JEAN-LUC GODARD

Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris in 1930. He became good friends with fellow movie buffs Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, and Eric Rohmer, all of whom later became influential French directors. In 1952 he began writing film criticism for 'Les cahiers du cinema', the most notable French magazine of film criticism. He spent the rest of the 1950s writing articles about film, and making a few minor films. In 1960 he made A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) starring the American actress Jean Seberg and new French star Jean-Paul Belmondo. It was written by Godard from a story by Francois Truffaut, who the year before had made Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows). Together these films were the beginning of the French New Wave. Unlike Truffaut, who made many very personal romantic semi-auto biographical movies, Godard was very interested in politics and feminism, and many of his movies deal with those themes. He made many movies with wife Anna Karina, who he married in 1961. Godard directed an astonishing 92 movies, often directing more than one in a single year! Many of his movies received U.S. releases, and he has a world-wide following. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 91