Godard came to prominence in the early 1960s as part of the French New Wave, the most important national film movement of the 20th century. Godard’s first feature, the formally inventive and effortlessly hip À Bout de Souffle (Breathless, 1960)...a raw statement of artistic freedom, and it set Godard on course to become the most individual and influential film-maker of his generation, known for axioms such as “cinema is truth 24 times a second” and “it’s not a just image, it’s just an image”. Godard seemed unstoppable. With his mercurial intelligence and humour, his restless energy and curiosity, he proceeded...