French Cinema Giant Jean-Luc Godard Dies Aged 91

In this file photo taken in February 1998 Franco-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard receives an Honorary César during the 23rd César Awards ceremony, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. (AFP/File)
In this file photo taken in February 1998 Franco-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard receives an Honorary César during the 23rd César Awards ceremony, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. (AFP/File)
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French Cinema Giant Jean-Luc Godard Dies Aged 91

In this file photo taken in February 1998 Franco-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard receives an Honorary César during the 23rd César Awards ceremony, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. (AFP/File)
In this file photo taken in February 1998 Franco-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard receives an Honorary César during the 23rd César Awards ceremony, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. (AFP/File)

Jean-Luc Godard, one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century and the father of the French New Wave, died "peacefully at home" on Tuesday aged 91, his family said.

His legal counsel later confirmed he died by assisted suicide.

The legendary maverick blew up the conventions of cinema in the 1960s, shooting his gangster romance "Breathless" on the streets of Paris with a hand-held camera, using a shopping trolley for panning shots.

He continued to thumb his nose at Hollywood and an older generation of French filmmakers by breaking all the rules again in "Contempt" (1963) with Brigitte Bardot and "Pierrot le Fou" in 1965.

"No official (funeral) ceremony will take place," his family said.

"He will be cremated... And it really must happen in private."

Godard's legal counsel Patrick Jeanneret confirmed a report in French daily Liberation that he had died by assisted suicide.

The practice is regulated in Switzerland and permitted if offered without a selfish motive to a person with decision-making capacity to end their own suffering.

"Godard had recourse to legal assistance in Switzerland for a voluntary departure as he was stricken with 'multiple invalidating illnesses', according to the medical report," said Jeanneret.

Godard has lived as a virtual recluse for decades in the Swiss village of Rolle.

It was there that he died "peacefully at home", his wife Anne-Marie Mieville at his side, his producers said.

Godard's influence is hard to overestimate, with directors from Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson to Robert Altman, the maker of "M*A*S*H" and "The Player", often speaking of their debt to him.

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the director's talent and mourned the loss of a "national treasure".

"Jean-Luc Godard, the most iconoclastic filmmaker of the New Wave, invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We have lost a national treasure, a genius," Macron tweeted.

Figures from the film industry paid tribute to the director including Bardot who tweeted a black and white photo of the two of them walking down stairs and wrote: "By making Contempt and Breathless, Godard joined the firmament of the last great creators of stars."

American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky tweeted "thank you maestro" while actor Antonio Banderas credited the late filmmaker with "expanding the boundaries of the cinema."

British director Edgar Wright described him on Twitter as "one of the most influential, iconoclastic film-makers of them all. It was ironic that he himself revered the Hollywood studio film-making system, as perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting..."

Godard's house, with green shutters and a green bench out front, had its shades drawn Tuesday, with an abandoned ashtray and teapot on the windowsill, an AFP reporter said.

Despite the filmmaker's often difficult relationship with critics, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw heaped praise on Godard, saying, "The last great 20th-century modernist is dead".

He compared him to other 1960s rebels like John Lennon and Che Guevara.

"Or maybe Godard was the medium's Socrates, believing that an unexamined cinema was not worth having," he added.

Guy Lodge, of the screen bible Variety, tweeted that it was "glib to say 'he changed everything', but he sure changed a hell of a lot of things".

Indeed, Godard became a "god" to many 1960s political and artistic radicals who would hang on every word of his often contradictory -- and tongue-in-cheek -- declarations on the state of cinema and the world.

"All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl," he once proclaimed, in a nod to US actress Jean Seberg, star of "Breathless".

The movie was a fashion as well as a film landmark, her pixie haircut copied by millions bowled over by her effortless Parisian cool.

"A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end -- but not necessarily in that order," Godard later famously declared, and "every edit is a lie".

Godard would occasionally emerge from his Swiss bolthole to make low-budget films well into his 80s.

He never regained the capacity to shock or move mainstream audiences as he had in the 1960s, though a small band of disciples remained doggedly loyal to the master.

His periodic appearances at the Cannes film festival -- often via FaceTime -- still drew crowds, though he no longer held the sway he did when he had managed to shut down the festival entirely in 1968 in solidarity with the student protests in Paris.

Cannes also saw the premiere in 2017 of "Redoubtable", a tragi-comic film about Godard's doomed romance with the French actress Anne Wiazemsky, directed by the Oscar-winning director of "The Artist", Michel Hazanavicius.



Which Stars Will Join De Niro at Cannes This Year?

US actor Robert de Niro poses during a photocall for the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2023. (AFP)
US actor Robert de Niro poses during a photocall for the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2023. (AFP)
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Which Stars Will Join De Niro at Cannes This Year?

US actor Robert de Niro poses during a photocall for the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2023. (AFP)
US actor Robert de Niro poses during a photocall for the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2023. (AFP)

Robert De Niro is set to receive an honorary Palme d'Or at the Cannes festival this year, with rumors that Tom Cruise will join him and other stars on the French Riviera.

The industry is buzzing with speculation about who will attend the world´s premier film event one month before it kicks off in the south of France.

Cinemas are desperate for some stardust and sparkling new films after a weak start to 2025.

Cannes president Iris Knobloch and long-time director Thierry Fremaux will unveil the selection of in-competition films and other major premieres at a press conference in Paris on Thursday.

They confirmed on Monday that De Niro, star of "Taxi Driver" and "Godfather Part II", was to be given an honorary Palme d'Or at the opening ceremony on May 13 for his contribution to cinema.

"With his restrained style, expressed through the softness of a smile or the hardness of a glance, Robert De Niro has become a legend of cinema," the festival said in a statement in French.

Fellow Hollywood icon Tom Cruise, now 62, has also been tipped to appear in Cannes three years after making a dramatic helicopter entrance at the festival for "Top Gun: Maverick."

Rumors suggest he may return with the latest instalment of "Mission: Impossible", which has been billed as the final chapter in the saga.

The film is slated for release in French cinemas on May 21, which would be perfect timing for a Cannes launch out of competition.

Many cinema owners are in need of a blockbuster and are banking on Cruise's star power to sell tickets after a terrible start to 2025 that has been marked by a series of expensive Hollywood flops.

These include Disney's live-action "Snow White," superhero sequel "Captain America: Brave New World" and bizarre sci-fi movie "Mickey 17".

The much-hyped "A Minecraft Movie", released last week, was panned by critics but might help to lift the gloom after a record-breaking opening weekend in the United States.

That saw fans of the legendary computer game flock to cinemas.

- Contenders -

The head of the Cannes jury this year is French screen legend Juliette Binoche, who will hand out the famed Palme d'Or for best film.

Around 20 movies are set to compete in the top category, looking to emulate the success of last year's winner, "Anora" by Sean Baker.

Terrence Malick, who won the Palme d´Or for "The Tree of Life" 14 years ago, has been tipped to return with a long-awaited project inspired by biblical stories.

Other festival veterans could also return, such as Jim Jarmusch ("Broken Flowers", "Dead Man"), whose latest film stars Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver.

Wes Anderson, 55, has also assembled yet another star-studded cast for his latest film, featuring Benicio Del Toro, Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson.

Johansson, 40, could bring a breath of fresh air to the festival by presenting her directorial debut, "Eleanor the Great".

Another actress-turned-director, Kristen Stewart, 34, has also recently completed her first feature film.

Experts have also suggested the new master of American horror, 38-year-old Ari Aster -- known for his chilling films "Hereditary" and "Midsommar" -- could make his Cannes debut with a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone.

Three French female directors, Julia Ducournau (2021 Palme d´Or winner for "Titane"), Rebecca Zlotowski ("Other People's Children", "An Easy Girl") or Alice Winocour, who has made a film about Paris Fashion Week starring Angelina Jolie, have also been named as contenders.

Exiled Russian filmmakers such as Kirill Serebrennikov, Andrey Zvyagintsev and rising talent Kantemir Balagov could also feature.

The festival has yet to announce its opening film or the full composition of the jury.