"Jean-Luc Godard: Rebellious Filmmaker (Cineaste)" Director Cyril Luthi Deconstruction of the Godard myth [Director's Interview Vol.353]

The name Jean-Luc Godard is associated with too many images. The leader of the Nouvelle Vague. A revolutionary who revolutionized the film format. A rebel who always overturned common sense. A difficult recluse who confuses people... No matter how many words I put into words, I can clearly express this filmmaker who has left many masterpieces, including `` Do What You Want '' (60), `` The Pierrot the Fool '' (65), and `` History of Godard's Cinema '' (1998). It's difficult.

The news of his sudden death in September 2022 can also be said to have made the Godard myth even stronger. The newly released documentary film ``Jean-Luc Godard: Rebellious Filmmaker'' retraces Godard's life and work using numerous testimonies and archival materials from just before his death. Marcia Merrill, Marina Braddy, Natalie Bai, Julie Delpy and other actresses who have appeared in Godard's films give an intimate, sometimes poignant look at his personality and on set. Film critics such as Thierry Jus and Alain Vergara will testify about the innovation and change of Godard's films.

The director is Cyril Luthi, who has previously directed documentaries on Jean-Pierre Melville and Maurice Chevalier. This film, which takes a casual look at Jean-Luc Godard as a filmmaker, is a great introductory film to get to know this huge filmmaker once again.

Index

• A movie about Jean-Luc Godard in the present tense
• Reexamining Godard's films from a woman's perspective
• Deconstructing the Godard myth

A movie about Jean-Luc Godard in the present tense

Q: I heard that this movie was made before director Godard passed away. How did the project progress? Also, what kind of impact did Godard's death have on this film?

Luti: This work was commissioned by a cultural television station called Arte France Cinema. In fact, in his later years, Godard had signed a contract with Arte to make a new film. It is a work called ``scénario,'' and I hear that it was completed after his death. I think Godard agreed to let us film his documentary because he had a contract with Arte to make this ``scénario''. Thanks to this, we have been able to work with a huge amount of archival material related to Godard.

Up until then, Godard had been considered such a mythical symbol that no one was afraid to make films with him. However, I am interested in telling the stories of people who have lived extraordinary lives, and I wanted to photograph them. The film was completed before Godard's death and premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Godard passed away a week later, on September 13th. When I learned of his passing, I naturally wondered whether I should change the content of the movie. I thought about it a lot, but in the end I decided not to change anything. In this way, it became a film that spoke about Godard in the present tense, suggesting that he would create new works again.

“Jean-Luc Godard: Rebellious Filmmaker (Cineaste)” ©10.7 productions/ARTE France/INA – 2022

Q: The film follows Godard's life and work in chronological order from the eve of the Nouvelle Vague, and ends with Godard's Film History , completed in 1998. There is almost no mention of your works since then, so why did you choose this structure?

Luthi: Even within Godard's filmography, `` History of Cinema '' is truly an incredible and special work. Most importantly, Godard spoke about his life for the first time in `` History of Cinema ''. In this work, he combined his personal life with the history of cinema.

There's only so much time you can talk about in one movie, and you can't talk about all of his works. Having no choice but to make a choice, we decided to tell the history up to `` Historical Cinema '', a special and important work for Godard. That said, there is still a lot of material for this work, so I would have liked to have touched on more than `` Movie History '' if possible. I wish I had more time. Currently, the nearly 6-hour documentary ` `The Andy Warhol Diaries '' is being aired on Netflix in 6 episodes, but since it takes 6 hours to depict Andy Warhol's life, it is necessary to talk about Godard's life. However, it may have originally taken a longer time (lol).

Reexamining Godard's films from a woman's perspective