Godard's legacy lives on...

“You don’t make a movie, the movie makes you.” These words of French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic Jean-Luc Godard are perfectly in sync with the legacy he has left behind.

Known as the Godfather of French New Wave Cinema, he breathed his last on Tuesday. From Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino, his films served as inspiration for making of the great modern directors we know today. “Jean-Luc Godard died peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones,” his wife Anne-Marie Mieville and producers said in a statement published by several French media.

Iconic films

• À bout de souffle (Breathless)
• Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live)
• Le Mépris (Contempt)
• A Woman is A Woman
• Bande à Part (Band of Outsiders)
• Alphaville
• Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier)

UP, close & personal

• Godard and French directors Éric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette co-founded Gazette du cinema and Godard wrote several articles for the journal.
• He made more than 100 films, including Une Femme Mariée (1964), Pierrot le fou (1965), Masculin Féminin (1966) and Week-end (1967).
• He was awarded an Oscar Honorary Award in 2010, but didn’t attend the ceremony as he was known to shun awards and events.
• In the time span that he made films A Woman is A Woman, Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live), Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier) Contempt and Alphaville and others, is considered to be the golden period for French New Wave cinema.
• He had also directed Sympathy For the Devil, a documentary on Rolling Stones.
• Worked on various documentaries throughout his life as his most recent work was also a documentary called Le livre d’image (The Image Book) in 2018. He shot for almost two years to examine the modern Arab world in various Arab countries, including Tunisia. The film was nominated for Palme D’Or, the highest prize awarded at Cannes.