In Remembrance of Jean-Luc Godard
On Tuesday, September 13th, the passing of cinematic icon Jean-Luc Godard was announced. Michael Phillips has a full appreciation published at the Chicago Tribune which includes excerpted words from Charles Coleman, our Film Program Director here at FACETS, among others. Here, we’re publishing his full comments to commemorate the life and influence of Godard, someone whose enthusiasm for the art form at large could only compare to the influence he had on film as a whole.
Charles Coleman, FACETS Film Program Director
Jean-Luc Godard may very well be the most important director and purveyor of influence to profoundly shape my perspective on cinema; his work motivated me to see film as a force in the world. As they say about curiosity, it does not have to be insatiable, but it must be there. Godard and his extraordinary career achievements proved that it also must be unquenchable, as your taste for adventure must be cultivated to explore everything. He was an avid cinephile and critic, one who was a source of inspiration to look at all forms of film and whose enthusiasm often helped directors become noteworthy, particularly within American cinema. His critical eye boldly endorsed genres such as the western, film noir, melodrama, among many others. Godard was indefatigable, and undaunted by any challenge, rising against any conformity in his filmmaking. He would repeatedly explode the idea of using standard cinematic techniques, so that his perspective could be fresh and vividly engaged with his artistic voice, yet remain innovative and challenge the medium in unprecedented ways. Godard, who is known as a key member of the French New Wave, established himself as one of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema, by the breadth of his knowledge (his references to other films, literature and philosophy in his works are legendary), his ability to enlarge the aperture of what one can perceive in the world around you, and his vast respect for the medium that he chose as his life’s work. Art should always be a provocative and artistic endeavor, and Godard, with his prodigious productivity and respect for history in all of its categories was definitely an artist who had a perseverance of delight in his defiance of conventional thought. As his contemporary filmmaker/critic, Jean Douchet once said, “The great musician seeks only music, the poet poetry, the painter painting – Godard seeks only cinema.” – Charles Coleman, Film Program Director, FACETS Cinema