“One of Switzerland’s greatest filmmakers”, “the creator of modernity in cinema”, “an observer above the fray”: the world, Switzerland and cinema reacted on Tuesday to the disappearance of Jean- Luc Godard, deceased at the age of 91.
“Switzerland is losing one of its greatest filmmakers,” commented Federal Councilor in charge of Culture Alain Berset on Twitter. “His works have inspired generations of directors around the world, his immense legacy and influence will go down in history,” he continued.
Asked in Forum, the Friborg resident again hailed “a monument of cinema, but also someone extremely endearing”. “It’s a shock, it’s a whole page in the history of cinema that is turning”, he continued, noting that Jean-Luc Godard was known all over the world, being one of those names that circulate and take Switzerland around the world.
>> Alain Berset’s interview in Forum:
>> Read also: Franco-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard dies aged 91
A dazzling memory in Vaudois lands
The Vaud Council of State, for its part, considered that the resident of Rolle had left “a memory as dazzling as it is imbued with infinite admiration” in the region which saw him grow up. The executive recalls that the canton has on many occasions supported projects led by Jean-Luc Godard, in particular a program to digitize his films or the setting up of an exhibition in collaboration with the Visions du Réel Festival.
The Municipality of Lausanne also reacted, considering that “Godard made the name of Lausanne travel” in the short film “Lettre à Freddy Buache”, selected at Cannes in 1982. “It is certainly the most popular film about Lausanne and celebrated in the world”, underline the City and the Municipality in a press release.
>> Listen to the tributes in Vertigo:
An example in film schools
“From his house in Rolle, Jean-Luc Godard will have revolutionized the 7th art”, reacted Nicolas Bideau, director of Presence Switzerland, on Twitter. “One of the greatest intellectuals in the world is leaving us, our thoughts go to his loved ones.”
Invited in the 12:30 of the RTS, the director Lionel Baier estimates as for him that Godard also took part in the history of the ideas of the 20th century. “You can ask the question of philosophers, painters, researchers. He would have preferred to be said of him that he was a researcher, rather than a filmmaker. For him, cinema was a language and people had to work that language.”
Directors around the world have lost someone who defined the language they work with, the director continues. He was in a “category apart”, he comments again. “It’s a bit like losing an observer a little above the fray.”
>> See also Lionel Baier’s interview in the 7:30 p.m.:
![Director Lionel Baier pays tribute to Jean-Luc Godard [RTS]](https://i3.wp.com/www.rts.ch/2022/09/13/21/03/13382194.image?w=960&h=540&ssl=1)
For Paolo Moretti, who has just left the head of the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes to take over the Cinema section of ECAL in Lausanne, “Godard has played a central role for all film enthusiasts”. He himself says he discovered the director at the age of 16 or 17 and ranks him among his “first aesthetic and political shocks”. And to add: “In a film school, we expose students to a maximum of possibilities: this obviously goes through Godard, who created modernity in cinema by doing things that were said to be impossible.”
“National Treasure”
Of French origin, Jean-Luc Godard has also been widely acclaimed in France. President Emmanuel Macron hailed on Twitter the inventor of a “resolutely modern, intensely free art”. “We are losing a national treasure”, he wrote, while his Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak paid tribute to someone who “burned all the codes of cinema, sweeping the world with a wave of audacity, freedom and irreverence”.
>> The left-wing opposition also praised the filmmaker’s protesting political career, like MEP Leïla Chaibi (La France Insoumise):
“A page in the history of cinema is turning … Thank you, Jean-Luc, for the beautiful memories you left us”, greeted actor Alain Delon, recalling that he was “proud” to have shot for him in the film “New Wave” (1990).
Iconized in 1963 by the filmmaker in “Le Mépris”, actress Brigitte Bardot also paid tribute to him on Twitter.
On the poster for “Masculin Féminin” in 1966, the singer Chantal Goya also returned in a interview for L’Obs on his collaboration with the director. “He’s someone I loved very much. […] He knew how to look inside his artist to bring him out in a film. It’s very rare,” she says.
American director Darren Aronofsky said on Twitter: “Rest in peace Godard. I learned a lot from my copies of ‘A Bout de Souffle’ on VHS tapes… Thank you Maestro.”
Tributes from Cannes, Berlin and Venice
Jean-Luc Godard also received tributes from the Cannes Film Festival, one of the biggest cinema events in the world. From agitator on the Croisette during the workers’ movements of May 1968 to Jury Prize in 2014 for “Farewell to language”, he will have marked the history of the event. “Since his first appearance at the Festival in ‘Cléo de 5 à 7’ in 1962, 21 films by Jean-Luc Godard have been screened in Cannes”, recalls the institution.
“Jean-Luc Godard is the Picasso of cinema. With his intuitions and his flashes. Ahead of his time, he played with words, images and colors. He improvised milestone films, obscure and seductive World cinema is an orphan”, commented the former president of the festival Gilles Jacob.
The Berlinale, which has honored Jean-Luc Godard several times, said in a press release that it mourned the “pioneer of the New Wave and one of the most influential and innovative directors in the history of cinema, who permeated the cinema of the 60s and has always been able to renew it since”.
On Twitter, the Venice Film Festival praised “one of the most important directors in the history of cinema and one of the most important protagonists of the festival, consecrated for his entire career by a golden lion in 1982 “.
>> Read also: Godard, intimidating cinema icon
jop with agencies