Jean-Luc Godard (French: [ʒɑ̃lyk ɡɔdaʁ]; born 3 December 1930) is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement La Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave."
Like his New Wave contemporaries, Godard criticized mainstream French cinema's "Tradition of Quality", which "emphasized craft over innovation, privileged established directors over new directors, and preferred the great works of the past to experimentation." As a result of such argument, he and like-minded critics started to make their own films. Many of Godard's films challenge the conventions of traditional Hollywood in addition to French cinema. In 1964, Godard described his and his colleagues' impact: "We barged into the cinema like cavemen into the Versailles of Louis XV." He is often considered the most radical French filmmaker of the 1960s and 1970s; his approach in film conventions, politics and philosophies made him arguably the most influential director of the French New Wave. Along with showing knowledge of film history through homages and references, several of his films expressed his political views; he was an avid reader of existential and Marxist philosophy.
Godard's Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg distinctly expressed the French New Wave's style, and incorporated quotations from several elements of popular culture—specifically American film noir. The film employed various techniques such as the innovative use of jump cuts (which were traditionally considered amateurish), character asides, and breaking the eyeline match in continuity editing.
Like his New Wave contemporaries, Godard criticized mainstream French cinema's "Tradition of Quality", which "emphasized craft over innovation, privileged established directors over new directors, and preferred the great works of the past to experimentation." As a result of such argument, he and like-minded critics started to make their own films. Many of Godard's films challenge the conventions of traditional Hollywood in addition to French cinema. In 1964, Godard described his and his colleagues' impact: "We barged into the cinema like cavemen into the Versailles of Louis XV." He is often considered the most radical French filmmaker of the 1960s and 1970s; his approach in film conventions, politics and philosophies made him arguably the most influential director of the French New Wave. Along with showing knowledge of film history through homages and references, several of his films expressed his political views; he was an avid reader of existential and Marxist philosophy.
Godard's Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg distinctly expressed the French New Wave's style, and incorporated quotations from several elements of popular culture—specifically American film noir. The film employed various techniques such as the innovative use of jump cuts (which were traditionally considered amateurish), character asides, and breaking the eyeline match in continuity editing.
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Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard's CONTEMPT Le Mepris is a movie within a movie -- on the surface, the film is about a director (Michel Piccoli) whose wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with him while he is rewriting an adaptation of Homer's ODYSSEY for an American producer (Jack Palance). But underneath this tragic tale of a doomed romance lies Godard's true subject: the commercial film industry, which he shows his CONTEMPT for in a directing performance that is slyly subversive, darkly comic and completely original.
Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard's CONTEMPT Le Mepris is a movie within a movie -- on the surface, the film is about a director (Michel Piccoli) whose wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with him while he is rewriting an adaptation of Homer's ODYSSEY for an American producer (Jack Palance). But underneath this tragic tale of a doomed romance lies Godard's true subject: the commercial film industry, which he shows his CONTEMPT for in a directing performance that is slyly subversive, darkly comic and completely original.
- Provider
- Partner rating
- Release date
- 1963
- Running time
- 1:43:14
- Language
- English
- Actors
- Director
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