"Film Is Life Itself" Nouvelle Vague Master Jean-Luc Godard Passes Away (Comprehensive)

Reviving Declining French Cinema by Pursuing Themes and Technological Innovation
Proving New Film Language with Jump Cuts in 'Ne Me Quitte Pas'

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Jean-Luc Godard, who passed away on the 13th (local time), was a leading figure of the Nouvelle Vague. The Nouvelle Vague was a French film movement that took place from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. It sought innovation in themes and techniques, revitalizing the declining French film industry.

The origin lies in the film magazine Cahiers du Cin?ma, published by critic Andr? Bazin. Godard, along with Fran?ois Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, ?ric Rohmer, and Jacques Rivette, criticized the complacent film conventions of the previous generation of French directors. They emphasized the importance of personal inspiration and vision, urging awakening.

He did not demand innovation only through writing. He gained experience by directing five short films such as Op?ration B?ton (1954) and Charlotte et son Jules (1955), directly applying new cinematic grammar. The work created in this way was ? bout de souffle (1959), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.

Godard wrote the dialogue on the spot and delivered it to the actors, then started filming after only simple rehearsals. He captured handheld footage close to documentary style to create a vivid feeling, filling the film with numerous cinematic and cultural references and homages. In the editing room, he created the now-common 'jump cut.' By breaking the visual logic of continuity, he bluntly expressed the disconnected life of urban people.

Movie 'Do What You Want' Still Cut

Later, Godard said, "I wanted to make films about films." "I am an essayist. I write essays in the form of novels and novels in the form of essays. Just as I wrote for Cahiers du Cin?ma, I am still a critic. The difference is that back then I criticized through writing, and now I do it through film."

The demonstration of a new cinematic language had a profound influence on films in many countries. Films advocating auteurism, breaking away from tradition and conventions, appeared one after another, mainly in the US and Europe. Truffaut said, "There is cinema before Godard and cinema after Godard." It was a kind of declaration that cinema no longer remained merely a medium for conveying literary stories.

Godard continued to reject logical explanations for arbitrarily progressing stories and actions, showcasing the charm of leaps and omitted editing. He conducted various experiments in films such as Une femme est une femme (1961), Vivre sa vie (1962), Le M?pris (1963), Les Enfants terribles (1964), and La Chinoise (1967), laying the foundation of modern film aesthetics.

Influenced by the Vietnam War and the May 1968 protests, he produced politically radical videos like Tout va bien (1972). Based on Kino-Pravda, he explored revolutionary artistry and conducted experiments for political propaganda and struggle. Kino-Pravda was a film theory advocated by Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov in the late 1920s. It viewed theatrical films as tools to subjugate workers and distanced itself from traditional frameworks. Later, it reemerged in France as a means to reject the capitalist film production system.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Godard coldly evaluated the identity of modern society, exposing the sordid behavior of the bourgeoisie. However, after experiencing commercial failure, he changed direction toward sincere communication with the audience. The work that announced this was Pr?nom Carmen (1980). Using avant-garde visual styles such as still images, it showed that individual moments gathered to form life, even in form. In works like Lettre ? Freddy Buache (1982), Nouvelle Vague (1990), and 2 x 50 ans de cin?ma fran?ais (1995), he revisited the original spirit of the Nouvelle Vague by dealing with music, philosophy, film history, and hymns to love.

In Histoire(s) du cin?ma (1998), he said this about cinema: "Cinema is life itself. It is not something that can be told, but something that must be lived."

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