A French newspaper Liberation reported on Tuesday that French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, the father of the New Wave cinema, died at 91, citing people close to the Franco-Swiss director. During the 1960s, Godard was one of the world’s most acclaimed directors, known for such classics as “Breathless” and “Contempt” that pushed cinematic boundaries and inspired iconoclastic filmmakers decades after his death.
In 1976, Martin Scorsese released “Taxi Driver,” his disturbing neon-lit. A psychological thriller of a Vietnam veteran turned cabbie who steers through the streets all night with a growing obsession with the need to clean up seedy New York.
His 1960 movie L’avventura broke with the established conventions of French cinema and helped kickstart a revolutionary way of filmmaking. This was complete with handheld camera work, jump cuts, and existential dialogue. Quentin Tarantino, director of “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs” in the 1990s is often credited with helping to pioneer auteur-driven Hollywood Filmmaking.
Although Godard was not everyone’s idol, he did have fans like Canadian director Xavier Dolan, who at 25 shared an award with an octogenarian. Godard at the Cannes film festival in 2014. The two had a contentious relationship because of their differing views on filmmaking and politics.
Godard was born on December 3, 1930, into a wealthy Franco-Swiss family in the Seventh Arrondissement of Paris. His father was a doctor, and his mother was the daughter of a Swiss man who founded Banque Paribas, an illustrious investment bank.
