Jean-Luc Godard, a key figure in the French New Wave, has passed away. He was 91. The revelation was first reported by the French newspaper Liberation, and it was confirmed to Deadline by a source close to the filmmaker.
According to a family representative, Godard died by assisted suicide in Switzerland.
Godard was one of the most celebrated directors of his period, well known for his radical and politically charged work, with great films such as Breathless ( bout de souffle), which launched him into the world stage scene in 1960.
The narrative of a beautiful American woman in Paris, played by Hollywood icon Jean Seberg, and her disastrous affair with a young rebel on the run, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo, was adapted from a treatment by his contemporary and former friend François Truffaut.
France's President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the director on Twitter, calling him the "iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers."
Godard was born in Paris in 1930 and grew up and went to school in Nyon, Switzerland. After returning to Paris after graduating from high school in 1949, Godard found a home among the city's developing circle of young film critics in the city's ciné clubs. Godard began writing for new film publications, such as Andre Bazin's renowned Cahiers du Cinema.
