. He Produced Vietnam War Movies

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Godard produced several pieces that directly address the Vietnam War. There are two scenes in Pierrot le fou that tackle the issue. The first is a scene that takes place in the initial car ride between Ferdinand and Marianne Over the car radio, the two hear the message “garrison massacred by the Viet Cong who lost 115 men”. Marianne responds with an extended musing on the way the radio dehumanizes the Northern Vietnamese combatants.

In the same film, the lovers accost a group of American sailors along the course of their liberating crime spree. Their immediate reaction, expressed by Marianne, is “Damn Americans!”, an obvious outlet of the frustration so many French communists felt toward American hegemony.

8. Some of his Movies were Political

Some of Godard’s films were described to be political. One of his earliest features dealt with the Algerian War of Independence. It was notable for its attempt to present the complexity of the dispute rather than pursue any specific ideological agenda.

In 1970, Godard traveled to the Middle East to make a pro-Palestinian film he didn’t complete and whose footage eventually became part of the 1976 film Ici et ailleurs.

In this film, Godard seems to view the Palestinian cause as one of many worldwide Leftist revolutionary movements. Godard has explicitly identified himself as an anti-Zionist but has denied the accusations of anti-Semitism.

9. He started the Video Production Company with Anne-Marie Mi茅ville

In 1972, Godard and Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mi茅ville started the alternative video production and distribution company Sonimage, based in Grenoble.

 Under Sonimage, Godard produced both Num茅ro Deux produced in1975 and Sauve qui peut (la vie)  which was produced in1980. In 1976,

They also collaborated on a series of innovative video works for European broadcast television, titled Six fois deux/Sur et sous la communication (1976) and France/tour/d茅tour/deux/enfants (1978).

10. He Received the National Society of Film Critics Awards 

In 1990, Godard was presented with a special award from the National Society of Film Critics. The National Society of Film Critics is an American film critic organization.

The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States.  It has approximately 60 members who write for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers along with major publications and media outlets.