Jean-Luc Godard, the iconic filmmaker of the French New Wave movement who revolutionized post-war popular cinema in Europe with his 1960 debut feature-length À bout de souffle, has died. He was 91.
The director's partner, Anne-Marie Miéville, and her producers were quoted by Swiss news agency ATS as saying that he passed away peacefully today, surrounded by his loved ones at his home in Rolle on Lake Geneva.
Godard's lawyer, Patrick Jeanneret, confirmed that the filmmaker had made the decision to end his life via assisted dying, seeking legal assistance in Switzerland for a "voluntary departure" because he was "stricken with 'multiple incapacitating illnesses,'" as his council told French news agency AFP [via The Guardian].
Born in 1930 to a Franco-Swiss family, Godard spent the last few decades living as a virtual recluse in the village of Rolle after a long career that began with writing film criticism in the 1950s. By 1960, his debut feature film began a series of acclaimed releases that rewrote the rules of film in the post-war period, influencing everyone from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. Starring Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, the film presented glamorousness in a laissez-faire manner with a semi-improvised script, constant camera movement and bold editing.
The director's next release was Le petit soldat, with Danish model Anna Karina — Godard's now-ex-wife — playing her first role in one of his films before going on to star in several of his most successful, including Une femme est une femme, Vivre sa vie and Bande à part.
French President Emmanuel Macron mourned the filmmaker in a statement posted to Twitter, paying tribute to Godard as "the most iconoclastic of the New Wave directors" and saying he "invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art form."
"We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius," Macron added.
See the tribute below.
The director's partner, Anne-Marie Miéville, and her producers were quoted by Swiss news agency ATS as saying that he passed away peacefully today, surrounded by his loved ones at his home in Rolle on Lake Geneva.
Godard's lawyer, Patrick Jeanneret, confirmed that the filmmaker had made the decision to end his life via assisted dying, seeking legal assistance in Switzerland for a "voluntary departure" because he was "stricken with 'multiple incapacitating illnesses,'" as his council told French news agency AFP [via The Guardian].
Born in 1930 to a Franco-Swiss family, Godard spent the last few decades living as a virtual recluse in the village of Rolle after a long career that began with writing film criticism in the 1950s. By 1960, his debut feature film began a series of acclaimed releases that rewrote the rules of film in the post-war period, influencing everyone from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. Starring Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, the film presented glamorousness in a laissez-faire manner with a semi-improvised script, constant camera movement and bold editing.
The director's next release was Le petit soldat, with Danish model Anna Karina — Godard's now-ex-wife — playing her first role in one of his films before going on to star in several of his most successful, including Une femme est une femme, Vivre sa vie and Bande à part.
French President Emmanuel Macron mourned the filmmaker in a statement posted to Twitter, paying tribute to Godard as "the most iconoclastic of the New Wave directors" and saying he "invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art form."
"We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius," Macron added.
See the tribute below.