Director Jean-Luc Godard dies aged 91

Film director Jean-Luc Godard died on Tuesday aged 91, newspaper Liberation has reported.

The legendary Franco-Swiss movie-maker was one of the world’s most acclaimed directors, known for French New Wave films Breathless and Contempt, which inspired a generation of directors including Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.

His cause of death has not been revealed yet. 

Godard’s movies broke with the established conventions of French cinema in 1960 and helped kickstart a new way of filmmaking, complete with handheld camera work, jump cuts and existential dialogue. 

Quentin Tarantino, director of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs in the 1990s, is often cited as one of a more recent generation of boundary-bending tradition that Godard and his Paris Left Bank cohorts initiated.

Tarantino was such a fan of Godard, he even named his production company after one of his films, A Band Apart. 

Earlier came Martin Scorsese in 1976 with Taxi Driver, the disturbing neon-lit psychological thriller.

Godard was married twice, to actresses Anna Karina and Anne Wiazemsky, both of whom starred in several of his films. 

It was during his four year marriage to Karina from 1961-1965, that Godard enjoyed some of his most memorable screen collaborations, including in Vivre sa vie (1962), Bande à part (1964) and Pierrot le Fou (1965). 

He was married to Wiazemsky from 1967 to 1979, with the actress starring in his movies La Chinoise (1967) and One Plus One (1968).

In 1970, Godard met Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Miéville, who became his collaborator and later romantic partner.

Godard had continued success in later life. His 2001 film In Praise of Love was selected for the Cannes film festival.

His 2014 film Goodbye to Language saw him pick up the jury prize at Cannes, and 2018’s Image Book, was awarded a ‘special Palme d’Or’ at the prestigious film festival/