Godard, Jean-Luc (1930– )

French film director. A politically motivated, neo-modernist film-maker, he was one of the leaders of New Wave cinema. He made his name with the highly influential A bout de souffle/Breathless (1959), in which his subversive approach to conventional narrative, in this case US gangster films, was evident.

Godard was a critic for the film journal Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s. His work has explored cinematic conventions, and has obliquely examined the iconography of his time. His frequently experimental works constantly allude to and quote from the other arts, whether painting, music, literature, or the cinema itself. They include Vivre sa Vie/It's My Life (1962), Le Mépris/Contempt (1963), Pierrot le fou (1965), 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle/Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1968), Tout va bien (1972), Sauve qui peut (la vie)/Slow Motion (1980), Je vous salue, Marie/Hail Mary (1985), Histoire(s) du cinéma (1989), Nouvelle Vague (1990), and L'Origine du XXIème siècle/Origin of the 21st Century (2000).

He has been married to Anna Karina, Anne Wiazemsky, and Anne-Marie Miéville, all of whom have collaborated on his work, each marriage effectively signalling a new phase in his career.