French film legend Godard dies at 91
BI Desk || BusinessInsider
Godard filming student marches on the streets of Paris in 1968. Photo: Collected
Film director Jean-Luc Godard, who spearheaded the revolutionary French New Wave of cinema, has died at the age of 91.
Godard burst onto the scene in the 1960s with Breathless, a film which started a run of acclaimed releases that rewrote the rules of film, reports BBC.
His work brought a new verve and daring to cinema and influenced directors from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Godard "had the vision of a genius".
In a tribute on Twitter, Macron wrote, "He was like an apparition in French cinema. Then he became a master of it.
"Jean-Luc Godard, the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We have lost a national treasure, a man who had the vision of a genius."
Godard started as a film critic before stepping behind the camera with the stylish and edgy Breathless. Its stars Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo were glamorous in a new, casual way, while the camera was constantly moving, the editing was swift and bold, and the script semi-improvised.
