'Do As You Please' Jean-Paul Belmondo Passes Away

Leading Figure of the Nouvelle Vague Movement... Pointing to Innovation in Film Grammar
Captivating Influential Directors of the Era with Masculinity

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the face of the French Nouvelle Vague movement, passed away on the 6th (local time) at the age of 88. His personal lawyer, Michel Godest, announced that Belmondo quietly closed his eyes at his home in central Paris on that day.

Belmondo was a leading figure in the Nouvelle Vague movement during the 1960s and 1970s. He appeared in works by Jean-Luc Godard, Fran?ois Truffaut, Alain Resnais, Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville, and others, showcasing acting that broke away from tradition and convention. This innovation in film grammar, which aimed for political liberalism and anti-authoritarianism, created a remarkable impact.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

One of his representative works is Godard's '? bout de souffle (1960)', which pays homage to American gangster films in a comedic way. Within its erratic storyline, he freely portrayed the tragic gangster Puget, showing both cynicism and nonchalance simultaneously. This is evident even in the conversation he has with Patricia (Jean Seberg) on the bed.

"The last line of this book is so cool. 'Between sadness and nothingness, I choose sadness.' What would you choose?" "What’s sadness anyway? I’d choose nothingness. That’s better. Sadness comes with all sorts of baggage. That much is certain. Does that answer your question?"

Belmondo was born into a wealthy artistic family in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. He pursued both boxing and acting, and first appeared in a short film in 1958 at Godard’s suggestion. Although his crooked nose made him far from the conventional handsome type, he instead captivated influential directors of the time with his masculinity and arrogant charm. He was also famous as an actor who performed his own stunts without using doubles.

Belmondo played a variety of roles not only in art films but also in genre films. He was especially well-suited for movies like 'That Man from Kathmandu (1965)', which blended action and comedy appropriately. Portraying roles such as police officers, thieves, priests, and secret agents, he established himself as the most popular French actor of his era. He appeared in about eighty films, selling over 130 million tickets.

After suffering a stroke in 2001, he was rarely seen on screen. However, in 2003, despite his advanced age, he had a daughter with his second wife. In 2010, news that he had become romantically involved with Barbara Gandolfi, a former Playboy model forty-three years his junior, surprised the French public.

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