Introduction to the world of Jean Luc-Godard

Jean Luc Godard is rightfully reflected back upon as an auteur film director; one of the primary focuses for auteur directors of the French new wave movement was to make a point against the Hollywood directors at the time whose films were being met with more commercial success, but lacked the artistry and substance that their French equivalent were producing. In this 1968 interview Jean Luc Godard talks about his feeling on the subject, “We have to fight the audience” (Sterrit, 1998: 7). By this I feel that Godard was saying that he doesn’t want to release films with little meaning for the sake of releasing a film, But instead you should show films to stimulate the audience and make them think on subjects they might not usually. And treated with more respect then to have a dumbed down product sold to them. He later goes on to say, I am trying to change the world, yes.” (Sterrit, 1998: 7). This is a common point of view from among Auteurs. Like many other Auteurs Godard equates himself with being a film critic as much as he does film being a filmmaker. He actually helped to create the Auteur film genre that he would later become a figurehead for, while writing for French film magazines such as Cahiers du Cinema. I believe that to become an auteur you do need to have strong opinions on what makes and of course what doesn’t a good film, also being an intellect knowing the philosophy and theory behind films, puts you in a better position to make a significant film.

I have been studying a certain scene from Jean Luc Godard’s 1960 film Breathless (A bout de soufflé) starring Jean Seberg & Jean-Paul Belmondo. It was Jean Luc Godard’s first feature film, and at the time it was and still is heralded for its innovativeness. It has been a major influence for films since and set a precedent for film noir films still come.

As said by Film critic Roger Ebert (Rogerebert.suntimes.com) “ The movie was a crucial influence during Hollywood's 1967-1974 golden age. You cannot even begin to count the characters played by Pacino, Beatty, Nicholson, Penn, who are directly descended from Jean-Paul Belmondo's insouciant killer Michel.” The film also was one of the first cases of the jump cut edit being used. George Melies had already used it, although when he did it he tried to make the cuts seamless to perform camera tricks. Godard used the technique for stylistic reasons. I believe making evolutionary steps like Godard did with introducing the jump cut, is definitely the mark of a natural auteur.
This clip is a prime example of Godard’s use of jump cuts, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQ2Q-_bl8k.

Filmography

À bout de soufflé, (1960) directed by Jean-Luc Godard, France, Les Productions Georges de Beauregard [video:DVD]

Printed References

Sterritt, D. (1998) “Jean Luc Godard: Interviews” University Press of Mississippi


Online References

Film Critic Roger Ebert on a bout de souffle http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030720/REVIEWS08/307200301/1023