It is a monument of French cinema which has just passed away. Jean-Luc Godard, emblematic director of the New Wave, breathed his last on Tuesday September 13 at the age of 91, reported Release the same day. The Franco-Swiss filmmaker resorted to assisted suicide, a legal practice in Switzerland, where he had lived since the 1970s. He would thus be dead “peacefully at his home surrounded by his loved ones“, on the shores of Lake Geneva, in Rolle. One of his relatives would have told the newspaper that he was “not sick” but “simply exhausted”. Which explains “his decision to end“, was “his decision and it was important for him that it be known”.
A rain of tributes then fell on social networks and in the media after this terrible announcement. The opportunity for Isabelle Adjani (Murderous Summer, Camille Claudel, Queen Margot) to express all the affection she had for the filmmaker in her Instagram story. In particular, she remembered an anecdote concerning the reasons which led her to interrupt the filming of Name Carmen in 1982, a film which was of course directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
“The dream of cinema is eternal”
“I would like to find the few images of the tests and the few days he filmed me… At the time of Name CarmenI gave up his dream of cinema to stay with my dying father. Now the dream of cinema is eternal”, she wrote, while the main character of Carmen was eventually played by Maruschka Detmers. To this touching message was added a photo of the actress with the deceased, a shot that probably dates back to the period that corresponds to the shooting of this film.
As a reminder, this same year, the former companion of André Dussollier gave the reply to Yves Montand in the comedy All fire all flames by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and won the César for Best Actress for her performance in the film Possession by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski. A year rich in emotions therefore for the mother of Barnabé and Gabriel-Kane.